Most press releases suck. They’re frigging awful. And those hacks that right them should be ashamed of themselves. Note I say most, but not all.
The trouble is, a good press release is often awash in a sea of crap. If a press release cries in the sea and a journalist doesn’t hear it, does it actually make a sound?
Press release fatigue is an all too common condition. Journalists don’t want to read them, PR pros are tired of writing them, and companies are demanding more be sent out the door.
'There's too much text, and not enough news," says Todd Defren, principal of SHIFT Communication, in his interview with Ragan (see Is the press release dead? Ragan.com).
To counter the information glut spawned by many thousands of press releases every day, a new press release format was recently introduced by Todd and his colleagues at SHIFT Communication, a high tech agency based in Boston and San Francisco.
The new press release format is called the "social media press release template".
The new template does away with the traditional paragraph format and instead introduces bullet points, links to multimedia, a list of approved quotes, links to other relevant news sources, and even links to competitor information.
“There's no way that your traditional PR person wants to provide links to competing news sources in their press releases," Defren says. 'But to not do that means you're ignoring the way journalists gather news."
Social media release example (Novell):
Platform praised by customers, partners and industry watchers
Novell announces bold new marketing campaign:
'Your Linux is Ready'
News Facts
Dateline: SAN FRANCISCO (LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, Booth 604)-Aug. 15, 2006
• Leading independent hardware and software vendors have expressed support for SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10 from Novell® (see "Quotes" below). SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 is the next-generation platform for the open enterprise. It includes SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, providing a secure and reliable foundation for enterprise computing from the desktop to the data center - a lineup of enterprise-class solutions matched by no other Linux vendor.
• Novell has unveiled a bold integrated marketing campaign for SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 - "Your Linux is Ready™." This campaign focuses on the innovation delivered by the open source development community and how Novell brings that innovation to the enterprise. Intel is the first major independent hardware vendor to join the campaign, with a special focus on virtualization.
• Multimedia elements of the integrated initiative are included in this release, including examples of the print/online advertising, box shots, and marketing videos. Additional advertising information and resources are available at http://www.novell.com/company/advertising.
o Media coverage of SUSE Linux Enterprise can be tracked at http://del.icio.us/SHIFT.Communications.Novell.SUSELinuxEnterprise10.
• Since SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 was launched on July 17:
o More than 154,000 copies of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server have been downloaded.
o More than 170,000 copies of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop have been downloaded.
o Novell's Linux homepage, www.novell.com/linux, has received more than 1 million page views.
• To help customers rapidly deploy SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 products, Novell is offering short-term consulting engagements called "Fast Tracks." Fast Tracks cover desktop, data center and Linux* core image build.
• To assist SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 customers, Novell has launched its new Linux certifications - the Novell Certified Linux Professional 10 and the Novell Certified Linux Engineer 10. The new courses for certification are now available globally. In addition, Novell is providing the Introduction to Novell's Code 10 Linux training course free of charge to Novell's authorized training partners.
• Novell has developed and is delivering a method to help get the latest high-end drivers into the hands of end-users. Novell has developed a certification kit for graphics adapters and drivers, to be used with any vendor's drivers (ATI, nVidia, 3Dlabs, etc.).
Multimedia Elements
Examples of print/online advertising, box shots and marketing videos, along with additional advertising information and resources, are available at http://www.novell.com/company/advertising.
Quotes
Novell:
"Customer adoption of and partner support for SUSE Linux Enterprise has been tremendous. In just four weeks, we've seen companies start broad deployments of SUSE Linux Enterprise across their business. We have several companies actively participating in a pilot of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, and others are in the first phases of migrating their mission-critical applications to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. We're also working with partners, from the chip manufacturers to hardware vendors to software partners, to deliver the integrated solutions that our customers are requesting."
• Jeff Jaffe, Novell executive vice president and chief technology officer - click here to access Jeff Jaffe's blog
"SUSE Linux Enterprise is a platform that will change the rules of the game when it comes to enterprise operating systems. We needed to support this platform with a bold marketing campaign that really calls attention to the fact that Novell is the only Linux vendor to deliver a complete enterprise Linux solution, from the desktop to the data center. The focus of this campaign is to give credit where it belongs - to the amazing developers in the open source community delivering innovative software. Novell works with the community to test and secure the software, and then package it with the enterprise-class support that every business requires."
• John Dragoon, Novell senior vice president and chief marketing officer - click here to access John Dragoon's blog
Industry Analyst:
"Virtualization is the next significant technology that will change the way companies deploy, provision and manage their operating systems. Virtualization is becoming a mainstream technology through its incorporation into operating systems such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, making it easy and affordable for customers to leverage this technology and move into a virtualized server environment."
• Al Gillen, IDC research vice president, System Software
Customers:
"We are currently running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 in our production environment and piloting SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10. Although the pilot project is in its nascent stages, we are particularly excited about the possibilities of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Xen for Linux virtualization on an Intel platform. SUSE Linux Enterprise continues to provide an innovative, strong and flexible foundation to run our business."
• Arvind Thapar, First National Bank of Omaha vice president and chief technology officer
Read more in the Ragan article: Is the press release dead?
In the meantime, I challenge you to prove me wrong about press releases of today… feel free to take me to task or agree with me with some horror story examples by posting a comment below.
Comments (1)
Your advice on press releases is right on the mark.
You might be interested in knowing that I’m offering a free email tutorial called "89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases."
I explain why we should no longer be writing press releases only for the press, but for consumers who can find the releases online, click through to our websites and enter our sales cycle, even if journalists don’t think our release is worthy of attention.
The course includes several terrific press release samples as well as "before" and "after" makeovers.
You can sign up for the free press release writing tutorial at http://www.PublicityHound.com/pressreleasetips/art.htm
It's a very long tutorial but please stick with it. By the time you're done, it will be like earning a master's degree in writing and distributing press releases. And you'll know more about this topic than many PR people.
Posted by Joan Stewart | November 2, 2007 6:15 PM
Posted on November 2, 2007 18:15