Sniff, sniff. What’s that smell? Could it be the rank odor of press materials turned kitty litter liner?
Passing the sniff test means writing PR copy that does not read like it was generated by a PR committee. Yes, it might be hard to believe, but many in PR actually aspire to a achieve a writing style that sounds highfalutin and official.
Not that this was ever impressive, but these days, with the explosion of online content, people have more choices and it is more important than ever to write in a credible and interesting way. There is little patience for PR and vendor speak.
People can read about your product on their favorite blogs, news outlets and even in some cases read about users’ firsthand brand experiences. If your market can tap into the opinions of real users online, why should they read a jargon-laden, officious, self-congratulatory press release?
Believe it or not, it is possible to write in a way that is interesting, educates and informs while staying true to your greater PR mission.
But first you will need to abandon some tired habits (for more on the topic, you might see my PR Death Watch series and post that proclaims the death of “PR Speak”. Also see my Keeping it Real post, and Finding the words that Work in Tech PR).
Whether it is a pitch, a traditional press release, or a social media release, you are well advised to screen your copy carefully for PR speak. Get rid of those gratuitous words that add no real meaning, and people just read right past anyway
- In the PR 1.0 world, everyone was a leader and no one is a follower – isn’t it time to graduate from using this tired modifier?
- Get rid of those fuzzy and unsubstantiated hype words. If you can genuinely claim and defend a quantifiable superlative, do so – but leave out words like “best” “unparalleled” “unrivaled”
- Tell a story, and do so with fewer words and less repetition
- The headline is king. Master it. If you can’t boil you story down to a few words that are compelling, jump off the page and inspire the reader to delve further then you don’t have a story (this is one reason I am learning to like Twitter so much: it forces you to express yourself in under 140 characters).
- Go beyond the copy and messages handed to you by the sales and marketing team (nothing against them, I have spent my career in these areas, but these are the corporate chest beaters, and if you just take your cues from this side you are not getting the full picture). Instead, also factor in information from R & D and customer service.
The goal is to be able to write in a way that resonates with prospective users of your product or service – i.e. really connects with them, educates, and doesn’t clobber them with official sounding language, hype and bravado.
Quality writing from PR people is a rarity. Just spend a day reading press releases from PRNewswire (you’ll have litter liner for years). But I’m not so sure that journalists are looking for stellar writing from PR people. Rather, they’re looking for good quality data that they can then use to write quality stories. Packaging is important but not as important as learning to find the data that will justify sharing news with journalists in the first place.
You bring up a good point.
I would agree stellar writing is a reach. But if the writing is not interesting enough to get attention, will the release even get past square one? Also, let’s not forget that many consumers of release content are not necessarily journalists, as the copy finds its way into the search engines and is available for anyone to see online.
True. I would agree that PR people should master the basics (like those mentioned above). Starting with good data will certainly make that process a lot easier.
I wonder how many consumers are actually reading press releases. Yeah, they are showing up in search engine results, but are people opting to read them over say a blog post or an article in a publication? Perhaps something to look into. You? Me? Together?
Yes, that is the question, the answer to which would make a great follow up post.
Not sure of how to best explore this, though, definitely open to a collaboration.
Yes, that is the question, the answer to which would make a great follow up post.
Not sure of how to best explore this, though, definitely open to a collaboration.
Ah yes. Not so easy to do. What about looking at how press releases are bookmarked by del.icio.us? Need to find a press release that was picked up in a publication and then compare which one was bookmarked the most.
I can’t find your email on this blog (you are wise). If you’re interested in pursuing this you can reach me via the “contact” link on my site: http://www.newsvetter.com