Normally, I don't pay too much attention to the headlines I read in my emailed edition of The Daily Dog. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a fine product from a fine company, it's just that my pulse doesn't quicken when public relations people discuss public relations issues to other public relations people. (I probably picked up this attitude at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism where it's understood there's a certain discipline and set of skills involved in journalism, but nothing so complicated that it can't be learned in less that two years.)
Anyway, the headline that caught my eye was about press releases, specifically, The Dark Side of Social Media: Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy. This interested me due to the number of discussions I've recently had with clients, friends, and entrepreneurs about the changing role of the press release. And it has certainly changed from when I started off in the business. I won't bore you here with the history of the press release, but we will notice that it has changed from a tool used to inform the media to a tool that can be used to directly inform the public and, if one is on top of one's game, actively leveraged as a sales tool, customer communications tool, employee relations tool, etc. --And, by the way, the SEC still considers it an act of disclosure.
But back to the article in The Daily Dog... I agree with the author on many points:
- A press release is a tool (tactic) not a strategy (duh).
- There are lots of other tactics to use.
- Many more "amateurs" than ever before are actively involved in the creation of press releases.
But what strikes me as odd is that the author still believes that a press release is a media relations tool -- at all. My experience is that it is rare, very rare indeed that a press release has media impact. Here's the last example from my work that I can cite: Here's the media coverage. Here's the press release. I wrote the press release with the sales force in mind, but I also wrote it with one media outlet in particular in mind, the Saint John Telegraph Journal. I had a reason to believe that the newspaper would take the story. (Not quite as .... thoroughly ... as it did, but still...) And then I made sure that the newspaper received the press release two days before it wired, a tactic afforded to me by working for a private company.
But back to The Daily Dog... the author seems to be making the point that the press release tool is being diluted by the participation of amateurs and we should somehow better control this. She draws a parallel between the uncontrolled use of press releases and the uncontrolled real estate development in her home town due to lack of zoning regulations. I suggest this instead: It is incumbent on public relations professionals to figure out ways to add value beyond the read of the general public. The toothpaste is out of the tube, dear. Businesswire and PR Newswire are very OK with the idea that more people have more access to their primary service and can afford it and are willing to use it. (I've met people who believe that PR is an acronym for press release rather than public relations.)
But is also rubs me the wrong way when public relations staff argue with their clients about whether or not a press release should be written. I've seen public relations staff object to writing and wiring a press release because it won't help them win media coverage -- and they're correct. And the client's point is that they need a press release because it's probably the most concise, essential marketing communication that might ever be created for their product / service -- and they're correct. --But if it takes a public relations professional more than a couple of hours to write and win approval on a press release, even at a public company, then something is amiss and it would appear that some skills need to be sharpened.
Come on. Let's be real public relations professionals and make it a win / win / win for the client, the media and our own work.
