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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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The new press release?

While some may want the “press release is dead” meme to end, the discussion could wind up producing some worthwhile ideas. Tom Foremski had one that I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around. “Deconstruct the press release into special sections,” he suggested, “and tag the information so that as a publisher, I can pre-assemble some of the news story and make the information useful.” His suggestions for sections included a description, C-level quotes, customer quotes, analyst quotes and financial information. “Provide many links inside the press release copy, and also provide a whole page of relevant links to other news stories or reference sources,” Foremski suggested, adding, “And tag everything so that I can pre-assemble my stories.”

Nifty idea, I thought, but getting consistency everyone to adopt a standard will never happen. Anyway, the problem with the press release has nothing to do with form; it’s a question of substance. While reporters will bitch and moan about press releases in general, they will appreciate and use one that contains real news and is well written.

So I didn’t give Foremski’s idea much thought until I saw it implemented. SHIFT Communications’ Todd Defren took a crack at Foremski’s notion, using a month-old press release as a model. Foremski called it a a good example and a great step in the right direction—“Just these simple things already made the news release a lot more useful.”

And I agree. Add to that the interactivity companies like PR Newswire and PRWeb are building into press releases (del.icio.us tags, trackback URLs, etc.), and we may really be onto something here.

So I’m in no hurry for the meme to die. I’d rather it continue and produce more results like these.

03/06/06 | 10 Comments | The new press release?

Comments

  • 1.Thanks for the positive feedback, Shel! I also think that "we're on to something" - just not sure what, yet! Still, it is nice to be able to consider a fresh innovation for the creaky ol' news release.

    TDefren | March 2006 | PR Squared

  • 2.Shel, thank you so much for posting this! I'll admit this: I've never written a press release. Nope. Shameful for a business owner, yes? Yes!

    The reason? I never new how. I looked at tutorials, but the fact is that press releases are written in a certain style that I just plain don't understand.

    But a lightbulb just went off when I saw what Todd had written. I said out loud, "OH! I can do THAT!" That release was written how I think: in outline format, with resources following, with little to no fluff or exaggeration.

    So thank you for giving me a model I can follow! When I try it out on journalists, I'll let you know how it goes!

    Heidi Miller | March 2006 | Chicago, IL

  • 3.Heidi, our "outline" comment leads me to wonder if Tom Foremski's idea and Todd Defren's implementation couldn't be employed using OPML. Hmm...structured outlined press releases...

    Shel | March 2006 | Concord, CA

  • 4.OK, I only have the barest concept of what OPML is, but I like the idea of having a standardized outline format. That would make everything easier to read, I would imagine, and it would make it harder to pad and fluff up the releases.

    Heidi Miller | March 2006 | Chicago

  • 5.Right now, Heidi, OPML is for the geekiest among us. It's Outline Processing Markup Language and applies the same princples as all the other MLs (XML, HTML, etc.). You'll find the Wikipedia entry here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPML
    And Dave Winer's Mac and Windows OPML editor here:
    http://support.opml.org/

    Shel | March 2006 | Concord, CA

  • 6.I think our NewsWire One online press kit meets your criteria. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

    Jon | March 2006

  • 7.I like Todd's sample too, it holds great promise. Probably because I worked in the manufactured housing industry for so long I am calling it a modular release, meaning each part can stand alone and you can use as many parts as desired, scaling it up and down in information as needed by the reporter. As some have commented, it may lead to less word-for-word printing of your release, which can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it (witness Edelmans campaign).

    One thing, it probably isn't for search engine optimized releases since there should be a story there when the searcher lands on the release.

    Kami Huyse | March 2006

  • 8.Glad to see that this topic still has a heartbeat this week.

    FWIW, many PR folks have written me to suggest DOUBLING our workload, i.e., use the "modular" approach for the media (at least those who are likely to be receptive to it) and a more traditional format for sales collateral, the corporate website, etc.

    I say, "Sure, but can i double the fees?!" ;)

    Todd Defren | March 2006 | Boston/SF

  • 9.Todd, is it a doubling of work or just a new approach to doing the work? The additional time, it seems to me, is wrapped up in thinking through the new approach. Once it becomes routine, will it take more time or the same?

    Shel | March 2006 | Concord, CA

  • 10.Honestly, I think it IS more work. Even after this approach does become routine (or should I say "IF"?), if you go by the suggestion to do "both" then we'll still need to draft a traditional release, AND, the "PR 2.0" version.

    True, one will leverage content from the other ... so let's say it's 1.5 times as much work!

    Todd Defren | March 2006 | Boston/SF

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