Press releases that don’t suck

The audience has changed and so have the delivery methods, but have your press releases? Here’s how to pack the most punch

Thanks to the Web, most people who read press releases aren’t even journalists—in fact, the term press release is a misnomer at this point. Investors, customers and bloggers are now avid consumers of releases. This wide audience adds some new challenges to this writing task, but these challenges can be a writer’s blessing: It means you may be encouraged to write in plain English instead of incomprehensible industry jargon. If you can write a solid, clearly written draft in news style—and you don’t succumb to the PR babblespeak that litters so many press releases—you’ll add value to your PR department’s collateral.

If you haven’t cranked out a press release in a while, you may hear your PR people talk about the “social media release.” This new animal was created in response to the focus on multimedia content, like YouTube videos and podcasts, and is merely a vehicle for delivering links to this material. We’ll talk more about this type of release below.

Do yourself a favor: Stick to the formula