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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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The press release is dead! Long live the press release!

I’ve resisted jumping aboard the “press release is dead” bandwagon because I just don’t believe it. I have no argument with the issues that lead supporters of the movement to proclaim the press release’s demise. They say that most press releases have no news and are poorly written. This isn’t a recent phenomenon. I remember working for $550 per month in 1975 as assistant editor of a weekly community newspaper. I was deluged with press releases, most of which made me roll my eyes in disgust. These folks also insist that new media can better serve the objectives press releases have offered. In some cases, that’s true. In others, I’m not so sure. There are plenty of current stories of press release effectiveness. And while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not require material disclosure through press releases, press release services like PR Newswire and Business Wire know how to reach all the right audiences concurrently and satisfy the regulations that do exist.

Besides, as I’ve noted so frequently, new media do not kill old media. Old media adapt and evolve.

Today, Shift Communications has given the press release a nudge along its evolutionary path. Shift’s Todd Defren, responding to Tom Foremski’s original post calling for press releases to get with the interactive, social, digital era, proposed an approach that would satisfy Tom’s desires. According to Todd, Shift has released a social media press release template, which the company is making available to the profession:

The template is 100% open to the PR/marketing community. No copyright baloney. We hope it can serve as a helpful guide to kickstart thinking about how we can evolve the PR sector. Maybe it can serve as a talking points memo to show to clients, to convince them to give it a try? Maybe you hate it? Maybe you’ve got some ideas on how to improve it

You can download a PDF of the template and view what Shift is touting as the first-ever press release to apply this next-generation format.

The release is broken into sections that are easily put to use by busy reporters and editors. First is contact information, followed by a headline and core news facts, preferably in bullet-list format. Then come a link and RSS feed for a “purpose-built” del.icio.us page. This page offers links to “relevant historical, trend, market, product & competitive content sources, providing context as-needed, and, on-going updates.”

Images and multimedia links are next, followed by pre-approved quotes, then links to relevant coverage to-date, boilerplate statements, an RSS feed to the company’s releases, an “add to del.icio.us” link, a Digg This link, and Technorati tags.

The press release Shift released is about the agency’s release of the new-media press release template, a great example of walking the talk if ever there was one. Shift has gone an extra step, creating a purpose-built del.icio.us site to track the evolution of the concept.

This is outstanding, thoughtful work and worthy of considerable recognition. The question remains, though: How many traditional PR practitioners are savvy enough about the changes occurring in the media and communication space to even recognize this is a good idea, no less be aware that the Shift template exists? In any event, those that figure it out will earn props from the media that find the press releases far more usable and useful, while those who continue spewing out the same old crap will earn their derision instead.

05/23/06 | 10 Comments | The press release is dead! Long live the press release!

Comments

  • 1.In the May-June edition of Communications World, the IABC Member magazine, Shel Holtz refers to several forces that "have converged to bring us to this precipice of change". The change in question is consumer-generated media - where you and I...

    http://blog.iabc.be/archives/2006/05/fed_up.html | May 2006

  • 2.I love this template - it's a great step in the right direction!

    That being said, I've seen many labor-reluctant journalists pretty much copy and paste my press releases "as is." I'm tempted to include an old-school version at the end of this template.

    Marcus | May 2006 | Lancaster, PA

  • 3.Today Todd Defren and the Shift team announced their social media press release format. Using of course their new format :-) I'll add my well-done to the chorus with some but's: - I still wish we weren 't so focused

    http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marke | May 2006

  • 4.I'm not sure that I'm 'savvy', Shel, by any means, but thanks to you I know this template exists!

    A lot of work went into this template for sure. However, public relations (old and new)is all about knowing your audience and having a relationship with those you are pitching. That hasn't and won't change.

    This format is great for some folks, but not for all. The traditional press release will not be 'dead' for a long time, although, personally, I find myself using it less and less.

    Relationship building is still the most important thing marketing/PR/relations people need to know. That way they will know if their audience would eat this format up as a great way to communicate or be lost on them. For example, if I was pitching tech media or marketing media this would be a great way to go. However, what about the newspaper sports person that doesn't even do email yet? Yes, they still exist and, because this particular one is so well known and on the road so much, he doesn't feel he needs it. But, because of the relationship built over the last 10 years, I can get to him whenever I need to without problem via phone - and get coverage.

