Clean up gobbledygook and other mishaps to improve the state of press releases
The last thing a PR pro wants is for a reporter to delete or crumple up their press release and toss it in the trash. If you forget a phone number, misspell a word or send out a 10-page document, reporters won’t give you the time of day.
But there’s a new tool—the Press Release Grader—to help PR pros avoid getting on journalists' nerves by making stupid mistakes. The grader combs through a press release searching for overused words, missing info, bad link usage and other rookie mistakes.
“The media is overwhelmed,” said Mike Volpe, vice president of marketing for HubSpot, an Internet marketing company that developed the grader. “Most press releases are not as effective as they could be.”
HubSpot surveyed about a dozen PR professionals to determine what features to include in the grader. To use, copy and paste a press release into the online tool, click "Grade press release" and within seconds, see a detailed report on readability, word count, company info, link usage and other odds and ends.
 (Get an overview of HubSpot's press grader.)
| What do you think? |
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More than 3,000 people submitted press releases since the Press Release Grader went live in May.
So what do people think?
Ari Adler, director of public affairs for John Bailey & Associates PR, responded to a Twitter inquiry about the service.
Adler tweeted back that the tool could be useful, “but it’s no match for experience.” Plus, it’s not “foolproof.”
Feedback from the MyRagan forum “How does your press release match up?” reported mixed reviews.
One member said she got a 46 out of 100 but her release made it to the second page of Google results for a major keyword phrase. “I have to defer to Google’s judgment,” she writes, adding that “this PR analysis gave me some things to think about in writing my next release.”
Another member received a failing grade for an award-winning release. It also told him the release didn’t have an e-mail address but it did. However, the advice about text links is “worth thinking about.”
It’s “never going to be as sophisticated as a human,” said Mike Volpe, vice president of marketing for HubSpot, but it makes sure you are following the basic rules of writing a release.
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But does it actually work? I sent two press releases through the ringer to test it out.
The first was Apple’s release to announce the new iPhone 3G and the other, Kashi’s release (pdf) to urge people to eat better with free granola samples.
Here’s how our two samples scored, and a breakdown of the Press Release Grader’s grading scale.
1. General statistics
Word count: Aim for 250 to 750 words in a typical press release. The tool will flag you if it goes past that because a reporter will likely skip over a long release, Volpe said.
Sentences: Number of sentences in release.
Link count: Number of links in release.
Readability: Level of education required to understand the release.
Apple: 833 words, 40 sentences, one link, graduate level
Kashi: 527 words, 55 sentences, four links, 9th grade
2. Content suggestions
Contact information: It’s important for a press release to include at least a phone number and an e-mail address. The tool alerts you if these are missing.
About company: You read the release and “still don’t understand what the company does,” Volpe said. Be sure to include a few sentences detailing your company’s mission.
Company link: This allows a release to reach the maximum value from a search engine Optimization (SEO) through a hyperlink to the company’s Web site.
End-of-content marker: A “###” or “-30-” at the end of the release tells press release submission software where the official release ends.
Gobbledygook words: Why do so many press releases brag about their flexible, robust, world-class, market-leading, groundbreaking company? Warning: Gobbledygook overload! Please, do us all a favor and get rid of all that industry b.s. from your next press release.
David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and on HubSpot’s board of advisers, asked journalists for a list of overused words and ran those words against 440,000 press releases to come up with about 100 gobbledygook words. “The PR people are pushed by senior management to use those big words,” but it doesn’t necessarily make the release seem like it’s “smartly written,” he said.
Apple: Listed phone number and e-mail addresses, no “About Apple,” no end-of-content marker, and plenty of gobbledygook words (revolutionary, groundbreaking).
Kashi: Listed phone number and e-mail address, featured “About Kashi,” closed with an end-of-content marker, and contained no gobbledygook words.
3. Link analysis
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| Kashi's link analysis. |
Position: Aim for a link at the top of the release. When press releases get syndicated to Web sites, they usually only show the top paragraphs. “People tend to scan from the top of the release down,” Volpe said. “You’re more likely to get them to click through to your client’s Web site with a top link.”
Link count: Three or more links get the maximum SEO benefit.
Link text with keywords: “Anchor text” using relevant words helps search engines. “Putting in URLs is OK but you should have at least one or two anchor text links,” Volpe advises.
Apple: Bottom (79 percent), one link, no links with keyword-based link text
Kashi: Top (8 percent), four links, no links with keyword-based link text
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| Apple's word cloud results. |
4. Word Cloud
Word analysis: This feature displays words in different sizes to show how often they are used to make sure you get your point across about the subject.
Apple: “iPhone,” used 36 times compared to “Apple,” used seven time
Kashi: “Kashi,” used 18 times in the release compared to “granola,” used 11 times
The final tally … ?
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Writing a press release: Avoid rookie mistakes
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1. Links. Include links, links and more links. Reporters often browse online newsrooms, wire services and the blogosphere for releases. And “press releases are not just for the press” anymore. Press releases need links to company Web sites, products and other linkable material.
Here’s a tip: Put the first link early in your release in case it’s picked up and only the first paragraph shows up.
2. Keywords
A simple way to boost traffic comes with anchor text to keywords for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Anchor text can help lure readers interested in your release’s topic when it pops up on their SEO.
3. Contact info
OK, you write a great press release and send it out. Reporter reads it, wants to follow up with you. But wait, there’s no contact info listed. The chance a reporter is going to try to find you is slim. Be sure to put down your phone number and e-mail address.
4. About you
It can’t hurt to include a few sentences at the bottom of your release about you. What if someone scanning the release doesn’t know your company? Don’t make them waste time researching you.
5. The end
Some software systems still search for an end-of-content marker. It helps them know where the “official” part of the release ends.
Source: Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot
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