Public Relation

The Traditional Press Release Is Dead!

The Traditional Press Release Is Dead!
Our New Medium Needs A New Message
by B.L. Ochman

The Internet is the medium of instant communication, constant change, rocket
speed. So why hasn’t the message changed with the medium? Why is the format for
electronic press releases the same as that of print?

What’s next for online publicity?

A new format for a new medium.

This article pre-supposes that those writing press releases understand what
constitutes news…that the content of releases are worthy of news coverage. In
question here is how to transmit a message to fit the new medium.

Online, Time Is Everything
While the release on an 8½ by 11 inch page can be scanned with a glance,
the electronic form of the same release requires scrolling. Says BusinessWeek
marketing reporter Ellen Neuborne, “I hate having to scroll past contact information
and the obligatory company description just to get to the subject of the release.
Who has time to do that all day?”

Companies spend anywhere from $150 to $1,000 to have news distribution services
send out each electronic press release. The results? Their headlines are listed
by time of transmission along with hundreds of others sent that day on Business
Wire
, PR News Wire and other distribution
services.

Clicking on a random sampling on Business Wire headlines shows releases with
lead paragraphs containing 156, 94, 83 and 97 words. These are far too long for
reading off a computer screen. Complete releases on Business Wire and PR Newswire
average about 350 words on three 8½ inch wide, single-spaced screens. That
is about 200 words too many!

Online, Time Is Everything
The Internet needs a new method of company information dissemination that fits the
medium. But first a new form of Internet news release needs to be adopted.

One of the major problems with the formats allowed on BusinessWire and PR
Newswire is that they were created for print releases. Both companies have simply
moved their traditional print business to the Internet. However, one online press
release distribution service — XpressPress News Service — currently will let you use a non-traditional, Internet-ready
format.

Back in the pre-Web days, smart publicists knew that they had to format releases
for radio stations differently than those for print. They were taught to format
radio releases like 30-second scripts. Whether for print or broadcast, releases
were double-spaced for easy reading on a maximum of 2 pages.

Any experienced publicist pitching a story by phone knows there is only a
30-second window of opportunity. That’s how long you get to grab a journalist’s
attention. If your pitch interests the reporter, she will ask you to continue
with your story. The same thing will happen after a reporter reads an Internet-ready
press release.

Why shouldn’t information-overloaded editors trying to wade through releases
on their computer monitors be given the same consideration?

What new format will work?
What format would work better? Writing made-for-print press releases ignores the
two chief constraints of reporters and editors – lack of time and the fact that
they must read your information from a computer screen.

What’s needed is a made-for-the-Internet press release format. Think of the
electronic news release as a teaser to get a reporter or editor to your web site
for additional information. Here’s how the Internet-ready news release should
work:

  • The lead paragraph of a release should state its point in 40 words or less.
    Of those 40 words, no more than six words should be used to describe what the
    company does.
  • Additional material about the company that is not directly related to the
    point of the story can be compiled in a separate paragraph below the lead or at
    the bottom of the page.
  • Writing style? Think of how you’d describe the story to a friend on a 30-second
    elevator ride. Pay attention to the way the stories on the nightly news are described
    during a 10-second commercial break on an earlier show. Listen carefully to the
    way radio news broadcasts relate the top stories of the day.
  • The lead should stand on its own as a description of the story. To learn how,
    study the home page of the online New York Times;
    page one of the interactive Journal
    or Yahoo! News Alerts. They
    all manage to tell what each story is about in a sentence or two. So can you.
  • Make your entire release a maximum of 200 words or less, in 5 short paragraphs.
  • Use the bulleted points “Who? What? Where? When? Why?” as paragraph headings
  • Write only two to three short sentences in each of the five paragraphs.
  • Above the headline or at the bottom of the release, be sure to provide a contact
    name, phone number, email address and URL for additional information.
  • If you have compiled your own media list, consider not using a press release
    at all, but rather a three-paragraph, short-sentence, e-mail pitch letter or memo.
    The only news release distribution service that will allow you to use a pitch
    letter or memo format at this time is http://www.XpressPress.com/.

It’s not easy to write tight. Mark Twain summed it up best when he said “If
I had more time I would have written less.” Writing is about re-writing. And re-writing.
Writing well takes time.

Respect today’s reality: take the time to write less and make it mean more.

Want to win coverage? Start by throwing out the tattered old print press release.
Write like you have 10 seconds to make a point. Because online, you do.

 

How good or bad has your
experience been with press releases? Please write![email protected]

About B.L. Ochman: Internet and Outernet marketing strategist, publicist, journalist and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com.

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