    No matter how you choose to communicate with your audience, it's the underlaying relationship that matters.

    Just my two cents.

    Donna Tocci | May 2006

  • 5.I'm a tech guy, not a PR expert, so forgive me if this already exists, but I'd propose an additional step. Let's convert this template into an xml document. We could write the press release once, and then electronically distribute it via the wires and RSS in a common xml format. We'd save a lot on distribution costs.

    Shannon Whitley | May 2006

  • 6.Ooh... cool! Now I just have to learn how to use it.

    This could be a great tool. Donna is right though- it all depends on the audience. As I mentioned to her in another conversation, knowing your audience is rule number one to me. Some folks just won't get it or like it, for whatever reason. Others will be all over it instantly. Gotta know how to pitch to every batter you face.

    I'm going to spend some time getting cozy with this template because I think it will be a great tool and certainly is a great example of how PR/ Marketing is developing and evolving.

    Personally, I don't think the press release is dead or ever will be. Evolution is more likely and this template is a great example of that evolution.

    Tim Jackson- Masiguy | May 2006 | San Diego

  • 7.Donna, I agree with you 100% about the relationship-building aspects of PR. In fact, I had a bit of a back-and-forth with Alice Marshall, who believes detachment is more important than relationships. But I still think this format works, even for people who don't get the rationale behind it. Did you look at the actual press release SHIFT distributed? I don't think there's anything there that would confound a sports reporter who doesn't use email except references to Digg and Technorati, and heck, even PR Newswire now has that!

    Also, as important as I think the relationship is, press releases reach people with whom you'll never have a relationship. Look at the Southwest Airlines press release that got onto Yahoo! and drove a million dollars worth of bookings. The format needs to accommodate recipients you'll most likely never be in touch with as well as those who will tell you their preferences.

    Shel Holtz | May 2006 | Concord, CA

  • 8.Shel, first let me say that I'm a big fan of your role in the evolution of PR in Silicon Valley. Thanks for highlighting this new format. IMHO, I believe that this is just one of the many tools that PR pros need to keep in their arsenal of 1:1, 1 to many, and many to many communications weapons. Information means something different to each market. And, in order to truly pass the news along to all target demographics, we can't overlook the value of relationships (as mentioned by Donna Tocci), traditional releases, research, and individualized pitches. I actually had a "web 2.0" reporter send an email after reading a digital release such as the one Shift is purporting, asking me to send him a regular press release because he prefers to draw his own summaries and conclusions. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked. Anyway, thanks again for writing about this...good stuff!

    Brian Solis | May 2006 | San Jose

  • 9.Shift Communications proposed a new format for the good old press release. It includes several "new media" twists and should be more "social" according to the PR Agency. The template (opens a pdf) they propose includes bullet point formatted news facts, links, RSS feed(s), a del.icio.us page, Technorati and digg this tags, multimedia links etc... ...

    http://www.conversationblog.com/journal/ | May 2006

  • 10.I think that the Shift approach to Press Releases makes a lot of sense. It does seem to be a very age-old practice, sending out press releases that summarizes the information in a way that makes sense to the agency or corporation that is sending it out but then forces the reporter or journalist to really scour the article to find the most relative and pertinent information.

    I really enjoy the idea of having specific headlines and subjects such as "relevant historical, trend, market, etc.? This makes it a lot easier for the news source to analyze quickly whether or not there is a story worth developing or if they should keep looking for something else. This will also help stories that maybe would have not previously been published because of the bland, drab approach of the press release the journalist did not think that the release had much of a story at all.

    Catering to the specific needs of the news organization seems to make the most sense. Rather then having a rough idea of how the press release should look with only a few specifics such as where the city and date go there should be a lot of specifics. Press releases should be more standard and I feel by doing that they can cater to a lot more news organizations. The contents of each section could be changed to applied to the news source you were sending the information too as well. For example, if you had a new product out you could write the pertinent information out under "relevant trends" for all of the television stations you would sent the release out to but then if you were going to send the release out to trade magazines you may add or subtract information under each headline.

    Catering to the specific needs of the news organization does seem like a really great idea. The press release is for them and only them so having something that they can easily maneuver through and have a more straight-forward understanding of makes the most sense. Wouldn't you agree?

    Claire | May 2006

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