The 'new' press release
I've just had one of those moments when I realise how old I am. I was asked to do some brainstorming with a radio producer ... who produces a programme I produced about 17 years ago.
The interesting thing is that the communication problems are the same, but the technology has moved dramatically. On-air creativity is so much easier now. If you can think it, you can almost always make it happen.
Back then, I thinned out a 1 inch pile of faxes while hunched over a waste paper basket as my first duty each day. Now it's thinning out emails. 'Junk' press releases from real, useful story ideas.
The truly big difference between then and now is that the mainstream media is no longer the filter for all news. The power of the producer to determine what got to air and how it was portrayed has evaporated. Anyone with an Internet connection can go direct to the source of the news, bypassing the media filter.
So, once again, the Internet has changed the rules of business. Your clients and prospects read your 'press' releases directly. You need to speak their language. Of course, this is not to suggest that media relations no longer play an important part of your communications strategy.
Your primary audience is no longer just a handful of journalists and producers. Your audience is your prospects ... most of whom who you don't even know yet.
Here are some of the new rules of the 'press release' landscape.
- Don't just create and send press releases when 'significant' events happen. Find an angle. Create and release news as frequently as you can.
- Don't write for a few journalists and producers. Now you are writing for your clients and prospects. Some of these people will be bloggers or ' citizen journalists '. With no code of ethics to conform to, and so very few restrictions on what they write, you need to be transparent and helpful.
- Write copy that is rich with keywords.
- Understand that most people will scan - not read - your release on-screen. Place links in the copy to enable readers to access your website directly.
- Systemise and optimise your press releases for online searching and browsing.
- Add tags for Technorati , DIGG , and del.icio.us so your release will be found.
You need to radically re-think your press releases creative process. It's a revolution that can deliver new, qualified prospects directly to you. But like all communication, results don't come easy. So be tenacious, and it will pay off.
We've come a long way. The Internet has turned companies, not-for-profits, politicians and even churches into just-in-time and just-right publishers. Consultant David Meerman Scott succinctly writes, "As publishers, these organisations create news releases that deliver useful information directly onto the screens of their buyers."
Look mum - no 'press'!
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