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The press release debate: Is it still relevant?
Public relations is changing. This is a fact that is not lost on PR companies, bloggers or the press. It’s often lost on companies with news to release however. I get queries from a lot of clients still looking for a more traditional approach and who try to rebuff efforts to take a more contemporary…
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5 ways to get your press release trashed
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…
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Is your press release really an advertisement?
Have you ever tried submitting your press release to an online press release submission site only to have it rejected for some unknown reason? Or maybe you’ve sent out press releases to the media only to hear nothing back. It could be that your press release was actually an advertisement. There are a variety of…
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How to find the right angle to pitch
No matter where you submit your press release, no one is going to publish what you say unless it is newsworthy. Before I explain what it means to be newsworthy or how you can become newsworthy, let me explain what is not newsworthy. If your press release talks about a sale, that is not newsworthy.…
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Press release services don’t guarantee press
In these days of online press release services, free press release submission services and online news aggregate sites the power of the press release is losing a bit of its oomph in the eyes of business owners. So increasingly I’m getting asked to supply press release services but these potential clients want me to guarantee…
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What’s in a headline?
Whether you are updating a business blog or sending out a press release, you probably have a sentence at the top of the page called a headline. You thought only newspapers had those I bet. Nah, just about any piece of writing that contains information has a headline. It’s the thing that calls out to potential readers…
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When crisis strikes, send out a press release?
For the most part people think of marketing during the good times. You send out press releases when sales are good and quarter earnings are up, when your business expands or when you support a good cause. But what about when things are (gasp!) bad? When money is tight? Or even, when crisis strikes? What…
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How to recover when you announce something prematurely
You are just itching to release the news of your company’s merger with that other big name company. So when the time comes you enlist the press release services of your assistant, draft up a press release and send it out in an email blast to every reporter you can think of. Then you get…
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What if you have nothing to announce?
I get contacted a lot by people who tell me “I’d like a press release, but I’m not sure I have anything to announce.” And I say, “That’s never stopped the people who submit press releases to me at the paper where I work.” It’s true. Through the years I’ve received countless press releases that…