2010 Events

What's so sacred about press releases? Not much, as far as we're concerned.
10/01/10

Press releases are revered by corporations and yet often disregarded by the media. What's the disconnect?

Let's look at the make-believe Dog Lovers' Dog Food company that is introducing a new vitamin drink for dogs.

Scenario 1: The not-so-effective way to get a story

The communications department drafts a release about the doggie vitamin drink. The legal department reviews it and changes some of the language. Senior officials toil over their quotes. Everyone's thinking they've got control over how the story is going to be published. The communications director posts the release to the newswire distribution service and waits to see what happens.

Now pretend you're a reporter at the Big City Times. You are an award-winning writer. As a business beat reporter, you've covered everything from Enron-style meltdowns to hostile takeovers. Now you cover consumer advocacy.

You're nearing deadline and check out what's coming across the newswire. With an eye toward finding something relevant to consumers that hasn't already been covered, you skip over the Dog Lovers' release because it doesn't resonate as something particularly interesting for your readers, even though you do like dogs yourself. You ignore the voice mail from Dog Lovers' communications director "just following up to see if you received the release."

Sorry, but the press release is dead in the water as far as the Big City Times is concerned.

Scenario 2: The effective way to get a story

Dog Lovers' communications director is being briefed by his CEO about the new vitamin drink. He drills down, asking, "What makes this doggie drink so special?" "Will Fido like the taste?" "What does the vitamin drink mean for our customers and their dogs?"

Getting impatient, the CEO slams her fist on the desk and exclaims, "The research is in, and we have conclusive evidence that vitamin drink will double dogs' life spans!"

The communications director thinks about his media strategy and remembers a Big City Times reporter who is now on the consumer advocacy beat. He also recalls a recent tweet from the reporter about his dog. He quickly drafts a basic fact sheet about the new product (and runs it by legal, of course) and immediately calls the reporter.

"Hi, Bill, you're not going to believe this story! Dog Lovers' Dog Food just figured out a way to double your dog's life expectancy!" He provides the reporter with a third-party veterinarian who will attest to the research; he supplies some print-ready photos/video (for the online edition); and he offers to connect Bill for an interview with little Timmy and his new golden retriever, Buddy.

The Big City Times reporter bites on the story.

A front page headline ensues, along with a big photo of Buddy licking Timmy. The story takes off on the Big City Times News Service wire and gets plastered across 30 daily newspapers and proliferates online like wildfire.

The moral of our story

Releases can be helpful to provide background information and to populate the company's newsroom, but you should not rely on them to generate news coverage.

Instead, spend more time researching what reporters write and what they care about and less time on drafting press releases just to make management feel good.

Next time you hear, "We need to get a press release out about this," remember, press releases don't make press. Real news, coupled with carefully crafted pitches to the right reporter at the right time, does.