Just because lots of “old” press releases are full of hype doesn’t mean the press release as a concept as such is at fault. These are just poor press releases.

That said the press release as a format has been dying / changing for a long time, the rise of social media may have speeded these changes but they haven’t caused them. The root cause lies in the fact that journalists don’t have time to research stories anymore, they need PR types to provide them with more fully formed content. In effect they have become commissioning editors rather than reporters. For a long time I have never used the press release to draw attention to (or pitch) a story – direct contact has to come first. For this reason even the social media press release doesn’t work for me as a frontline piece of communication because its format doesn’t help if presenting the key thing which is essential in grabbing attention in the few seconds available when pitching a story, which for me remains “the angle”, which isn’t hype, it isn’t even the full story but is the nugget that you need to hook attention. Most social media releases I have seen are not good at this – you need to already be interested to pay them further attention.

For me the future for social media relations is all about creating a story content hub (as per social media release / newsroom) but using things like Twitter to spread the little nuggets that will capture attention and draw people back to the story. Robert Scoble made an interesting observation recently – “news breaks on Twitter”.
http://scobleizer.com/2007/10/08/do-i-read-all-twitters/
In reality at the moment only geek news breaks on Twitter – but when Twitter like applications become mainstream these will be the channels to do what good, old fashioned media releases used to do – namely give the heads-up that there is something worth following up on.

2. The “release format befriended the lawyers before it won support from the marketing department;” correct. The purpose of law is to create a level playing field. The purpose of marketing is to better position (inequity). In business as society, law trumps marketing. Period.

3. Re: “mob cobbling things together”… if you offer parts rather than a finished product (form), that’s unavoidable.

Mike, absolutely. It’s on the agenda. If anything, this format is the baby step before experimenting with an SMPR. I can tell you that I have worked with some of the most cautious, global brands in the consumer and biotech industries recently to help them embrace a new release strategy – so it’s happening, little by little.

Thanks Linda! I’ll have to contact her to get the details.

Adam, this press release idea is already in use…honestly, I’ve been using it, among other variants, on the wire for several years at least as a way of finding what works and what doesn’t. The bullets are more reminiscent of alerts or advisories, but the simple paragraph flow with links, minus hyperbole, seems to be the most effective to date. Bulleted formats with all of the building blocks included have been incredibly useful off the wire and in direct 1:1 emails to your best contacts (with a summary intro).

Publicity-Hound, Thanks!!!

Amanda, as always, it’s a pleasure to have ya stop by and keep us from drinking the bath water. Honestly, I can assure you that there are no assumptions here, only experience and years of bruises experimenting with this stuff. The conclusions are based on reality and feedback. There are plenty of people out there who pontificate based on theory and assumptions and I’m not one of them – and I think you know that. #1, Yes, bullshit releases are released all the time, and the point of this series is to help people break the association with that format as a standard. People “think” that’s what you’re supposed to do. My next sentence will address #1 and #2…you’re right about corporate legal requirements. In my experience, this release format (in paragraph form + links without the unnecessary BS marketing hype) has befriended the lawyers before it won support from the marketing department. Regarding the mob cobbling crap together, I think that’s what I’m trying to prevent. In fact, I think we can all agree that this is exactly what happens right now, and look at the result. I think we might be saying the same thing here.

1) Most corporate announcements are inextricably tied to legal requirements. (Unless you are referring to bullshit releases which should not be released in the first place.)

2) NO sane client is going to agree to a format where a mob gets to willy-nilly cobble together info to paint a picture that the client is ultimate liable for. AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN. Nor should it.

- Amanda

I explain why we should no longer be writing press releases only for the press, but for consumers who can find the releases online, click through to our websites and enter our sales cycle, even if journalists don’t think our release is worthy of attention.

The course includes several terrific press release samples as well as “before” and “after” makeovers.

You can sign up for the free press release writing tutorial at http://www.PublicityHound.com/pressreleasetips/art.htm

It’s a very long tutorial but please stick with it. By the time you’re done, it will be like earning a master’s degree in writing and distributing press releases. And you’ll know more about this topic than many PR people.

Perhaps slowly implementing change will work better than a sudden overhaul. People are much more apt to accept change if it occurs via evolution, and not revolution.

Change is hard. It is natural to fear the unknown. So how do you convince a client that the with the world (literally) watching, you need to change?

I cannot agree with you more. Even as a newbie to the PR world, I can see that the press release has become outdated.

I remember a press release that came across my desk that looked similar to your example – it had lots of SEO optimization, links to important sites and bullet points for the most important information.

I’d love for my clients to be accepting of that sort of release. It would certainly get rid of the major of superfluous information out there today.