You’ve crafted an award-winning press packet – all the information the media will ever need for your big event. But it only gets a couple inches in the paper, or a big storm arrives the same day your packet comes in the mail and the storm is the only thing that gets coverage. And even if you do attract some media, you’re disappointed because they left so much out!

The attached diagram from Skip Wood at Public News Service is an excellent visual framework of being strategic in the structure and framework of your press releases.
It includes many of the essential aspects including header, paragraphs, bullet points, and the strategic inclusion of additional information.

Skip Wood has been with Public News Service for ten years, first as producer/reporter and currently as editor. For the last eight years, he has also been a producer for "Hear It Now," a talk show on the Prairie Public radio network, a PBS affiliate. Before all that, he was news producer for KXJB-TV, Fargo for 21 years.

This article by Susan Young, President of Get in Front Communications, gives 15 good tips for what you should do and not do in a press release. It takes into consideration that reporters and other news-eaters may only have at most a few seconds to scan each press release that comes in front of them, and how releases can be constructed to catch the eye of the glancer.

A press advisory is designed to attract media to attend an event, most often a press conference. The details in a press advisory should persuade the reporter to attend the event.

A press release should be used to alert the media of breaking news from a press briefing, the publication of a new report, or any newsworthy event that you care to share with the media and public. Press releases can be used to summarize stories from journal publications or as background information for other events.

Building a targeted media contact list is an important step in releasing your news. When working on a limited budget, it’s vital to allocate your resources in both staff time and money in the most effective way. The following steps will help you define the best reporters at the media outlets in your target regions and get your news to them in the most effective way.

Writing an Op-Ed: If you have tried and failed to get your paper's editorial board to take up your cause on the editorial page, or if they have decided to write an editorial condemning your cause, it may be time to write your own piece. The op-ed page is the place to try to publish your commentary.

This pdf from the SPIN Project goes over the who, what, where, when and why of press release creation.

10 essential tips to ensure your press release makes the news, from press-release-writing.com.