Is the press release dead or alive? Publicity Hounds have conflicting opinions and we want to know yours.
Sally Saville Hodge says it’s dead, and she backs up her claim in this article at the MarketingProfs website.
Harry Hoover says it’s very much alive and offers this rebuttal.
What do you think? Dead or alive? And if so, why?
How much do you rely on news releases? Are they the smartest way to let the media know about news? What great media hits have you received from news releases? If you haven’t, what better alternatives have you discovered?
A lousy news release is not worth the paper it is printed on. However, a compelling news release can attract attention and also provide correct information (spellings, addresses, names, titles) that the media appreciate.
I agree blanket releases to the world are virtually worthless, but quality releases to the right media outlets can be invaluable to journalists.
How to Guarantee Your Press Releases Will Be Completely Ignored
APPEAL only to the vanity and ego of your boss/CEO/client, etc.
NEVER consider your audience—the news media, potential customers, current clients, etc.
CONFUSE. Right at the start, no reader should have any idea what you’re talking about. This shows profundity and complexity of thought.
NEVER proofread or use spell-check. Typoes keep the the media on they’re toes. As do bad grammer.
A “NEWS” release is not a news story; it’s an ad. Brag from start to finish. Avoid information.
PUMP UP the buzzwords. When you pepper your release with phrases like “end-to-end ROI,” “scale visionary initiatives,” and “drive transparent paradigms,” you’re cookin’!
INFLATE a brief announcement into 1,000 words. For unusual creativity, shrink an important story into a few opaque sentences.
NEVER cite objective outsiders like customers, analysts, researchers, etc. Use lots of long, windy quotes from company insiders—from the CEO to the parking attendant.
CRANK ‘em out by the dozen. Then, when you actually have something important to say, no one will notice.
SEND them to a huge email list that includes hundreds of irrelevant media outlets with no conceivable interest in your business or industry.
USE eccentric Capitalization and odd, Punctuation.
FOLLOW these guidelines scrupulously and you’ll be sure that absolutely no one will ever read or remember your press releases, except with disgust.
EXPAND! Bonus Tip: Apply a similar philosophy to your website, brochures, advertisements, email, newsletters and presentations to make sure everyone will ignore them too.
Stimpson Communications
http://www.stimpsoncommunications.com
Public Relations & Marketing
Henry@StimpsonCommunications.com
508-647-0705
There seems to be a great deal of confusion of what a news release is and what it is supposed to do.
News Alerts, Tip Sheets, News Releases and News-Features have been lumped together and, consequently, ill defined.
For instance, your concept is that a news release has the single purpose of securing an interview. I disagree. A news release provides essential facts about something that has or is about to happen at a company, individual, product, event, etcetera. It can, in effect, solicit an interview if the reporter or editor needs or wants additional information. The interview that may result does not necessarily require the participation of the CEO or other senior executive.
The news-feature is an expanded piece including expanded technical and non-tchnical information that may be required to make the news understandable or add interesting background. It too make prompt an editor or reporter to seek an interview.
News alerts and tip sheets are highlight signals, usually about individuals or events, that are designed to promote coverage by a reporter and/or an interview.
These are all valuable and effective tools when understood and used properly.
Jim Nugent
I thought news releases died years ago. I send only carefully targeted releases to specific
people. Never to the immediate world where it ends up in the “circular file.”
This is a story sad but true. A number of years ago I had occasion to visit a columnist at one
of the top New York City newspapers. We had spoken on the phone numerous times and he had
printed things on my clients, but this was my first actual visit. His office floor was literally
knee-deep in unopened mail! In astonishment, I said, “Don’t you ever open your mail?”
“Not usually” he replied. I speculated that some of that mail was from me and he agreed it probably was. It seems he was just too busy to open mail unless he was actually expecting it.
I would hope the press release is dead but since every book still says press releases are the best way to go I don’t see that happening.
Blog fever has a few symptoms…
One of the funny things about bloggers (well…some bloggers) is that they’re very high on their own Kool-Aid. Steve Rubel thinks that blogs will replace news releases. He is entitled to his opinion. BL Ochman thinks that press releases have been a huge waste of time and money since the advent of the Internet. Funny…someone continues to drive a 300 million dollar a year business sending news releases over the wire.
I blog. I also write news releases. I send them over the wire. I send them via email when requested (which they are A LOT). I send them via RSS (which isn’t requested a lot yet). We query a lot of journalists on a regular basis because we’re actively building online mediarooms for PR Newswire’s client. Guess what they want to receive via RSS? News releases! I actively talk to the PRN clients that are buying this online mediaroom service. http://www.mediaroom.com and they include banks, insurance companies, phone companies, technology companies, healthcare companies, entertainment companies, you name the vertical…I’ve talked with their VP level or Director level of Corporate Communications or Public Relations. NOT ONE of them has talked about doing away with news releases or the wire services.
Blogs are personal. As credible as a company might try to make their “official” blog…it’s still opinion. RSS won’t replace the wire services…they’ll just evolve to incorporate RSS into their delivery methodology…they already are. Blogs will grow and thrive but they won’t replace news releases. At least not until we change the stupid name…
“Hey, let’s send out that 3rd quarter earnings blog this morning.” “Yo Susie, did you hear that the SEC has now passed regulation BLOG? Yeah…blogs are now compliant as earnings disclosure mechanisms for investors.”
All of this of course IMHO.
