No One Cares About Your News Release

I disagree with this. I have had excellent results using news releases on our nonprofit blog. 1. The SEO value is great and several of our stories come up at the top of search results specifically because of the blog. 2. We had a news station cover our story in February, and they directly linked to the press release/blog post on their website! This was ABC7 San Francisco. 3. We use it as a way to feed our news gallery on our website and it is great to streamline information on a regular basis.

Does your mother even care about your NEWS, never you mind the release? Think @lauraclick is right about there being a time and place for a GOOD release; and @KenMueller is right about a 'news' section or hello, newsroom if you're wanting SEO ( cc @jennwhinnem @EricaAllison ) Or if you're big enough, more than one blog: one for actual people, one for the 4 people who might stop and read the press release (including two who did - by accident). And FWIW, my mother doesn't care about most of my 'news' - she's all, 'yeah whatever, that's nice, it'll work it' - unless my news is more about her. ;-)

So here's a thought...sometimes you may even actually have to write a release that you KNOW will not get any real pick-up...but you want your competitors or other like-minded organizations to see what you're up to  because they monitor such things. I used to see this ALL THE TIME when I worked for a NFP...

Hi Gini,

Uhoh, I'm going to leave a serious comment on your blog site. I'm not sure that's ever happened before :o 

The important thing about this post to me is that you note "there is a time and a place for news releases." I think too often people take the advice, "Don't post your news releases to the social web" too far. They say, "Oh OK. News Releases are bogus now. Got it."

This is far from the truth.

For a lot of our clients, news releases are great wins. A lot of publications publish news releases almost as soon as we send them out, so our clients get link juice from credible sources. It's a great way to show you're a vital, growing source in your industry. And so on.

But if you use your blog site for your news releases, you'll get booed out of your pants. And that's uncomfortable for everybody.

Time and a place indeed. 

For Immediate Release:

Subject: News Release

Arment Dietrich and Spin Sucks the rock star public relations agency and blog written by Social Media super Ninjas announced today they don't care about no steenkin news release. They don't care about your news release. Your momma's news release, or your cab drivers new release.

Date: May 7, 2012

Distribution: The Earth and part of the Milky Way Galaxy

For Immediate Release:

Subject: Secondary News Release

The Chief Alien of Sky Pulse Media who rules the most of the Milky Way Galaxy  and Several Others as their benevolent Dictator, where Arment Dietrich does not have legal authority to release any news releases, agrees with their news release today.

Date: May 7, 2012 Earth

I came to this blog post intending to disagree with you, because I think there is a time and a place for a press release. But then I saw that you wrote those words, and my entire argument was deflated.

In short, most companies could stand to cut their press release output by 90 percent.

THIS is what i tried to tell the bosses. I know that stuff is garbage, but that is what the client wanted. I had to write news releases that really were not news, and worse, make a company that was not very good sound great.

Gini Dietrich shoots from the hip! Spot on, Gini. :=)

I can't tell you how many pitches I receive that are nothing more than a badly worded request for me to run a release verbatim.

"Dear Mom Blogger,

With Mother's Day just around the corner everyone knows that it is time to buy mom the perfect gift. We have the perfect solution. It is battery operated, environmentally friendly and guaranteed to make mom smile. Blah, blah, blah

We would love it if you would just run this on your blog because every one of your readers is a mother, er, has a mother and they deserve to feel special on their day.

Best,

PR/Marketing department.

Not that anyone cares, but I hate it when people use "best" as their signature. What the hell does that mean. It is gibberish that is as about as useful as text speak.

Might as well pitch me by saying:

Deer Mister Blahger,

Ah wuld appresheate it if u wuld ruhn my vary imporhtant newws storee so eye look gud to my client.

Blah, blah, blah

This is one of the most challenging things to explain to someone who doesn't fully understand social media or blogging. It's only natural to assume that everyone else cares about company news, but that's not always the case! Not every tidbit is newsworthy...

I love the image! I may have to pin that! :)

Very  helpful post Gini and great resource to refer back to! Thanks.

What? Excuse me, but it's all about me; you should know that  by now. And I've found I can't do enough press releases. It used to be nobody would respond to my twitter account when I told them I went to Starbucks, but now that I put it in a press release............well, let's just say it's a night and day difference. 

And since my mama is my only blog subscriber; it's pretty obvious she loves her baby boy........

Ok, you want me to be serious now? Good, I didn't think so........

As much as you might like, it CAN NOT be about you. People read your crappy press release and they just want to jam a ball point pen in their ear or something. You definitely have to be outward thinking, which apparently isn't easy for some.............obviously, huh.............:)

Would it be terribly crass of me to save this post and send it to the clients that don't understand why their press releases (that they want written about every breath they breathe) aren't generating TONS of calls from the media? Maybe if I framed it? My hunch is that they're slapping them on their blogs because they haven't generated any other content. And a press release is a bunch of words put together and that's content, right?!

you said effing???

I agree with you and what @lauraclick  had to say. I would also add that there IS a place for your news release on your website and that's the News Room or Media Room (whichever moniker you prefer). That way, you have a spot for it should the press come callin' and you get some search results from it as well.

And as Laura wisely points out, a bad release is just that. Good ones: timely, relevant, newsworthy ones, are awesome and need a much better place than your blog.

I think it should be no one cares about your BAD news release. So many times businesses want news releases on things that aren't news (whether it's for the press or your blog). Your example of a release for an ad is a good one.

However, if the release is good, relevant and timely to your customers, I think it can work on your blog.  I will say  that it depends on your blog's tone and voice. Look at your blog, for example. Your new book is most definitely news. And, I'm betting you have a news release for it. But, you didn't post that here. You did, however, announce it on your blog.

I think that the best way to go about it is to take your news release and repackage the information in a way that matches the voice of your blog. That way, it won't stick out like a sore thumb and you can frame it in a way that will help readers. There are some news items that will never be a good fit for your blog, but I definitely think that businesses should use their blog to communicate newsworthy information to their customers.

This reminds me of the requests I get to "Do some social media around something."