In all of those years that I sat at a news desk and read through thousands of press releases there were always those that made me wonder: Was the goal of this press release to make it into the trash as quickly as possible? There are several things that are common in press releases that hit the trash rather than the newsstands. Mistakes pop up in both press releases written by public relations professionals as well as by business owners running a do-it-yourself public relations campaign.
So if you are intent on taking the time to write a press release only to have it become a waste of time, here are five ways to get your press release trashed:
1. Use different colored fonts, wacky graphics or alternating upper and lower case letters.
Not that reporters don’t like the creative flair found in an email with flying hearts and winking happy faces, it’s just that when you get as many emails as a newsroom reporter does you really want to receive information in a straight forward manner.
Imagine reading dozens of emails a day and some written in all caps, some in upper and lower case, some have flashing colored text and others have funny graphics. A straight forward clean- looking press release would be a refreshing welcome.
2. Forget vital info
The next technique you want to remember if you are looking to get your press release trashed is to forget vital information. It’s surprising but many times reporters get press releases that are missing vital information like the date and time an event is taking place, or even more common is leaving out the contact information so that if a reporter has a question they have no one to contact.
3. Threaten to take your press release to the competition
There is so much that crosses a reporter’s desk that there is usually something that can replace whatever is contained in your press release. By bringing up the competition, it tells a reporter that you really don’t care about their media source. Like anyone would be, reporters are going to feel loyal to their readers or viewers first and by showing that you only care about getting publicity, so much so that you would pit media outlet against media outlet, then you may find the response you get is “Go right ahead.”
4. Call continually to see if the press release has been published
Several calls a day until you get some answers may seem like a good idea. After all, persistence pays off right? But persistence quickly turns into pestering. You’ll wind up with a newsroom on alert for your calls and it will be harder and harder to find someone not “out on assignment.”
5. Don’t submit your press release in a timely manner
If you really want your press release to fly straight into the trash then wait a couple of months after the event to submit it. Otherwise you can submit it two days before the event not allowing the reporter enough time to schedule coverage.
Seriously, this happens often. Newspapers work on a time factor. The very nature of news is that it is, well, new. If something happened three months ago, it’s no longer new and that press release will likely be ignored.
Conversely, if you submit a press release and pitch a story the day before the event, the time element is at play again. Reporters often schedule the stories they run unless it’s breaking news. So by submitting a press release to close to the event you may have a great story idea but if the news budget is full already the media outlet may not be able to fit you in.
So there you have it, five ways to make sure your press release gets trashed. On the other hand if getting your news published is your goal, totally don’t do the top five things mentioned above and you’ll be alright.
Shelly Cone is a journalist, public relations professional, and press release writer. She is also the owner of Beach Betty Public Relations, a California lifestyle design company offering press release services, media relations and collaborative marketing events to help you design your life by growing your business.