The PR segment of the blogosphere has been having a field day with Steve Rubel’s assertion that blogs and RSS will eventually supplant the press release. Echoing Mark Twain, some posters have referred to his comments as the premature declaration of the "death of the press release."
Now, in my short time as blogger, I have come to appreciate Steve’s style. For the most part, he provides links and information. From time to time, however, he takes a strong position on an issue. ‘Cause nothing works to build interest like a strong position. PR 101, my friends.
Before I get to my opinion, some selections from the bloggersation.
Shel Holtz on Messages and Channels — on the importance of professional communications in getting the story told
John Cass, with a suggestion that we should look for examples where blogs have been more effective than PR. Hard to measure this, John, unless you set the research task prior to the program, not afterward.
Tom Murphy (PR Opinions) — with a rant and a round up of opinions, including his own. BL Ochman makes a similar point to Tom’s: blogs are tools, and won’t replace the press release. But, thank god, blogs are reducing the frequency of lame press releases 🙂
There was WAAAAY more than this, but Tom Murphy has links to much of the commentary in his posts, and if you REALLY want more, I am sure Technorati and Google can help you out.
What do I think?
The press release form has a tremendous value for both marketers and journalists. It is part of our "rules of engagement." A press release tells the reporter who what where when why and, okay, how. Some releases are better than others, but for the most part, press releases get this basic job done. Reporters rely on this. Parseing a blog would be way more painful.
And, Chicken Little and EPIC 2015 notwithstanding, the mainstream media is NOT going away tomorrow. So: companies need to engage with journalists in the time-honored ways. Should the press release feed be in RSS? You bet. Will RSS, a distribution mechanism, replace the press release, a form for communication? No way. Apples and Oranges.
But what about blogs? Those are forms of communication? Can’t they get the job done? Who needs a press release?
Can a corporate blog do the job of the press release? Maybe, but the form of its post is going to be so damn close to the press release that I challenge you to tell the difference.
Shel and Tom cover this very nicely in their posts, but I want to stress one thing. Blogs are not about the rule of engagement. For the most part, bloggers don’t understand or care; they just want access. They won’t strive to address all the points, as a good reporter will. They will pick what they want and ignore the rest. Back to the rules of engagement: it is in all our interests that professional journalists and professional communicators tell the story. Because we want a story. Not just a few facts sprinkled with opinion.
Marketing and PR pros know the press release is just the tip of the iceberg; the outreach to the journalist is far deeper, with many more layers. As a communications professional, you must develop a strategy for communicating with bloggers AND the regular media, which remains as, if not more, important. Bloggers have strong reference value with their core audience. Mainstream media’s influence extends far beyond its fans; even critics respect what the NY Times says.
Blogs are subective. MSM (except perhaps Fox News) is objective. Both have their place in reaching the audience. Make sure you include blogs, RSS and press releases in your forward communications plan.
The press release isn’t dead. it is just evolving.
Sorry, but I can’t disagree more. Blogs can easily supplant press releases — and bloggers are the perfect folk to make that happen. We’re talking good writing here…not opinion. Business blogs are educational and informative, exactly what people are looking for in a press release.
For a small company, sending out a press release, I don’t care how good it is, what great title you choose, or where you send it, the end result will be that it will get buried under all the AP news, and such. On a blog, the right people will see the post, and get exactly the information they need.
Visit BL Ochman’s blog if you still think Press Releases are worthwhile…she has a few good things to say about it. Here’s the link: http://www.whatsnextonline.com/ma72/
And, MSM is rapidly becoming LESS, not more, important in the overall communication’s scheme. Over and over again they show themselves to be opinionated (more so even than bloggers) and uninformed — or downright incorrect. So far, the folks who expose them are…let me think…bloggers.
IMHO.
Yvonne:
Thanks for the comment. I do think blogs are a very important part of the media mix, and will become increasingly more important. I just think that reports of the death of the press release are premature.
A good public relations effort is far more than a simple press release — a good PR person uses a number of different tools to reach the audiences — both MSM and bloggers. Tom Murphy goes in to this in detail in his post that I linked to, as does BL in the link you provided.
The press release as a form however is a very good one. It presents the information in a standard way that makes it easy for the reader to understand the communication. Blog writing is different, as is the article that MSM might write as a result of the press release. I don’t believe we have to jettison a perfectly good communications form simply because the mediascape is changing.
Personally, I am also disturbed that somehow PR has become a dirty word. Yes, there are bad practitioners out there (true of most fields I would say). There are also many many many ethical, talented, credible, creative, smart PR people who are using all the tools at their disposal, including blogs and RSS, to help their clients communicate about their products and services to MSM and bloggers.
Blogs are definitely part of the media mix. I just don’t think they should become THE media mix. We need MSM as well, faults and all.