The press release isn't dead yet

I'm sure that Heather Whaling's Ragan.com column, "10 alternatives to sending a press release," caused many people to breathe a sigh of relief. For whatever reason, non-publicists are often intimidated by press releases. I sometimes get the impression in my workshops that people would rather give a speech than write a press release. For those who don't like them, you'll find a couple of different options on Heather's list that are a good fit for your communication style and ability, so give it a read.

I'd like to take her column a step further and offer reasons why you still want to use press releases, though. There's a lot of chatter about whether these tools are still effective now that we've got Twitter, Facebook pages, websites, and so many other ways to get our information in front of our target audiences. They are. And here are five reasons why:

1. A well-written press release will still get used. This is especially true when you're sending it to weekly newspapers, smaller dailies, trade magazines, e-zines, and other outlets that are looking for the information you're offering because it's relevant or important to their readers, viewers, etc. And by "well-written," I don't mean award-winning. Just get to the point quickly and include the facts. (If you're an author writing a book announcement press release, read my tips on how to do that. If you want a fill-in-the-blanks template, you might like this resource.)
2. A distributed press release is an aggressive alternative to the more passive options on Heather's list. Oh yeah, sure, you can put a YouTube video up there or write a blog posting about whatever you've got going on, but people -- including journalists -- have to come looking for it. When you send a press release, you're shouting, "Hey! Look at me!" (And oh-by-the-way, make sure that any press release service you use actually sends the thing out. Some of the free sites don't -- your release only sits on their site waiting to be found.)
3. When your press release gets picked up, you're reaching people who aren't on your e-newsletter list or missed out on your blog tour interviews, etc. You're expanding your audience and building your business.
4. A press release posted in your website's press room is a two-fer: (1) It helps search engines find your site and all your organization has to offer while (b) it provides journalists searching for information about your topic with helpful or relevant content presented in a format that works for them.
5. When you become known as someone who provides good information in press releases, you get added to journalists' contact databases. They'll start calling you for interviews without you reaching out to them because they trust and respect you. And that's when your publicity program shifts to automatic pilot.

Why do you think press releases are still effective?

Get more publicity by including your competitor in your press releases

It's counter-intuitive, but referring to your competitor in a press release can help boost the pick-up of your news or information. Why? First, it gives the impression that you might actually be objective -- not usually the case with press releases. Second, when your press or news release is built around a list of the "top" this, the "best" that, or the "most popular" something else, it can be hard to leave them out.

How does this work? One of the best ways to get media attention is to offer a "best of" or "most popular" list. A list must include products or services that aren't yours -- otherwise, the list has no credibility. If you chose them carefully for reasons based on retail geography, product features, cost, or something else that's relevant, you can position your brand appropriately while boosting your pick-up by offering to the press what appears to be fairly objective news and information that is actually useful.

Here are a few examples of how this might work:

• The maker of a product such as BlindWinder, which stores dangerous blind cords, can send a press release on "the most appreciated baby shower gifts." The list could include BlindWinders, the enormously popular What To Expect When You're Expecting book, the new Pampers designer diapers getting lots of publicity right now (and why not piggyback on that?), or anything else the manufacturer uncovers in research on this subject.
• A private school looking to boost enrollment can offer advice on how to select a private school by focusing on its strengths while comparing itself to competitive schools that stand out in other ways. For example, if your school has no athletic program, emphasize the athletics of a competitor because you're not going to attract the family looking for a top athletics program anyway. If one of your school's strengths is its affordability, make sure the most expensive private school in the area is on the list, with its cost emphasized.
• The author of a summer grilling book can offer a list of the best new cookbooks for outdoor chefs. The list will include the author's book first, followed by a flattering critique of four others, all selected because they emphasize foods or cooking styles not covered in the author's book.

Be strategic about the other products or services you select to include in your press release that offers advice in a list form -- chose a competitor who doesn't necessarily share your specialty or is on the other side of town and won't draw traffic away from your business. But do include them. You'll enjoy far more success that way.

Have you used this tactic before? What was the outcome?

Don't Include Known Spam Triggers in Your Press Releases

It's not easy writing press releases that will always make it past spam filters and get to their intended recipients. The list of words and phrases that trigger spam alerts seems to keep growing.

To help people like us, SalesNexus has published a list of more than 300 words or phrases to avoid using in e-mail messages. I'd share some here, but then the people who subscribe to this blog via e-mail might not receive the message. Let's just say that I was surprised by some of them.

SalesNexus, a Web-based contact management company, has also published an e-book with e-mail marketing advice -- some of which might apply to publicists using e-mail to connect with journalists.

Thanks to the folks at SalesNexus for making this list available on the company's site. They're doing a nice job of showing, rather than telling, that the way to win customers is to share information that illustrates that they know what they're doing.

