With everyone from the Archbishop of Canterbury to siblings of Big Brother contestants now hiring PR support, the public relations industry has grown rapidly in the last few years. But with an ever-increasing number of untrained people coming into the industry, writing standards have not kept up with this evolution. Badly spelt, misinformed and entirely nonsensical press releases darken the media’s doors on a daily basis and most journalists throw most press releases straight in the bin.
Here are my 10 top tips for how to get it right:
1. Get to the point
You have only the headline and the first paragraph of a press release which should be no more than 35 words to communicate the essence of the story. When reading the first sentence, journalists will make a decision on whether or not they’re interested, so at the outset write the ‘who, what, where, when, why, and how’ as concisely as possible. Long words and sentences might seem big and clever. They’re not.
2. Be correct
It doesn’t matter how great your story is or how important the client, if your press release contains grammatical or spelling errors the press won’t be impressed. An apostrophe in the wrong place or arbitrary capitalisation undermines your credibility and consequently the validity of what you’re saying. Never commit the cardinal PR sin of referring to a company in the plural. It doesn’t matter if a corporate name sounds as multiple as ‘Hogwash Munchkin Baloney & Sons’, never follow it with ‘are’. By definition a company is a single entity.
3. Curb the adjectival frenzy
The new product you’re writing about might be the most fabulous, revolutionary, ground-breaking, radical, cutting-edge, innovative, awe-inspiring, earth-shattering gizmo ever to have graced the planet Earth, but instead of harping on about it just explain why.
4. Be concise
Of course it is frustrating that your original press release was subjected to eight rounds of amendments by the marketing director, company board members and Doris who makes the tea, all keen to stamp their mark on it and add in information on an issue usually irrelevant close to their own heart. But be firm and stop your press release becoming the PR equivalent of War and Peace. Keep it to a maximum of one page, two if the lines are double-spaced.
5. Include all the facts
Yes, this seems obvious, but the sad truth is that a large number of press releases arrive on journalists’ desks with a crucial piece of information missing. Not everyone knows the price of the gadget you’re writing about, where you can buy it from or what the phone number for ordering it is.
6. Don’t editorialise
Certain PR practitioners get confused and write as if they’re producing the finished news story or feature in a newspaper or magazine. The use of the second person is symptomatic of this tendency. Press releases packed with ‘you’, directly addressing the consumer or audience for whom their product is intended, are missing the point. A press release is being written for journalists, who will take the facts from it to write their own copy. Keep to the third person.
7. Don’t use jargon
Even in the trade press, where a certain familiarity with the industry in question is assumed, blatant marketing speak or techno-babble is a big no-no. As well as being extremely geeky, too much jargon makes getting the message across difficult undermining the whole point of the exercise. Tell it like it is. Not like some trounced-up business guru with a string of meaningless letters after his name says it should be.
8. Give good quotes
It’s always a good idea to include a quote from the most relevant spokesperson. But don’t start it with I am delighted that…. This is the PR equivalent of laudanum and will have most hacks yawning in seconds. When dealing with the entrenched conservatism of most brands and companies, it can be tricky to say something exciting that meets managerial approval, but try to find some middle ground and write some unexpected or amusing words of wisdom.
9. Highlight your contact details
Another screamingly obvious error that crops up too often is hiding the contact details. Most journalists won’t appreciate the puzzle you’ve set of seeking out your contact details squeezed at the very end of the release, under 14 ‘notes to editors’ and six sources of statistical information. Make it easy for them put your contact details up front, in bold and in a large font.
10. Never resort to clichés
At the end of the day, the bottom line is that clichés are definitely not the bees knees. When the chips are down, there are more platitude-packed press releases arriving in newsrooms the world over than you can shake a stick at. But, then again Rome wasn’t built in the day and practice as well as thorough training and expert guidance makes perfect.