Par Deux:Fix Those Press Releases!

In a follow-up article Enough Already: Getting the Social Media Release All Wrong, Brian Solis of FutureWorks PR describes reader reactions.

Some ask, why is a traditional press release even necessary? Others demand that all press releases now consist of video clips that demonstrate the product or interview the product manager.

[Pardon me. A very large yawn just overcame me.]

Such a willful lack of understanding! We editors receive information from a variety of sources:

- vendor demos, either onsite or through WebEx.
- demo software and hardware sent to us.
- conference calls.
- blogs and Web sites.
- other, competitive publications.
- letters from readers, independent or otherwise.
- surveys and research.
- and press releases.

Each has its benefits (and drawbacks). They provide varying levels of details. The press release is useful because it is (relatively) concise, it alerts us to new products, changes in personnel, and so on. A press release could lead to a demo or further research. It acts as an early warning system for editors.

A properly-written press release has all the information I need to judge the newsworthiness of the new product. Price. Delivery date. Features list. Contact info. Optional photographs. (For an excellent example, read one of the press releases I wrote for a recent ebook.)

The Scobalization of the press release would convert it to the half-hour-long video. If I resent spending a single minute puzzling my way through a turgidly-written press release, there is no way I will sit through a droning videogram that lasts for dozens of minutes. I don't even go to YouTube. (Robert's only enthused about video interviews and demos because that's how his company makes $$$.)

I can speed-read through (properly written) press releases at a frighteningly fast rate. With video, I am stuck plodding along at thirty frames a second.

If you send me a video press release, I promise I will not watch it. Just like I no longer open press releases printed on paper and sent by the postal service.

Comments

[Adena Schutzberg]

"It acts as an early warning system for editors." I think that was true at one time. Back in the day (before the Web) no one saw press releases except editors. They decided what newsworthy bits got into their publications. Now press releases are direct communications with everyone, including the end users of a company products and services. Most people who write them today realize this and are trying to entice both editors and end users. That, I think, is all the more reason to write clearly and include relevant facts.

[Dale]

I read your press release which you are presenting as an example of good practice, and I didn't like it (first impressions).
(a) The paragraph starting with "Abbotsford" contains mostly repeated information.
(b) Why is the location so important that it must appear prominently - and early - in the document? Tradition?

I am an engineer, not a writer or editor, but that is my take.