Now that we’ve officially recovered from the holidays, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. I want to take a moment to discuss an especially effective news release from back in early December.

This press release from the New York State Office of Parks & Recreation does a fantastic job of what I call setting the table.

After taking a quick look at the release, you’ll notice that it’s very brief and to the point. It gives you the gist of what’s going on: 28 properties were recommended to the State and National Registers of Historic Places, and briefly lists the properties. This whets the reader’s appetite. The release then links the reader to the Parks & Recreation website for more information about the individual properties.

What’s interesting about this particular release is the way it intentionally tries not to overwhelm readers. The release hosted on the Office of Parks & Recreation’s website is 1,200 words long and contains a lot of information. Typically, most press release writers try to stay under 400 words, because shorter news stories are more effective with audiences. Long news articles with large blocks of text tend to turn online readers off.

Distributing a 250-word press release to the media and linking to a detailed 1,200 word release does two things. First, and most importantly, it makes readers comfortable and encourages them to read the entire release. Second, it ensures that the people who visit the detailed page on the New York State Office of Parks & Recreation’s website are interested in the material. In other words, the original release weeds out casual readers and gives people a heads up about the high volume of content that follows.

Setting the table like this helps both the reader and the newsmaker. The reader knows exactly what they’re in for and where to look for more information, while the newsmaker drives traffic to their website in an unobtrusive way. This helps create brand awareness and lets the organization track the success of their news story online.