How To Add Personality To Your Next Personnel Press Release

Your company has hired a new vice president and you’ve been tasked with writing a press release about it.

It’s easy to fall into a formula when crafting a personnel announcement. Most personnel releases start by introducing the newly hired or promoted person, an executive provides a quote about the hiring decision, and the announcement concludes with a short biography. Three paragraphs, and you’re all set.

The problem is that personnel changes are a constant in most industries, and the press releases announcing these changes are many. How do you differentiate your personnel announcement so that readers take notice?

With a few tweaks to how you approach it, your next personnel announcement has the opportunity to inject personality into your brand’s story and pique the interest of even more influencers and potential customers.

Here are three tips to help you craft a personnel press release that breaks the mold.

Tell a story with your headshot

Including a headshot in your personnel announcement is a no-brainer. As with other multimedia, it increases online visibility and engagement and is a great way to put a face to the new hire’s name.

However, a headshot can also give your audience some insight into your company and its culture. Take this press release from Gilbane Building Company as an example.

Gilbane, which provides construction and facilities-related services, recently announced the promotion of Michael McKelvy to the role of president and CEO.

The picture they chose to include in the press release features McKelvy looking confident, comfortable, and ready to work, an excellent complement to his quote about how excited he is to lead. The well-designed office environment in the background is also a nice nod to the facilities work Kilbane does.

Including an image of your new hire in action or positioned in a way that reflects your brand identity can catch the eye of your audience and help set it apart from others.

Have fun with your headline

The headline is what your reader sees first. While it’s important to follow headline writing best practices, such as including the company name and being short and shareable, it’s ok to play around with the elements traditionally included in a personnel announcement’s headline.

This recent headline – Choice Hotels Hires the Ultimate People Person – isn’t just catchy, it instantly conjures up the image of a personable, friendly, open individual. It reflects Choice’s mission to bring people together through travel and establish meaningful in-person connections.

Demonstrate the impact of this personnel change

Does your personnel change mean a new product, a new division, or a new focus for your company? In this press release about their new Senior VP of Product, Vdopia generates excitement and interest around the changes coming to the brand’s technology, products, and the mobile video industry as a whole.

While it’s helpful to include background information about the person being hired or promoted, you also need to show your readers why they should care about this announcement and what it means for the future of your company.

To catch – and hold – the attention of today’s audiences, PR pros must look beyond the traditional perceptions of what personnel announcements and other press releases are supposed to be. Get more press release tips by downloading our white paper Setting the Record Straight: Press Releases that Stand Out in the Digital Age.

How To Add Personality To Your Next Personnel Press Release