Comments on: Piss-poor press releases: a remedy

By: Kerry G

Kerry G — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:46:41 +0000

The real issue is that we tend to rely on the press release to do the work of actually cultivating contacts and pitching accurately.

The press release really should be for providing back-up afer you’ve done the pre-amble and build up with a conversation or pithy, personal email. To aid selling the story, not sell the story on it’s little ownsome.

Obviously it still should be written in English and not corporate bollox but it shouldn’t try to replicate a conversation either

By: Some Damn Good PR Reading : Naked PR

Some Damn Good PR Reading : Naked PR — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 05:47:03 +0000

[...] Piss-Poor Press Releases: A Remedy – The Friendly Ghost [...]

By: Judy Gombita

Judy Gombita — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:42:15 +0000

In yesterday’s Cision e-newsletter (which it sends to clients), The Navigator (“Your guide to successful communications”), there was a decent article by a Bill Stoller called “The 10 Commandments of Press Releases.” This was the “commandment” that rang the most true:

9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness.
This may seem an obvious point, but it always bears repeating.

Tell the truth.

Don’t inflate, don’t confabulate, don’t exaggerate. Don’t twist facts, don’t make up numbers, don’t make unsubstantiated claims. Any decent journalist will be able to see right through this. If you’re lucky, your release will just get tossed out. If you’re unlucky, you will be exposed.

It’s a chance not at all worth taking. Make sure every release you write is honest and on the level.

The full article can be found here: http://navigator.cision.com/current/The_10_Commandments_Of_Press_Releases.asp

Last fall I had the opportunity to attend an in-person session (sponsored by my home chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society) with three of the editors from The Canadian Press. Registrants were invited to submit a news release in advance to be critiqued by the editors—which I did. End result, I got it “in the neck” from one of the editors for my “first-of-its-kind” line. Apparently it was “disingenuous” (even though I swear it was, was, was “first-of-its-kind”…and I believe is still, still, still). Anyhow, I’ve taken my cue from that “lesson” and will never even hint at something being a “first” in a release. (And the happy side of the tale is that I made a point of phoning that CP heavyweight the next morning and saying “thanks for the feedback, even though it was brutal.” Now I am comfortable calling up the individual and discussing article ideas in advance of a release.)

By: The Friendly Ghost

The Friendly Ghost — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:16:41 +0000

Ah, but telling it like it is doesn’t mean being boring – quite the opposite in fact. As I said, if you were telling someone about something in a bar you wouldn’t just say “I did X the other day.” You would ramp it up, try and get interest first. You’d say “You’ll never guess what happened to me the other day.” Actually, that could be a good title for a press release!

If you provide a journalist with something sparky and interesting but with newsworth content in the heading and first para (or even first sentence) then you’ve done your job properly – journalist/editor fills space and client gets mentioned.

By: Tim Hoang

Tim Hoang — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:18:59 +0000

Fair point friendly ghost though the (rather limited) experience i’ve had so far suggests otherwise. Journalists never read more than they have to and if it starts off as ‘this really average company is being bought by an equally boring company’ the journalist won’t give a toss. MAybe that’s where the social media release is going, but even then it requires more work from the journo’s side – something that they only really do for the really juicy stories. May be i am wrong, like i said i’ve very limited experience, or maybe it’s because i’m northern and pessimistic but that’s the way it has been for me so far