It's Not a News Release if There's No News in It

There's no question that the news/press release is evolving as a media relations tool. But there's also no question that no matter what you call it, or how you present or distribute it, it must:

• 1. Contain news or useful information
• 2. Be distributed in a format that makes the content easy to use

I like to use my inbox for examples that illustrate these lessons; today's inbox included a brief cover note with a PDF attachment. (Let's just skip past the "no attachments" rule.) Because I always instruct those I'm mentoring to present their news materials in a format that's easy to copy and paste -- which doesn't describe a PDF file -- I opened the attachment. I wanted to see how bad it was.

It was really bad.

I'm not sure what to call it, but it wasn't the promised "news release." Maybe it was an ad. Maybe it was a flyer. Maybe it was sales collateral. I'm not sure.

The attachment was for a well-known manufacturer of brand name home power tools, so I was extra surprised at how useless it was. (I have higher standards for companies with bigger publicity budgets.)

It was a highly designed collage of seriously-Photoshopped photos of six products. Under each photo was a description of the tool, what it does, and its price. I don't know which products are new. I don't know what makes any of these products different from or better than their competitors. And I don't know what the publicist expects me to do with the short product descriptions -- not that it matters. I don't write about that stuff.

How usable is the content? Not usable at all. I can't right click and save the product photos. I wouldn't be able to use them, either, because of the visual enhancements -- the products are artificially highlighted so they stand out against the environment they're photographed against. The text can't be copied or pasted either -- which is typical of PDFs -- but it clearly wasn't written for editorial purposes. At best, the text might get a journalist thinking about a product category round-up piece. At best. And even that forces me to think too much.

So, publicist at the bigname company, if you want me to start thinking of articles I can write around your products, send me a pitch letter with article idea suggestions. If you want to send me a news release, send me news in a text format that I can copy and paste. And if you want to send me sales collateral, as you've done here, take me off your distribution list. I don't like to waste anyone's time -- yours or mine.

Don't Make This Common Press Release Mistake

I do a lot of press release makeovers, helping entrepreneurs, authors, and nonprofit organization communicators find and highlight the news in their announcement. More often than not, the biggest problem is that the news release writer puts himself at the center of the news, not the product or service. When this happens, the press release uses a format that goes like this: "I'm doing this, here's why I'm doing this, it's really interesting that I'm doing this, here's my life story."

The format you want to use is more like: "Here is the news. Here's why you care about this news. Here's some information about the person/business/organization behind this news."

When thinking about how you will approach your next news release, focus on what will be of greatest interest to those reading the news (your target audience), not on yourself. Sure, it's cool for you that after retiring from a corporate career you started a consulting firm. But that's common. It's not news. What is news, perhaps, is how your business model is built around the zen practices of Buddhist monks, that your office is in a treehouse, or that you specialize in consulting with military veterans.

In most cases, we are not the news. It's what our company does that makes news. I'll be posting more tips later on how to write a news release that works, so come back soon.

Journalists Offer Tips for Making Sure You Get Media Buzz

Some journalist friends were commenting online recently about the best ways for small businesses, small nonprofit organizations, and others to get that free media attention known as publicity. They gave me permission to share their advice here so that more could benefit from their wisdom:

• Keep your press releases short and as to the point as possible.
• Always ask yourself this question: Would YOU read about your press release topic if it featured another business?
• Watch for trends and use them to pitch stories that will help put a spotlight on your business or organization.
• Be willing to tell the story of how you coped when things went wrong. Conflict is the crux of a good story.
• Put the point in the first paragraph of the press release. If you're telling me about your new restaurant, get the opening of a new restaurant in the first graph, don't give me four graphs about the local foodie scene and the chef's mother first.
• Include complete contact info.
• Don't send giant photo files.
• If your press release is in plain text and in the body of the e-mail rather than in an attachment, I already like you better than people who sent attachments.
• Who needs a press release? Just send the basic facts in a basic format. "Hi. I'm John Smith and I have a story that I think your readers will be interested in."
• Show that you read the paper. Suggest where your story might fit. If you send it to several editors (and that's OK), you can mention that you did so and we won't hold it against you.
• Respond quickly when a reporter calls you. They may be looking for sources who are available that day or that week. If you're not ready, they will move on to someone else. I used to do shopping guides, and I was amazed at how many stores refused to answer basic questions, such as hours. So I left them out and moved on to someone else.
• If you are the business owner yourself, you can call a few times to follow up. If you are a local PR person, you can call once. If you are an out-of-town PR person, don't call.
• Don't call to find out if your item has been in the paper, don't ask me to help you find it on the Web site and don't ask me to send you a clipping. It shows you don't read the paper, so why would I waste my time putting you in it?

This is all just common sense, but sometimes we need to be reminded.