Which Kind of Undead Press Release Would You Rather Have?
By Nathan Johnson

In the world of the undead, vampires are a lot better looking than zombies. I mean, vampires stay forever young. Zombies just keep rotting and getting grosser as time goes by.

In the world of public relations (thanks to the magic of the Internet), press releases have been given the gift of immortality. Armed with that knowledge, companies have a choice in whether or not their “undead” releases will be alluring or plagued by limbs that fall off.    

Sadly, many companies forget that their news releases go on living long after they’ve been dropped on the wire, e-mailed to a media list or laid to rest in the press room of the company’s website. Even if a company updates its online press room regularly and cleans out old releases, those releases are probably floating around somewhere out on the Internet – copied verbatim on a news site, archived on a blog or collected in an article aggregator, just waiting to be unearthed months or years later by an intrepid reporter, interested investors or companies looking to make an acquisition. Given the choice, a company would much rather its undead release hold the reader in thrall instead of sending the reader running for the nearest fortifiable farmhouse or mall (here’s looking at you Romero fans).

It stands to reason that if a company knows a release is going to live forever, then the company should spend time creating news releases that remain relevant and compelling – even after their topics are no longer “fresh” news.

That’s not an easy task. It certainly can’t be accomplished by using the “find/replace” feature just to change whatever comes after standard text like, “Company XYZ, a leading provider of best-of-breed solutions for the ABC market, today announced ….”

Each news release should be unique, providing pertinent news about the products and/or services offered by the company. Even if the products or services cease to be relevant, the news release should contain the right context and be written in such a way that it is obvious why the news was important at the time. In addition, an explanation of the product/service should be simple enough that it doesn’t take an expert to decipher the details.

Companies also would do well to remember that products and services are not newsworthy just because they’re new. They’re newsworthy because of how they will benefit people and businesses in new or different/better ways.

News releases should have headlines that catch the attention of the reader, which means they should be thematically bold but digestible (read: short). Releases should be grammatically correct and written in AP (Associated Press) style, making them easy to read. Releases also should be concise and feature quotes that sound like something a human being would actually say – not just a bunch of jargon.

Following these guidelines could be difficult, and it might not be a battle you want to fight on your own. It may be useful to get some help in making sure that if your press releases become undead, they do it in a classy way.

After all, it’s a lot cooler to go hang out all night, wearing fancy clothes and staring into people’s eyes with a hypnotizing gaze than it is to go stumbling around stinking up the place and moaning about brains.

E-mail the author: Nathan Johnson

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