Guest post by Derek Vaughan

Having been involved with PR since the days before new media, I have made numerous adjustments to my PR strategies to maximize the impact of my news releases in the digital era. Unfortunately, I have also seen many ”old school” agencies and PR experts who have overlooked these critical elements of the modern digital news release. Here’s a bit of what I believe they may be missing.

1. Using keywords in the headline

To anyone who’s ever used Google news or a blog post to gain website traffic, the need to have well targeted keywords in your titles is obvious. Search engines (including specialty search like Google News) automatically look through online content and begin with the headline or title of a piece to determine the overall category for the content and the search terms that may trigger that content to appear. Continue reading

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If you’ve been in the PR field for a few days, you have heard at least one journalist complaining about bad press releases saying nothing and being sent to them in an attempt to get their attention. There are quite a few articles about effective press release writing complete with ebooks and hardcover books to help you get the hang of this important task: crafting a news release that works.

No wonder there have been some harsh reactions to the latest New York Times press release that says (almost) nothing new. After bragging on a few paragraphs about how their business section is the greatest they finally throw in some bits of info about a new column being launched.

I for one cannot imagine why you need a press release to announce the world how cool your paper is. Who are you sending the release to? Would you actually expect other newspapers to say how much cooler you are? Are you trying to impress young business people looking for info and mentors? Or are you trying to get some more ads on you website and in your print version and writing a release to convince companies they should do whatever to get some editorial or advertising coverage? Whatever the reason, it still is a bit lame. It’s still pseudo-news, it’s still time wasted saying nothing…

The fact it comes from the New York Times is even worse. You’d expect more for them! If they wanted to send such a material out, they could have done so to a business newsletter list. Add a list of top 10 reasons to advertise/invest in getting editorial coverage in the New York Times and throw in a discount for orders placed in the next few days and that’s still a way better idea than the said press release.

Head over to the PR Newser website and read the entire release text (if you have the patience) and the statement of NY Times’ PR reps explaining why they have issued the release and let me know what you think about this entire affair!

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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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A lot of PR agencies or corporate PR departments still believe spam is the way to go. They have built or bought quite a data base over the years, they keep expanding it and then shoot an email to everyone on the list. While they might have had some common ground when starting to develop the data base, over time names and emails just keep being added without any further checks. Who cares if you’re interested, we’ll email you anyway.

I am not talking about asking for permission, or allowing people to unsubscribe, I’m talking about at least making sure they are remotely interested in what they’ll receive. For example, why would I be interested in a debate held in Beverly Hills between a Rabbi and some woman I know nothing about on dating in a material world and if money can or cannot buy love?

If you’re gonna spam, at least be wiser than the average spammer! You should be able to at least do that if you’ve ever read anything, even a tiny article on PR and/or marketing. If you’re going to take your chance and spam, at least make sure people won’t delete your email because they simply don’t care!

I’d advise you to refrain from spam alltogether. Sure, contact someone to introduce yourself and ask for their permission to send press releases. But don’t start out with an attached PR and a one-liner asking them to call you for details!

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