Now that anyone can break a story through Twitter is the old-fashioned press release obsolete? People have been predicting its demise for years, but I think the truth is much more complicated.
As I wrote in my Are Blogs King and Press Releases Obsolete? post last year, today’s Web 2.0 world doesn’t mean you should stop issuing press releases and replace them with announcements on your blog. Likewise, you shouldn’t just start tweeting all your announcements. The press release is alive and well—but for increasingly narrow purposes.
When to Use a Press Release
You should still consider using a press release when you want to:
- Shape perception of a story and generate positive media coverage. Chick-fil-A’s unconventional first person press release countering criticism from gay rights groups is a great example.
- Entice the media to pick up your feature story.
- Provide the 5Ws (who, what, where, when, why) and quotes the media can use for background on a story (especially local news).
- Announce a press conference, upcoming event, or changes at a publicly held corporation.
Make sure to include keywords (otherwise known as magic magnets) in your press release copy if you plan to post it online.
When NOT to Use a Press Release
But never ever waste time getting a press release written and cleared when:
- Bad news hits. In a crisis, you need to get ahead of the story and post information via Twitter and other social media channels as soon as management clears it (assuming you’ve built strong networks ahead of time). If you don’t act fast, an information void can quickly fill with unflattering or untrue rumors. Virtually any press releases you release will be too late and out of date (of course, as noted above, you still may want to issue press releases to shape perceptions).
- Your story will become too stale. A Legal PR Advice blog post has a funny—and frustrating—story about a law firm that took a week to write and approve a press release after winning a major patent infringement case. As a result, the firm received no media coverage. A quick email to all the IP and tech reporters would have gotten the story picked up fast. So would have a tweet (assuming the firm built a strong network ahead of time).
- Your story isn’t news. So many crappy press releases about non-stories are written that it is easy to jump to the conclusion that the press release is dead. If your story is purely self promotional and has little chance of generating any media coverage, don’t just post a boring press release on your website. Instead, post a Facebook update or blog post (then tweet a link) telling the story of the end result in emotional terms. More people will read and share your story, paying much higher public relations dividends.
Your turn … what other ideas would you suggest for when to use or not use a press release?
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I am not sure I am following your point about a Facebook update or blog post telling the story of an end result in emotional terms. Wouldn’t a press release accomplish the same thing?
Well, a dry blog post certainly would. What I meant is eliminating corporate press releases on things like charities being supported (purely self promotional and not something your local newspaper is likely to publish). If your firm was supporting, for example, a nonprofit working to decrease maternal mortality, you could write a blog post speaking in emotional terms about what motherhood means to families and how the firm’s support was helping create change. The post could highlight a couple of employees telling what their moms meant to them as a way of showing why they love your firm’s support for the cause. I don’t think a press release could accomplish the same intimacy or be as likely to capture the reader’s interest.
I see your point, but I am surprised you recommend self-promotional posts on a corporate blog. Should a corporate blog provide some sort of value to readers, not how-great-we-are posts?
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. After receiving your comment, I actually wrote a whole blog post on my take on corporate blogs at http://www.eventuresincyberland.com/2011/05/how-to-remove-the-snooze-from-your-company-blog/ but forgot to let you know about it. I hope you keep coming back. I’d love to hear from you again!
The news release is DEAD as an emergency information tool because it usually takes too long to get approved by the incident command or the political levels. It’s only good for the third component of the PIO’s job: reputation management/PR … whereas the first two components (related to delivering info about the incident) are more and more handled through more immediate means such as social networks … the PIO needs to act immediately at the onset of an incident to first convey the info necessary to help his audiences stay safe and protect themselves and their family, and secondly, to adopt the behaviour the authorities wish their audiences to adopt: shelter in place, evacuate or prepare …
The news release doesn’t allow the PIO to do that in time these days …
@patricecloutier Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog, Patrice. I couldn’t agree with you more. The news release is DEAD when it comes to “breaking” news for emergency management professionals and virtually everyone else too.