Last week, we covered five ways to make sure your press release fails the media sniff test. It was one of the most popular posts ever at brendonshank.com. Now, we’ll assume you took those pitfalls to heart, avoided them, and have a fantastic, newsworthy press release in hand.
There are still plenty of ways to screw this up.
Here are five of them:
6: Wait until the last minute. Despite all the talk of the immediacy of news today, reporters and editors still need time to research your information, talk to other experts and write and edit copy, so if you want them to write about your groundbreaking event on Thursday, don’t send it out on Wednesday evening. And give yourself time, too. Plan at least a couple of days ahead to draft your press release and have it reviewed by your experts and leadership.
You can leap over common press release pitfalls. (But I can't resist ways to post Atari graphics on my blog).
7: Keep it to yourself. Posting your press release to your website does not guarantee anyone has seen it. Make sure you have a well-researched list of media contacts that cover your topic and company and send it to them via email. And make sure that your colleagues, other experts and organizations in the field receive it, too. They can be equally valuable in forwarding your news along. Depending on the nature of the news and your budget, you can look into news services like PRWeb.com, EurekAlert!, PR Newswire and BusinessWire.
8: Send it to everybody. This is the flip-side of the rule above. Sending your press release to every media contact in the world, regardless of their relevance to your company or issue, is a great long-term strategy to get ignored. There’s a word for press releases that are way off-topic for a particular reporter’s beat: spam. As appealing as it may be in the short-term, the shotgun approach (aiming broadly and hoping you’ll hit something, anything), can jeopardize valuable relationships, erode your credibility and undermine long-term ROI.
9: Organize a press conference. Unless you are a Fortune 50 company, a professional sports franchise or a cabinet-level government agency, a press conference should not be your go-to news distribution tactic for 99% of your press releases. The era of reporters anxiously scribbling in an auditorium with fedoras and flashbulbs is way, way gone, if it ever existed. The Internet killed it. Now, there are more efficient ways to get the same — if not better — information without the reporters, or you, ever leaving the office. It’s not to say you can’t do a press conference, but be prepared to spend a lot of time and attention organizing an event that could generate the same return as other tactics that require far less investment.
10: Expect immediate results. Sometimes your press releases will generate press right away. Many times, they won’t. Don’t be disheartened. Many publications — especially niche publications with a very specific audience — take months for a story to germinate into an article. Other times, it’s the aggregate story told through multiple releases over time that spark media interest. Or, maybe it’s just a matter of space and time for a particular outlet — if an editor doesn’t have space or time for your story this time, check back next time with your next great release.
But enough focusing on the negative. For the hundreds of ways to screw up a press release, there are just as many ways to make them sing in front of your most important audiences.
Have some favorite tips you want to share? Comment away!
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SO glad you shared this. As the former managing editor of a regional magazine, I can’t tell you how many egregious press release offenses I personally saw during my tenure.
But the worst of all: Misspellings. And they are rampant!
So I’ll add “proofread” to your list of tips. And remember SpellCheck doesn’t catch everything!
Agreed. Editors need to have confidence that the information in press materials is credible. Typos quickly erode that confidence. Thanks for the great addition!
Nice blog post! I work in PR, and I must say that I especially agree with point # 9. Often, companies want to have a press conference because they think it’s “cool” and makes them feel important. However, journalists are busy… often too busy to make it to your press conference (unless you’ve got some headline news or groundbreaking research or killer celebrities in attendance). Plus, the point here is to get news coverage, not just throw a cool party!
Yep. I mean, if you want to throw a party, throw a real party.
It’s up to PR pros to talk management and clients “off the ledge” of press conferences. The alternative is to explain to those same folks why you had two reporters in the room and 150 signed up on the web audiocast.
Thanks for this information. I’m preparing for something big in the next year and want it to be a hit! I don’t want to fail at this, so thank you very much for this insight.
as a non-profit comm pro myself, I never rely on press releases to get my org or clients coverage. It’s all about personalization and doing as much of the leg work as possible for the reporters. All great reminders in this post.