Having worked both sides of the fence—as an editor for a business-to-business newsletter publisher and a writer who occasionally writes press releases—I must say the press release is alive and kicking.
The biggest mistake when sending press releases is sending them to the wrong market. After that, it’s sending press releases with no news value. And companies, both large and small, are guilty of these two big sins. However, when you target your market and contact the publication before sending the press release, you can get coverage for “ordinary” events.
For instance, when a friend was named business woman of the year by an organization we belong to, she asked me to write a press release announcing the award.
The obvious market was local, but awards are bestowed on people every day, so the challenge was how to make this a newsworthy item.
We looked for connections: the town she worked in, the town she lived in, other organizations she belonged to, and what she did in her work that was different or would be of interest to readers of the particular publications. In other words, doing homework to craft a newsworthy press release.
The homework paid off. The press release was carried word-for-word by three weekly newspapers, as well as a monthly woman’s magazine. Three daily newspapers and a business journal interviewed my friend and wrote their own stories, and a trade publication she subscribes to published an item that was in the press release.
Press releases plant the seeds for stories. Stories that editors need to fill their publications—whether in print or online. When you understand the needs of the publication you are targeting, you increase your chances of having a press release catch the editor’s eye.
Joyce Restaino
So far no one has mentioned a vital use for press releases – accompanying a book sent to a reviewer or to a potential blurb writer.
I receive four or five requests for blurbs a month, and more than half of the books arrive with no press release enclosed. This makes the task of evaluating the book more difficult. What the press release supplies in this situation is context. The context for a book is usually not provided in the book itself. And also, non-inclusion of the release clues me in that this person doesn’t know how to approach people properly. It gets me to look for other clues to amateurism.
So, I wish the press release were even more alive than it is – because it’s helpful.
Marcia Yudkin
Author, 6 Steps to Free Publicity, 2nd edition (Career Press)
The Publicity Hound says:
After working in newsrooms for 22 years, I estimate about 95 percent of the news releases I opened were useless.
Yes, news releases are still alive and they still serve a purpose. But the vast majority of them are for routine news announcements.
If you’re using news releases in hopes of getting those big Page 1 news and feature stories, I hate to disappoint you. Most of the really big stories don’t come from news releases, which are usually stale by the time they’re written, approved, rewritten, edited and delivered to the newsroom.
The really big stories come from sources. And from customized pitches. And from enterprising reporters. And several even come from readers’ phone calls.
I have nothing against news releases. In fact, I just wrote one this morning announcing my August 23 publicity workshop in Norfolk, Virginia. The problem is, people spend far too much time and effort on news releases when their efforts should be spent making valuable personal contacts with reporters, photographers, assignment editors, etc.
Joan,
Thanks for inspiring this week’s Marketing Minute, in which I provide in concise form my best arguments for creating and distributing news releases:
http://www.yudkin.com/marksynd.htm
(Note: this page changes every Weds. so this link is good up through July 19.)
Marcia Yudkin
As a prospect was looking through my samples, he commented, “these aren’t press releases…they’re much too interesting and well-written–they actually tell a story.”
I thought of that remark as I read Sally Saville Hodge on the death of press releases. While I certainly agree with her that pitch letters can often work better, my experience (for myself and my clients) is that a really good press release with a really interesting story can still gain significant media attention. In fact, not that long ago, I sent out 12 copies of a press release…and got 7 pickups, including full-page-or-better articles in three of the five significant trade publications in that market.
The way to bring press releases back from the dead is to produce releases that ue captivating–but not hypey–copy, are totally on target to their audience, and provide the right information with the right slant. Often, that means multiple versions for different audiences, changing anything from the lead sentence to the entire thing.
My favorite, of all the releases I’ve written, was for an electronic privacy author. The headline was *not* “Electronic Privacy Expert Releases New Book” (big snore).
It was…
“It’s 10 O’Clock…Do You Know Where Your Credit History Is?”
I’m a copywriter and marketing consultant specializing in press releases and pitch letters–and the originator of the Business Ethics Pledge campaign. Two of my four books on marketing (Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World) have won awards–and Grassroots talks in great detail about how to structure a winning press release. Search for “shel horowitz” on Google; you’ll get 12,700 hits. A number of these hits stem directly from press releases. The press release is far from dead.
I’ve heard the demise of press releases announced more than a few times in the past year. My feeling is that they haven’t died as much as changed ….or should have.
Technology now offers an immediate means of distributing news via email. So the traditional press release is no longer relevant. What editors do you know who’re going to read an entire page of copy ala the traditional format? Releases today need to be short & sweet if they’re even going to be scanned. No long paragraphs. No fluff, no “we are proud to announce the launch of…..” No hype. The new format is closer to an outline with key points highlighted to make scanning easy. If it works, it’s not uncommon to get a quick response asking for more information.
So the challenge is to come up with a clever, creative subject line that cries “this one is worth reading”. And there’s probably a better chance of getting an email opened immediately (assuming the captivating subject line) than having one read after it sits in a stack or two on an editors desk.
The release is alive and “kicking” in the UK.
I’ve had stories on radio and in newspapers from press releases.
I’ve discussed stories with journalists and it’s absolutely clear that the 95% completely self-serving press releases are binned as soon as their headlines shouts their purpose.
Releases that fit the specific medias target customers and for local media their immediate location have a very good chance of being picked up.
Once when I followed up a press release to a local paper the repor.