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Reasons Why the Traditional Press Release Is in Need of Reinvention


Jaspar Eyears
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There are still too many companies and professionals following the traditional format of a Word document attached to an email. However, it is definitely in need of a drastic overhaul.

Here are our top seven reasons on why you need to step up your press release game:

  • Time: Journalists are busy and receive hundreds of press communications every day. The long winded corporate press release written in the style of the company and with no consideration to the fact hungry, time strapped journalist is too good a reason to delete your email.
  • SEO: Google now only registers one title and image per story, so if media are repeating your titling you’re losing out on valuable SEO points. Using state of the art distribution systems you can adjust titling and graphic content within a PR campaign to take advantage of google’s algorithm.
  • Analytics: As the age-old saying goes: it is very difficult to improve without having good measurement. Some great pointers are to AB test on press communications and experiment with different forms of content for different styles of media. All while ensuring that you have an analytics program to track which journalists are actually opening, reading and using your content.
  • Content: A word document is not the best way to present your wonderful videos, catchy infographics and professional photos. So get creative in the formating but keep in mind points 1 and 2.
  • Social Media: With a large proportion of news being absorbed through social media it’s imperative to be able to distribute news that’ll work directly in social formats and that can be instantly shared.
  • Audience: Writing a press release for the client is not the answer, press releases live in the public domain and should be treated as public documents.
  • Pitching: Don’t forget that pitching is still key, pick up the phone or get out there and sell your idea to that journalist over a cup of coffee –don’t become lazy while depending on technology. The human connection will get you out of trouble when you need a PR favour.