Why press releases should not be a treasure hunt!

By Alina Popescu on August 20th, 2009 in PR & Marketing, You give PR a bad name!

Treasure Map Yes, it’s true, there are hundreds and hundreds of press releases sent out every day. Yes, some of them will be picked up, some won’t. Yes, some of them are boring and some aren’t. I am all for making things differently, try something new, but that does not mean you should change what’s already working.

There’s a reason why press releases are built they way the are. You know, most important information in the first part of the release? Or the inverted pyramid model? And it’s simple. Whoever you send it to, journalists, bloggers, customers or partners, you want them to know what’s new and cool fast. No one has the time and the patience to dig the information out of paragraphs and paragraphs of metaphors and pompous word twists.

I’ve recently come across a few releases where only the very patient managed, after a few tries, to find out 1. what the release was about and 2. what was important and what was just nonsense. If you’re message is hidden and readers have to go through time-wasting quests to discover it, you have failed!

I know all about the overused phrases, but if you want to write a press release that works, try making your message simple, clear and fun! Then send it to people who are actually interested in what you have to say. I think you have a better chance like that, as opposed to hiding it between long sentences that took you hours to come up with and that need a detailed commentary to be understood.

Photo credit.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: PR, PR failure, pr mistakes, press release, press release writing

Most Popular Posts

4 Other Comments

This post has 5 comments

Fyurien
August 20th, 2009

Hey!

I was actually reading an article a while back about press releases. I went through my own attempt at one. I suspect that the release itself was alright, just not great product! =)

Anyway, here’s a story from TechCrunch on press releases. Its a bit old but makes some good points…

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/11/the-evolution-of-the-press-release/

I think maybe a good rule for press releases is to write them as you should design a website. I know its a stretch, but think about it. When a user lands on a page, it shouldn’t take them more then 5 seconds (if that) to find exactly what they are looking for. If they’ve found it, and want to know more, then the second thing they are looking for should also only take about 5 seconds to find. Still 5 seconds is a lot for web surfers. Same is true for anyone reading press releases. So we’ll call it the 5 second rule! Or the get to the point rule!! =)

So simple, clear and fun! =) If you’re reading through hundreds of them, its very easy to ignore the ones that read like a novel and go for the easy to follow ones!
Brad Shorr
August 20th, 2009

Alina, Bravo for this post. I agree with you and Fyurien 100%, maybe even 200%. What’s in it for me? Why is this important? If you can answer those questions right away, maybe I’ll be interested enough to read your pompous word twists and metaphorical rambling. Also make sure to spend as much time writing your headlines and your subheads as you spend on the release itself. Yes, you heard me right. People are actually more likely to read those elements than the text body, even the first couple of lead sentences.
Brad Shorr´s last blog ..The Google Chrome Browser Diet
Alina Popescu
August 21st, 2009

Fyurien, you are quite right. If you’re very lucky, you might get 10 seconds. But the 5 second rule might help a lot of people get their message in the right words!

Brad, you are so right about the headline and the subheads! I’d also add that spending enough time on them does not mean trying to turn a paragraph into a headline! It won’t work, it’s just too long
Karen Swim
August 26th, 2009

Alina, hooray! You are so right about press releases. Don’t make the journalist work to find out what your release is about or they won’t! They won’t read on if your key point is not right up front. So many people have devalued the good old fashioned press release and do not want to spend the effort to learn and use it approrpriately. It is a powerful tool when written the right way.
Karen Swim´s last blog ..How Bulletproof is Your Reputation?
Rosi Designermode
September 23rd, 2009

maybe i should twitter more to get it finally. i’m a friend of words but reduction is my fiend nice words that reminds me of my do-not-list