I have recently ran across some articles about the cost of press releases. While the authors were throwing numbers and averages, no one took the time to also explain what you actually pay for. A press release costs X amount is a limited way of putting it. What does that price refer to in the end? Here are a few things you should consider when analyzing the price of a press release:

You pay for press release writing

The actual press release has to be written by someone. Unless you already have the text, you pay for the service of having a public relations professional writing it for you. Or editing and rewriting it if you have a rough draft of what you want to say. Continue reading

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About 30 seconds. That’s how long it takes for a reader or journalist to decide if your press release is worth their time. And that’s of course an average! In other cases they get bored after 15 seconds. Unfortunately, it’s often not about the quality of the story you’re sending over email or publishing online. It is more often about the information overload we have to deal with everyday.

Hundreds and hundreds or emails, articles and newsletters are received by journalists, employees and business owners every day. For the unlucky ones, it’s thousands, including the 20-30% of it that’s spam managing to trick their filters. Getting 30 seconds of someone’s time is a privilege and you need to make the best out of it. If you succeed, they they will spend an additional minute on your news release and maybe decide to write about it or buy your product. Continue reading

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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.

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