PR 101 –Lesson 53 – The Press Release is dead, long live the Press Release
Jeff Cole | March 15, 2010
For the past few years, I have thought the press release was an outmoded way of getting the word out. From my own experience as a reporter, I know how little time reporters have to read all the stuff they get daily. However, the old fashioned released has morphed into a social media release. It is press release on performance enhancing drugs. I am starting to see how effective that kind of release can be.
When I was a reporter, press releases were a fact of my workday. Before the Internet, dozens arrived daily in the standard number 10 business envelope. As a young reporter, I dutifully read through each and every one of them. I thought it was the right thing to do. Who knew, maybe the key to next Pulitzer Prize was in the one of those envelopes.
Reporters get a lot of mail from every imaginable source. Not just press releases, but letters from convicts who feel they are wrongly accused, happy readers, angry readers, story ideas written on pencil on legal paper and a lot of other stuff. That avalanche of envelopes is what stopped from reading every press release. I just didn’t have time to weed through them every day. I would quickly sort through the pile, keeping only the ones with return addresses that told me the company might have to say.
The people I dealt with soon learned the best way to get my attention was to call me. We would discuss a potential story and if I was interested, I would request more information. Even then, I didn’t want a press release. What I wanted was background information that provided basic facts – things such as the size of company, number of employees, annual income, size of the project, that kind of stuff.
I don’t think I ever missed a story by not reading the press releases. My sources knew if they gave me a good story, I would fight like hell to get it into the paper. I was usually a pretty good salesman.
When I switched to public relations seven years ago, I brought the anti-press release attitude with me. Because I spent 26 years as a reporter, I have great contacts all over the U.S. and even some internationally. Reporters used to be professional nomads. We would continually switch jobs, always striving to get to a bigger paper with a larger circulation. You make a lot of friends doing that. So, if I had a client who needed a story placed, I could usually reach a person who could make that happen.
Even when I didn’t know somebody, I was pretty skilled at getting a story into a publication. I speak the language of reporters. I know what gets them excited. I know the first four words you say to any reporter when you call. I should make this a quiz, but I won’t – the first four words are: “are you on deadline?”
That’s all changing with the rise of social media and the shrinking of regular media. There are fewer reporters chasing more stories. They need stuff they know is accurate and can access quickly.
As I said at the start, enter the social media press release. What is it?
As I also said, it is press release on steroids. It is so much more than the old paper press release. When I set up one up for a client, I include pictures, background material, contact information, video, links to my client’s website, their Twitter feed, their Facebook fan page and the LinkedIn pages of key executives. It is so much more complete than the old ones.
And sites such at Pitch Engine allow you to send links to the information out to just about anybody to whom you want.
What I usually do is call the key contacts I want to receive the information to give them a heads up that it’s up. Then I email the link so they can access the data. I have found universal acceptance for this.
Reporters and bloggers seem to love it. At one of the click of the mouse, they get anything they need for their story. It makes their job easier, which makes them happy, which means they are more likely to a do a positive story. That in turn makes my client happy, which makes ultimately makes me happy.
So, you see, while the traditional press release is going, going…. , the social media release is on its way. Once again, social media takes a traditional method of doing something and improves it.
[...] PR 101 –Lesson 53 – The Press Release is dead, long live the Press … [...]
[...] PR 101 –Lesson 53 – The Press Release is dead, long live the Press … [...]
[...] PR 101 –Lesson 53 – The Press Release is dead, long live the Press … [...]
[...] PR 101 –Lesson 53 – The Press Release is dead, long live the Press … [...]
I loved this post. Never clearer on what a social media press release is. And why reporters will love one.
Great info, Jeff!
Is Pitch Engine your preferred press release distribution service? I’ve heard others recommend PRWeb and PRNewswire.
Of course, as important as the distribution mechanism is the writing. It doesn’t matter how the release gets there if it’s unreadable. (I recently spoofed this in an article you might enjoy: http://atomictango.com/2008/05/20/pressrelease/ .)
In my marketing class, I had my students rewrite an actual press release from Kraft put out by Edelman PR. It contained all the appropriate links, images, background info, etc., but it was so poorly written, my students thought I had made it up.
Bad PR releases, I think, are the reason many journalists no longer bother to read releases at all. As you noted, they just say “call me” instead.
– Freddy
I won’t say which company, but I have friend whose company is represented by Edelman. He rewrites every press release that comes through from them. I like Pitch Engine best because it was created as a social media outlet. As for writing, that’s my core skill. I edit restaurant menus when I am ordering my dinner. I cannot abide bad writing. Every writing student should have two books: “Elements of Style” and “Eats, Shoots and Leaves.” Thanks for the comment.
Hey Jeff:
Thanks for the recommendations. Here are a couple of writing books that I like:
“Why Business People Speak Like Idiots” by Brian Fugere, et al
“Self-Editing for Fiction Writers” by Renni Browne, et al (great for nonfiction, too)
Freddy
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Me and my friend were arguing about an issue similar to this! Now I know that I was right. lol! Thanks for the information you post.
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Thanks!
Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I’m sure you had fun writing this article.
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this,would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.
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Thank you very much for that great article
Disclosure: I am the SEM and Social Media Specialist @Marketwire (news release distribution and one of the early adopters of the social media release) – http://www.marketwire.com
Your perspective from a reporter’s standpoint was interesting because not everyone understands how many emails/pitches they receive. The transition into the social media aspect was fantastic. The social media release should not be viewed as a “competitor” to the traditional release, but as a complimentary tool.
Great article, enjoyed the read.
Nick @shinng
http://www.marketwireblog.com
http://www.twitter.com/marketwire
Maybe you could make changes to the blog name title PR 101 –Lesson 53 – The Press Release is dead, long live the Press Release | PR 101 to more better for your subject you make. I liked the post however.