Great points. It’s more about the story, the information and how you get it in front of reporters. Much less about the format. Thanks!
Great post and congrats on being freshly pressed–happened to me a couple of days ago–way to go!
You’ve heard it before, apparently, but great post! I am reading “The Dragonfly Effect” by Jennifer Aaker. I recommend it if you haven’t read it yet.
I agree with Mikalee, check your spelling and grammer. But also make sure it is relevant to the people you are sending it to. Good post.
I used to work in PR… great points here.
As a marketing professional; it’s nice to see WordPress feature a post on a well established marketing tool. Your tips are spot on and especially make sense in today’s world. I feel like a lot of PR professionals haven’t fully adapted to the age of the internet and are still holding on to old, obsolete methods. I graduated in 2009 and so little was taught on how to leverage the internet as a marketing tool. Thanks for setting the record straight.
Good Post. Just like the saying goes, “Timing is everything.” The suggestions that you have given are noteworthy, if followed will help a company to trully be seen and heard on the internet.
Don’t send a copy of every press release or press packet to every editor on the masthead. As a community newspaper editor, I noticed this was often done by pharma companies, hospitals, chic nightspots and other entities with a lot of money to splash around. Maybe it was just a particular PR firm that was guilty of this …
DO send your favorite editor a free bottle of merlot at Christmas… ;D No, I really can’t recommend it, although when I did receive such a gift once, I enjoyed it with gusto.
Thanks for great feedback from the trenches! In appreciation, I’ll be sending a bottle of wine shortly.
I just like the Pitfall reference. I used to love playing that game as a kid. That and Pitfall 2. Just thought I’d share. Great blog!
http://mwaytoday.wordpress.com
This post makes me realize how much more I could be doing with my own blog and PR. I’ve tried to expand to Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo updates, and have even tried StumbleUpon. I’m still trying to find more Internet outlets to pursue…any ideas?
Hi Brendon, this is just a little note to let you know that people far and wide read your posts. And to let you know that it makes good sense to read them too
I worked in PR years ago and gradually moved into the electronic side of things. So I haven’t been an official PR professional in a long time. However, these are all good and logical points to remember for a variety of communication methods nowadays, not just for press releases. I enjoyed this post, so thanks. Even if I knew nothing of PR, it was well-written and humorous as well.
Thanks for the post. That was quality stuff.
Thanks for posting this. I’m writing some press releases for a pro-bono client who is just beginning to dip her toes into the marketing pool after 20 years (yes, that’s correct) of doing things old school. The timing point is a particularly good point for anyone to keep in mind.
Way to go on making it to the homepage!
How’s THIS for a press release? Can you FEEL the sacrasm??? http://willblogforlols.com/2010/11/05/freelolswillblogforlols-renewed-for-2011/
If anyone needs practice, I could do with the help! Although most of you will be in the USA, I dare say, so a little too long distance.
Great tips if I decide to have a go myself, although letting an IT professional loose on the media is probably not a good idea.
Great advice. Every tweet IS a pr release in this new universe of inbound marketing and the power of peer recommendations. Writing short is the new challenge.
As a journalist I second #8. Don’t get me wrong, my colleagues and I get a huge laugh out these things. “Why in the [frickity frack] would anyone send this to us?” we guffaw. And then we hit delete. However, I estimate I get 10 press spams a week. In the past five years, I have received exactly one press release that was relevant to my beat. If people are paying to have these things sent, they are wasting their money.
I’d also mention that repeatedly bombarding people with emails is a good way to get all of your incoming mail flagged and filtered so only the Firewall ever sees it. This deprives me and my co-workers of much needed laughs.
And on the topic of content: Stop! With! The! Exclamation! Points! It makes you look demented!!
