Is the Press Release DEAD?

How many people really pay attention to press releases? Answer this question: Which has a better chance of getting a story?

A standard press release for a new biography done in the typical fashion or an online documentary series featuring the author and an on-location, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the book? (read: foreshadowing for the second part follow up to this post)

The answer is as old as time. Everyone loves a great story. From the day of the caveman to the modern day movie it is a form of communication written into our very DNA. Journalists have a need to create compelling stories and the easier we make it for them to accomplish the better chance of success our topic has of becoming news. Ford Kanzler, managing partner of Marketing/PR Savvy in El Granada, CA, believes

“gaining effective publicity value often comes from bringing something new, fresh, newsworthy and interesting to an interest group or online network, while subverting the brand marketing message in favor of ‘sponsor or contributor identification only. The promotional benefits accrue from the fact that your organization or company is the one that made or helped make the story come to be seen. Too many marketers and sponsors don’t get this.”

This is precisely where social media, PR2 and content marketing converge.

A company releasing a product upgrade or hiring a new CFO is not really a story. Not if you want to go beyond your industry trade echo chamber. However, recognizing how your company (and its recent activities) fits into a larger context and seeding the ideas of ingenuity by creating something fresh, a different angle, does create a story.

“What’s important, as in many media relations programs is not having some fixed idea of how the story may be served up or delivered by the media outlet,” said Mr. Kanzler. Too many traditional press releases not only are narrowly focused and one dimensional but are an overt attempt to try and control the message”.

I have had more than one journalist tell me they don’t read press releases at all. This is why we believe so strongly in the use of Social Media Press Rooms over a standard press release. PR superstar Todd Defren of Shift Communications has been credited with pioneering the social media release with the first template released in 2006. He suggests you “put out a well-written “traditional” release over the wires, with a built-in link to the “social media version” at the company’s online newsroom.”

Noted, and all things ‘new PR’ heavyweight Brian Solis, principle in the award winning PR and New media agency FutureWorks is also behind the cause and and wrote The Definitive Guide to Social Media Releases. And, taken to the large enterprise by social media guru Maggie Fox and Social Media Group for companies like Ford Motor Company using their version called Digital Snippets. The writing is on the wall - the SMPR is here to stay. Unlike its predecessor, it gracefully accomplishes the two most fundamental requirements:

• To communicate a more three dimensional and dynamic ‘story’ in context to a larger picture, and

• To give journalists all the tools they may need to run with that story.

Tags: Brian Solis, journalist, Marketing/PR Savvy, media agency, media outlet, media relations programs, online documentary series, online network, online newsroom, Social Media Group, social media newsroom, Todd Defren