Five reasons I deleted your press release

Lately, it seems like I’ve been added to a number of new PR agency press release distribution lists – I’d guess the average  number of emails I receive per day has doubled in the last six weeks or so. And sadly, the increase is down to press releases rather than offers of lovely press trips or fat commissions.

Looking at press releases, I can’t help but think that something has to change. We may not be ready for the new-fangled social media release just yet, but the press release as it is today? Really sucks. So I looked at the releases in my deleted folder and worked out why they had been so swiftly jettisoned.

Reason One: Your sentences are too long.
The opening sentences of the last three releases I received had 30, 61 and 77 words in their opening sentences. I may be proved wrong, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that nobody ever said anything interesting in a 77 word sentence.  As a rule of thumb, 25-30 words is about the maximum and if you can make it shorter, then do.

Reason Two: Your client descriptors make no sense. 
I’ve covered technology for almost ten years, now. But I regularly get releases where I have no clue what the issuing company actually does. Pray, what exactly is a “leading provider of on demand talent management solutions”? Or a “specialist for transport finance”? How about “a global information distribution company”? We’re not all experts in every industry and you could miss an opportunity simply because we don’t know your client is relevant.

Reason Three: Your quotes come from robots.
Take this gem: “Platform key rotation with zero downtime provides corporations with a powerful tool to ensure security of infrastructure while complying with relevant data protection regulations with zero impact on core business activities.” Two thoughts: if someone actually said these words to me, I’d laugh. And I don’t even know what it means.

Reason Four: Jargon, jargon, jargon.
It’s stunning how many products that are unique sound a bit like stuff we already have. It’s funny how many companies within a single sector are the industry leaders. It’s amazing how many companies make “solutions”. Who knew we had so many problems? On a good day, this sort of thing is just white noise. But sometimes it can actually overpower the real message.

Reason Five: You sent it to the wrong people.
I’m a pretty predictable sort of hack. I cover three or four topics 99% of the time (public sector, HR, technology, business). So why did I receive releases today about: new holiday destinations, the launch of a new drama series, a range of baby clothes and car insurance? When I worked on a B2B title, I regularly received consumer press releases. This sort of activity just encourages journalists to treat press releases as background noise, and to ignore them even more studiously.

The reality is: we still need press releases, or at least we still need to hear about your client's news in some shape or form. But why do some press releases have to be so bad? Later this week, I'll be posting examples of releases that do this stuff better. Stay tuned...

Comments

[Louise Bolotin]

And here are some more reasons:

6. Your title failed to attract me. What am I supposed to think of headlines such as "No more crash bang wallop" or "Get set for summer"? Do they draw me in? No. I just think I can't be arsed to investigate. Whereas a relevant snappy headline will always grab my attention, even I don't open the release. Because at least I'll have known what what he subject was and made a judgement as to whether it was relevant to me.

7. Your title was all upper case. There's no need to shout. It hurts my eyes and it just annoys me.

8. You sent it to the wrong inbox, so I labelled it as spam.

[tim hoang]

i got that one!

[tim hoang]

sorry meant the “leading provider of on demand talent management solutions” quote

[David Child]

Can I apologise on behalf of my entire industry that you still have to write these blog posts. While I cannot be absolutely 100 per cent sure on exact wordcounts on sentences or that I've never inadvertently sent a journalist an ill-targeted release, I hope I would never fall so mercilessly into a black hole of ineffectual PR.
Sorry, sorry, sorry. Name and shame.
I'd be happy for you to dissect any press release on our website - I'm all for continuous improvement - and will try and lead the charge to drive up standards...however arduous that might be!

[Sally]

David - oooh, there's an interesting challenge!

The problem is that nobody dies when this stuff happens, and nobody is really offended event - it just bugs me that Company X is paying a PR agency to promote its business to the press, and the PR agency is just erecting barriers for journalists who might want to cover Company X.

And the issue is surely one of knowledge transfer - because anyone with a few years experience of doing PR knows all of these issues inside out, but presumably this knowledge is not being shared with the lower orders, somehow...

[Rob Hyndman]

9. Your press releases chronically exaggerate and I no longer trust you to tell the truth.

Has to be said.

[Andrew Bruce Smith]

I've blogged my response.

BTW - is the “leading provider of on demand talent management solutions” called SuccessFactors?

A company who have gained a bit of PR mileage in recent times with their main HR policy of not hiring "arseholes?"

[Sally Whittle]

Hi Andrew - interesting response, thanks.

I suppose when I say "something's got to change" I don't mean anyone is going to stop issuing releases (it's like a weird PR reflex, I think) but that PR firms are going to have to find new ways to connect reporters with stories since releases are just white noise, these days.

Oh, and no, it's not SuccessFactors, sorry. (But I just Googled the phrase to check I hadn't mis-remembered, and imagine my delight to realise the world has not one, but four different companies that all claim to be "the leading provide of on-demand talent management solutions". Genius!)

[Bryan Saxton]

Great list. #3 is dead on. The real challenge is trying to convince a client that the quotes he emailed you are generic and uninteresting.

[Andrew Bruce Smith]

I see we're famous this week in, er, Arizona ;-)

http://www.valleyprblog.com/?p=1072

[Kate Hartley]

Nobody gets more cross than me when PR people can't write. But in our defence, often what starts as a reasonable bit of copy ends up as meaningless twaddle once it's been through various marketing and legal approvals at the client company. Sadly, though, I can't think of a single excuse for sending a story to the wrong person. Or for 'crash bang wallop' as a headline.