Thanks to Brendon & JSG for confirming that press release spam hardly gets any attention. Having worked in the spamming business for corporate interests (shoot wide, hope for responses) I can say that a response rate of 1 per cent was usually considered quite a good result. Peer- or issue-focused releases usually were more successful. On #9: when a presser is part of a larger event, a press conference still makes sense. Journalists will come to meet other presenters and reps of big companies that they usually can’t have access to. However, you can never be sure that the name of the event will get featured.
I’m in marketing, and these are great points to keep in mind for our next press release. Thank you, and congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Since I’m wrapping up my Public and Media Relations class this term, I love reading about it OUTSIDE the classroom. Makes me feel like working towards my Master’s is coming in handy. Everything you said is what I’m actually studying in class!! I hate learning material that’s not applicable because is outdated or something. This is a great post.So I’m glad I stumbled on you! (P.S. my final is Saturday! wish me luck!)
Good luck. Glad this was helpful!
if the idea is to get any publicity good or bad does this apply I wonder
Both your posts make just excellent points! As a feature reporter who gets bombarded by press releases on a regular basis, I’ve often wished I could sit down a roomful of PR agents and tell them what not to do! I think a lot of them could benefit by reading these articles
Nice work!
Haha brilliant post, I agree with most people’s comments. It’s so important to attract the right audience to a press release- one wrong punctuation or unprofessional word and you are royally in trouble!
Great post, as a new marketeer, this is incredibly useful information.
Thanks
Learnt a few of these the hard way too, the higher ups really love those conferences..
Though it can depend on your topic, a lot of our services are aimed at the older generation that doesn’t interact with computers much, makes my work a bit harder
11: Never ring up a journalist to ask them if they received your press release. This is number one on the list of PR people behaviours that most annoy journalists – pestering us about whether or not we’ve seen your release. If we’re interested, we’ll be back to you. If we’re not, you ringing us up won’t make any difference at all.
A journalist friend of mine once joked that the best way to keep something secret is to put it in an email and write “Press Release” in the subject line…having worked in both PR and media, I would have to say that this is a sad, but true fact. So I suppose #11 on your list should be “Don’t put Press Release as the Subject Line”…!
Good call. Sometimes I’ll use “News from [organization]:…” or “[Topic] News: …”
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Great tips. As a career journalist, I’ve been amazed how much money gets spent on PR and how much of it is wasted.
If you really want to get some decent coverage, remember to include connected and productive freelancers. I’ve been writing for The New York Times for 20 years but rarely receive press releases from anyone even though I may have a better shot at getting them into a major publication than an overwhelmed staffer meeting his or her own agendas and deadlines.
Excellent post, Brendon! I’m an editor at a newswire service and a former staff writer at a newspaper, so I’ve seen these errors far too often. Thanks for putting these tips out there!
This was some really great advice! Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks for sharing your advice, in releasing your press release are you expecting instant results all of the time? I mean it must be rare for a press release to build up momentum? Is a press release either an instant hit or an instant failure?
Good point.
Some folks expect that if they distribute a press release, it’ll be in the paper the next day, or the day after, which is rarely the case. Unless it has really timely news, editors and reporters have to wait for space to open up. And sometimes reporters will revisit a story thats months old.
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Also don’t let the distributors of the press release set the embargo day without checking with you first that you have a lot of free time around that day, and that you have access to phone/email/radio booth. Surprising how many press releases have a release day during/just after a conference when the main players aren’t going to be contactable by normal means at all.
Great call. Nothing worse than having to tell interested media that your experts aren’t available.
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Very nice post, Brendon. It’s great to se people defending the press release when its evils are only due to misuse. To me, not targeting appropriately is the worst sin of all (your #8 + not using appropriate terminology for your target audience). I wrote a post specifically on this topic a couple of weeks ago: http://blog.augure.com/2010/11/05/8-ways-to-write-better-press-releases/
Cheers
@PascalJappy
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Great post
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Very nice post, Brendon. It’s great to see people defending the press release.
Thank you