There’s a lot to celebrate with PRWeb.com’s popularity as an Internet distribution outlet for press releases. Many companies, small and large alike, now regularly distribute their latest news in press releases on PRWeb.com and other distribution websites. It’s a vast improvement over 10 years ago, a time when press releases were largely the domain of the Wire and media-savvy corporations.
On the other hand, a review of the PRWeb.com’s “Featured News” section reveals the state of chaos press releases have fallen into since Internet start-ups let the Genie out of its bottle. It’s a lot more Wild West than Madison Avenue, and as such the craft of press release writing has been considerably devalued along the way.
Here are just a few of the more glaring faults I observed in a half dozen of the press releases I reviewed today:
- No news is bad news: I ran across a couple press releases that were more marketing pitch than news announcement. Some get high marks for their wordsmithing, but at the end of the day it doesn’t satisfy my need to know why this is news worth sharing. Thinly veiled marketing is easily spotted by readers, so stick to what really is newsworthy, please.
- Too much news is confusing: Some press releases go too far in the other direction by providing way too much news. Better to keep a press release focused on a central news item for the sake of simplicity and power. Think of a press release as the PR profession’s version of Haiku, the Japanese poetry form that limits writing to 17 sound units, or moras. Simply put, the more simple and condensed your message, the more readily its intrinsic value is appreciated.
- Titles and subtitles lack punch, brevity and hook: Press releases should not read like a Faulkner novel. Jettison the rambling and windy odes to your company. Unlike several press releases I saw on PRWeb.com, try the clear and concise approach instead. It’s the responsibility of the title and subtitle to hook a reader quickly before he or she skitters away to another topic.
- News is not pegged to a larger story: So many organizations miss the chance to peg (PR jargon for associate) their press releases to bigger stories across a larger community – be it national, regional or local. Pegging your news to a bigger story allows local media to take your story and give it a more local spin. Journalists and reporters constantly seek real instances of people and organizations when they’re writing about trends and breaking news items. Thus, saying the right thing at the right time increases your chance of getting picked up in mainstream media.
- Bad grammar: Wish I could say it wasn’t so, but PRWeb has more bad grammar in its press releases than what you’ll find in an episode of Jersey Shore. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little. Still, it’s shocking to see how poorly grammar is used in many press releases on the Internet. It’s a sign of the times, and the fault of our educational system, which teaches to standardized tests and values reading and free writing over the arcane rules of grammar and composition. Sorry for the whining but it’s a pet peeve.
- Lousy diction: I’m not a fan of using long, fancy words when simpler ones will do. Still, a review of PRWeb reveals an amazing paucity (like that one?) of nuanced diction. When writing a press release, ask yourself it the words used are the ones most appropriate to the message? Could other words make the message more powerful, more effective at generating a desirable response from the media, customers, or both? Too many press releases rely on hackneyed terms, technical jargon and weak verbs. A little bit of honest sweat may uncover more potent words lurking right beneath the surface, waiting to leap off the page at readers.
- Poor organization: More than a few press releases had paragraphs that were too long, and still more had very poor organization overall, which made them overly tedious. Long paragraphs make your news message difficult to discern. Most readers tend to skim – even skip – long paragraphs to avoid losing time. Still other press releases use way too many one-line paragraphs, which make for choppy reading and a long looking release. Keep your paragraphs to around 3-6 lines and try not to use too many one-liners. Remember, less is more!
Make it a point to read PRWeb for a half hour and you will learn more about how to write a solid press release than most webinars or whitepapers can match. Don’t be afraid to read out loud while you’re at it; it’s a great way to hear faults that the eye may tend to overlook– the brain naturally tries to correct for errors.
Then you can drop me a line letting me know if you agree, or not, with my 7 Deadly PR Sins Committed on PRWeb.com.
My twitter handle is @davemanzer and you can friend me on Facebook, too!
#1 by Frank Strong on January 26, 2011 - 3:04 pm
Thoughtful post Dave. Seems much of this could be true about releases in general, regardless of the service used to distribution. In fact, this critique could probably be applied to blog posts, news articles and perhaps even YouTube videos.
How a release is written depends on the goal. Many traditional PR people have hard and fast opinions on what a release should look like, because they are accustom to using these to pitch the media. Personally, I’m a bit of an old school guy, so apprecaite your perspective.
However, as you note in the post, the Web has changed things, primarily it makes search the intermediary linking content producers directly with their customers. What appeals to one reader, may not to another, but if the former’s your target audience, then perhaps you are meeting your objective. It’s important to pay attention to metrics: reads, interactions and if you are savvy with Google, time on page when making a determination about what content is successful.
Here are a few links to resources where we post content to help out customers get more out of their releases:
Editorial Guidelines
Learning Center
BloggingPRWeb
#2 by Dave Manzer on January 26, 2011 - 3:39 pm
Thanks for your comment, Frank. True, I’m being a bit nostalgic. My neighbor growing up was a retired school teacher who used to wrinkle her nose at the poor grammar she often found in the newspaper. I guess it’s all relative, right?
Not sure I’d go so far as to say the same thing about blogs and YouTube vids as there are no hard and fast rules defining their purpose and style. Press releases have been around for some 100 years and there’s a mountain of writing (adademic and professional) about such points as style, format and content. No, I’d never suggest that we apply the same expectations to what are essentially a highly personal form of expression. New articles? Yes, there’s the old Strunk and White style book to give us a basis upon which to judge today’s journalism.
Still, I hope the points I make help people/companies realize that they’re doing themselves a disservice if they are committing too many of the “7 Deadly PR Sins” described as it can be a turn off to any reader, regardless of whether it’s a potential customer or potential editor seeking content for a news story. In other words, if they’re not committing “too” many of the sins, the more likely their press releases will have greater impact, regardless of who the ultimate audience is.
Your website is not responsible for policing grammar and PR rules, and I’m not suggesting it should, any more than traditional wire distribution services should.
Question for you: if we completely relax the rules of what comprises a press release (rules that exist to maximize the potential value and impact of the news), when does a press release cease to be a press release?
#3 by Frank Strong on January 26, 2011 - 3:52 pm
Yes, I’d definitely buy that…if there’s one key point I take from your post it’s this: well written, compelling and original content tends to perform better.
I love your question. It’s a great question I want to think about and perhaps turn into a post of our own.
My instinctive reaction is (not intended to be callous) who cares what we call it? I’ve seen some pretty heated discussions by some that advocate for “news release” or “media release” or “social media release.” In my heart of hearts, I don’t think it really matters. What matters is whether or not the time invested in the production produces the effect we are seeking…which brings me full circle to well written, compelling and original content.
Cheers!
#4 by Dave Manzer on January 26, 2011 - 4:36 pm
Callous, no, cynical, yes! LOL
I guess I’m hung up on the need to call it something. If it looks like a duck, walks like one, quacks like one… You get the idea.
If it’s not a press release, then if my memory serves me the upload process for PRWeb and final format sure looks like a press release. Perhaps some rules and boundaries are necessary lest PR crash headlong into marketing and get completely lost in the shuffle. I get the whole social media emphasis on content, being an original content publisher and avoiding the whole media gate-keeper hurdle. Still, PR is communication with people by way of the media. If you’re not doing that, you’re not doing PR. Call it something else, just not PR.
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
#5 by Dag Nybo on January 30, 2011 - 7:06 pm
Great advice and I plan to read PRWeb.com regularly… for nothing more than an education. I had planned to meet you at Genuine Joe’s one morning, per suggestion (and intro) of Patrick Bonnaure of Proledge, but I got sidetracked. I will make it happen in 2011. Are still there and when?
Cheers..
-Dag