Press Releases are bemoaned by every editor and journalist I talk to. They are mostly detested by the editors, despised for the hundreds or often thousands that pop up in an editor's inbox daily and weekly. Yet they remain an organization's first tool in the PR and promotional armory.
In a truly sincere effort to help evolve the press release, Todd Defren of SHIFT Communications, has revealed what is being called "The Social Media Press Release." Although Defren's stance on this is a little too enthusiastic for my liking, we do have to remember that he is a PR guy and prone to enthusiasm for, well, just about anything really! His Blog covers many of the issues and vision behind this move.
SHIFT's press release follows the format and says the following: "SHIFT Communications believes that journalists and bloggers are now fully adapted to using the World Wide Web for research purposes. The “Social Media Press Release” merely facilitates their research by using the latest tools (social bookmarking, RSS, etc.) to provide background data, context and on-going updates to clients’ news."
They also recommend using the facilities of del.icio.us as well as links to multi media such as video links, demos and so on. The template is available for free at http://www.shiftcomm.com/downloads/smprtemplate.pdf.
I find this interesting. I think it is a definite step forward to making press releases much more usable. I find it odd, however, that the press relese SHIFT uses to announce this, while it follows the template, doesn't use links in the body text to click on directly. If you observe my blog posting, you will see I use the convention adopted by many bloggers to link names, quotes and comments so the reader can simply click on them to 'follow the trail.' Instead, on that release I had to go up the page to find the link to Defren's blog. However, this is a small issue.
The fact remains, though, that, probably to many editors' dismay, the press release lives on. Just with a more interactive format. Saying that, every editor I have challenged about press releases has yet to offer me an alternative that allows organizations to communicate with a wide audience in a simple way. Find me one. I am all ears.
I would like the press and PR people that read this to offer some critiques. I think there is much to be said for this effort.
rach
True, things are changing fast in the PR world.
In addition to the SHIFT Communications argument, it's clear that the press release has morphed into a direct marketing tool -- thanks again to the same Internet enabled technology you write about. Individuals are pre-selecting topics they want to learn about.
Posted by: John Mallen | June 02, 2006 at 09:48 PM
I don't mind press releases when they are clearly written. Too many have these flaws:
* spend too much time praising the company instead of explaining the new product.
* stuff too many words into the first sentence. I shouldn't have to read beyond the first paragraph to know what's happening.
* attach the press release as a Word file or -- much, much worse -- as a PDF file.
* fail to include a deep URL; some lack any sort of Web link at all and I have to guess it from the email address.
* don't back up their claims, such as Autodesk's recent chest-thumper on "leader of the pack" Inventor, which included NIL statistics.
Here's a tip for PR people: when you find a press release format that you like, copy it. I did that for the press releases I send out on behalf of my eBooks.onLine.
Posted by: ralphg | June 02, 2006 at 11:25 PM
Hi Rachael - Thanks for the kind words. FYI, we were forced to strip the links from the body text because the wire services are still woefully behind the curve. Including the links in the body text *was* the intention.
Having said that - it was nice to see the agency's website traffic surge! It made me feel very "enthusiastic!" ;)
Posted by: Todd Defren | June 03, 2006 at 04:51 PM
There is no prose body text at all? Just bullets. What happened to context?
Posted by: Mark | June 12, 2006 at 11:20 AM
I applaud Todd and the incredible attention his new template has attracted. I wrote a recent
article that explores this, along with the need to improve media/blogger relations in general. http://briansolis.blogspot.com/2006/05/someone-creates-new-social-media-press.html
Posted by: Brian Solis | June 26, 2006 at 03:29 PM