The press release is not (completely) dead yet

Is the press release dead? Many of the ones I see certainly read like funeral notices. Even those well-crafted press statements that occasionally rise above the din still seem archaic – with their old-school datelines, blocks of text containing more than one sentence, and dissemination by email, PDF, or even [checks notes] newswire.

But don’t start delivering the eulogy just yet. There are still plenty of good reasons to create and share press releases – provided they are published quickly, grab attention, deliver genuine news and can be adapted to modern communications channels.

Yes, there’s a strong argument to be made that press releases have ceased to be an effective means of communication in the social media age. For many PR professionals, they take too long to craft, approve and disseminate – with too little return on investment. By the time they are published, they are old news.

More crucially, in recent years research has shown they are used less and less – both by flacks and journalists. A 2018 survey of 500 journalists worldwide by Muck Rack & Zeno Group found that more than half of journalists do not rely at all on press releases. Since then, the growth in instant social media tools and the increasing velocity of the news cycle have made the traditional press release ever more obsolete.

But even though they can seem like an increasingly pointless chore, there are still compelling reasons to write sharp, informative, newsy press releases. They can even find their way to journalists, provided they cut through the clutter.

There’s no single style or magic template for writing a good press release. Too much depends on the cause, the audience, the subject matter, the level of urgency required. Sometimes one line is enough; sometimes two pages with graphs is appropriate.

But there are a few simple principles to follow that can make press releases resonate:

• Be fast: This seems obvious but is still clearly a problem for many publicists, especially for associations and alliances that send out press releases a day (or more) after things happen. Reaction statements need to be almost instantaneous to be of use to journalists. This puts a premium on preparation and on assuring internal alignment on key messages. Send it out quickly or don’t bother.
• Make it news, not publicity: Too many press releases start with information that is useless to journalists: history/background info, paragraphs about the title of a conference, where it was held and in whose presence. Journalists want news to report, and need to know what it is in the first sentence: a surprising study finding, a counter-intuitive argument, rapid and substantive response to a policy development. Write the press release as a news article and you are speaking a journalist’s language.
• Make it search-friendly: Give your press release a headline that looks like news, and a dedicated page on your website so that it has its own URL. This will help it show up in search engines. It’s also just common sense.
• Make it share-able: Don’t simply send a PDF or an email with your press release. Create a website page with HTML text and a simple and striking visual element that, when shared on social media, will generate a clickable card. This makes it easier to drive Twitter or LinkedIn traffic back to your website and into your world.
• Speak for something, not just an acronym: Press releases often rely on a lazy formula of “[ACRONYM no-one recognizes] reacts to [obscure policy development]”. Obviously the PR is meant to serve your interest – whether you’re an individual, corporation, association or committee. But it will be more effective if you make it on behalf of people, or a coalition, community, or cause. Instead of relying on just an acronym, write on behalf of a sector representing human beings in actual places. This is more compelling, representative and inclusive, and looks less like simple self-interest.

Finally, for the love of all that is holy, do not simply say that you “welcome” something.