The actual Mark Twain quote is "The report of my death was an exaggeration."
When it comes to the much maligned press release, no matter how much some might wish the death notice to be true, the press release as a form is actually doing its job just fine. It tells you who, what, where, when, why and usually how.
Well written press releases do so with an economy of language that gives the reporter the facts and encourages him to search out more information to make the story "his." And, as I and so many others have said (many of whom will be linked to below) the press release is only one tool in the practitioner’s kit. The communicator who relies solely on her release to tell the story deserves to be in the Bad Pitch Blog.
So what’s the problem? Why do so many want to read the last rites over the press release?
Here’s my .02 —
There is an awful lot of shoddy PR practice. Full stop. Fluffy, content-free press releases masquerading as news. How can they pitch some of this stuff?
I lay much, but not all, of the blame for this on the press release being used as sales collateral. And I don’t mean the incidental use of a press release in the sales process. I mean the deliberate writing of press releases to be used by sales people with prospects. I think that’s why so much fluffy stupid language crept into the press release, and folks started to forget to make each announcement pass the "newsworthy" test.
The press stopped being the principal audience for many. The form of the release and the practice of PR suffered as a result.
It is okay that press releases are picked up on search engines and used by sales people in the sales process. It is NOT okay to forget that a press release should first and foremost be a NEWS release.
There are other ways to communicate sales messages. Specifically, advertising and direct mail.
There are other ways to pitch more complex stories to a reporter. Pick up the phone and call. If you haven’t been trying to pass off crappy sales collateral as news, the reporter might just take your call.
The practice of public relations is not defined by the press release. Yes, it has its problems, but these will not be solved by getting distracted by the press release red herring. We have to stay focused on the larger issues — how to improve the practice of PR, how to integrate the new media (without throwing out the baby), and ultimately, how to best serve the communication needs of our clients and companies, irrespective of the tool. Need a chisel, use a chisel. Need a mallet, use a mallet. And so on.
There are a lot of bright folks blogging about PR. Below are some of the recent posts I’ve run across.
I’ve also written about this more than once. Here’s the link to all my posts in the PR category. Many of them touch this topic.
Or that it solves the practice problems we’ve identified, ’cause let’t face it, a crappy pitch will still be crappy, regardless of format.
After I finished writing the first draft of this post and was creating my links list, I ran across Steve Rubel’s post Everything is a press release. While I appreciate the sentiment, I respectfully disagree. In fact, I believe that the use of blogs and other social media in the dissemination of news is an important adjunct to the press release, but it does not replace the press release. Outside of the pr/marcom industry, we cannot and should not expect bloggers to do the same job as a good PR person in covering all the bases in an announcement.
Blogs can absolutely disseminate news, but we still need the form of a press release in many instances. It is as good a form as any, and if you want to call me a dinosaur for defending it, just pick a cute one. I don’t mind the one in the PR Squared announcement.
Tom Murphy (above) refers to kicking the dead dog. Well, there’s also another phrase that fits this situation:
When it comes to "the press release is dead" meme, that dog don’t hunt.
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Update March 2: Andy Lark weighs in as well, expressing the same frustration many of us feel at the "press release is dead" meme. He wishes we could just stop talking about it. I suspect we will, for a while. Then, someone will start a new blog or something will happen or maybe a new Web 2.0 "thing" will be announced that promises to "revolutionize" PR. It almost doesn’t matter what, but someone, somewhere will type the fateful words, "the press release is dead" or something similar. And even though we are tired beyond measure of this discussion, we’ll all jump in again, to varying degrees. Because if we don’t join the conversation, it will go on without us. And then we really will be dinosaurs.
News releases: When all is said and done, it’s about talent and experience
Tom Foremski continues to advocate that all news releases be killed. And there’s a lot of discussion back and forth that’s worth reading if you’re new to this point of view (Susan Getgood has a great wrap-up of links and stuff here).
What no one is …
Susan – Thanks for your thorough review of this meme. And I’m not just saying that because we agree.
If I were pitching Foremski, and this pitch needed a news release, I would certainly use his style.
But I still disagree with him. Oh well. It’s a good dialogue if nothing else. Thanks again.
Thanks for the comment on my blog, Kevin. I had been collecting some of the links over the week, getting ready to respond to the Foremski post. Your “tombstone” post provided the catalyst.
For now, I’m pretty much talked out on this. I’m sure there will be an additional flurry coming out of New Comms Forum and then let’s hope it goes to sleep for a bit.
Now I’m going to go write a press release for a client 🙂
Hi Susan –
Thanks for visiting and linking!
I think we’ll all ultimately find a hybrid approach, but what I do tend to like about this “new style” is the ability to link to various and sundry content sources, to create more context for the journalist (outside official client sources, e.g., in our “let’s try it” version, we link the founder’s name to an old WIRED article about his Furby days).
Again, thanks!
Todd — I think we already have this hybrid approach – it’s called the pitch. Good PR folks tailor the pitch to each top priority journalist for the client/company, providing them with perhaps a unique angle, some additional material, an offer for review copies or samples when appropriate, whatever they think will make the story stand out for the reporter. The news release may be part of this package of stuff, but it is just part of the whole tale.
And if you have the know how to deliver the material in “Web 2.0” style, and the reporter can use it effectively in that form, terrific. But we’ve also got to consider the audience.
Imagine if you will – I am on the marketing committee for my local chamber of commerce. We send news items to the local papers on a regular basis. If the beat reporter for the local papers got a package of electronic material with tags and links and so forth, I suspect her head would explode. She just wants a nice little press release.
The real problem is content – the news we disseminate has got to start being NEWS again. The format should be irrelevant. The only real advantage of the press release is that it is a fairly consistent form so reporters shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what it’s about. Of course, as we know, since so many releases are BAD, this falls apart. So let’s focus on making the content and writing better. Then the form won’t matter as much.
In Healthcare The Press Release Is Far From Dead (Thank Goodness)
Tom Foremski’s suggestion that we kill off the press release has gotten a BIG reaction from the blogosphere. In his cleverly titled post Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die! Tom says:
“Press releases are nearly useless. They typically start with a t…
Susan:
This is a fantastic response to Tom’s post. I couldn’t agree with you more about the continued utility of the press release. It’s always going to come down to the story — no matter how you package it.
I’ve posted my own response to Tom’s article — from a healthcare communciations perspective on my blog, Envisioning 2.0 (http://fardj.prblogs.org). Please check it out when you get a chance.
Best,
Fard