Thursday, March 3, 2011

The untold truth about press releases

I often get calls from potential new clients asking if I can write a press release for them. While I enjoy paying my bills as much as the next guy, many times I ask a few questions and tell them I can't do it.
Having spent many years on the receiving end of press releases, I am often astounded by what clients think a press release should accomplish.
I once had an attorney agonize for days over what turned out to be a five- page release because he assumed that based on his particular expertise the paper would print it verbatim.  I tried to convince him to boil it down to a 400 word commentary for editorial page consideration to no good result. He was astounded and insulted when I told him that if we were lucky we would get one quote in a larger wrap-up story on the issue. In spite of his actual brilliance on the subject matter, the resulting release was so opaque, we didn't even get that one quote. His response to the missed opportunity? "But I thought they needed good stories so they wouldn't have to use all that out-of-town news."
News is in the eye of the beholder. When you present a press release for consideration you are the beholden.
Here are a few realities even your favorite journalist may not tell you:
1) There is still nothing more important than the Big 5.
If your release does not include the who, what, when, where and why, the overworked person reading it  is going to have to make a call.  Unless you are announcing a major event or activity of great importance to the larger community , it is just as easy to go to the next release on the stack that has the necessary information. Have respect for the person going through the press release mountain and put the key information up high in the release.
2) Fluff was delicious with peanut butter when you were a kid -- it has no place in press releases.
Maybe not everyone recalls or loved that gooey marshmallow product, but it is about as relevant to nutrition as puffed-up claims and elaborate adjective strings are to press releases. Statements have to be factual, opinions must be attributed to someone in quotation form. Don't make comparative or competitive claims unless you can back them up with objective, third-party data.
3) Respect their time, know their rules
Editors and producers have the daily task of sorting through reams of emails, faxes and phone calls to keep feeding the beast. Even traditional media now have 24-hour Internet news cycles giving them much more work than ever before with the smallest staffs and tightest budgets in modern times. Know their deadlines and whether they prefer fax, mail or email. Call only once to confirm they got the release. Do not call to complain if it wasn't used.
If you are seeking coverage of anything less than a joint press conference of Charlie Sheen, Lady Gaga and Nelson Mandella -- give media a few days notice for their planning purposes. If you want to comment on something that happened that day-- the information has to be in their hands within that news cycle. You are not doing them a favor, you are asking for their help.
4) This isn't pasta
The idea of throwing it against the wall to see if something sticks works only in the kitchen. There has to be a reason for a greater audience to care about your release. Every person who has ever worked a news desk can tell you horror stories about  the chronic releasers who make their bosses/clients happy by apparently getting paid by page and word volume. They would all  do well to read a copy of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
Don't send separate copies to everyone in the same news organization. An assignment editor/producer and the regular beat reporter are enough, unless there is a reporter who has a longstanding relationship with the company/ client. If that's the case, they should get a personal heads up that the release is coming.
5) Sometimes a release should go directly to in-house channels
Corporate websites are full of online newsrooms with glittering, detailed releases full of promotional information.  That is an excellent use of such copy. It works because information that is interesting to involved readers who brought themselves to the website is not necessarily interesting to the general public. I have often sent such releases to primary beat reporters with a cover note saying that the copy is strictly for their information as it will be posted on the website. I've yet to have one make a story out of it anyway, but I have had several thank me for acknowledging what I gave them was not news.
6) Sometimes there should be no release at all
Some issues are best addressed with simple statements, fact sheets, one-on-one interviews or direct media like advertising , websites or social media. In all professional communications the first questions have to be:
--who is the audience?
-- what do you want to tell them? 
With those facts in hand, the best path should be clear. There's a special place in heaven for those who spare hardworking journalists the blight of bad releases.

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