If you’re trying to get your product or service in front of journalists in the form of a press release, one of the most powerful things you can do is not talk about the product.
“Come again?” (That’s you’re part in the conversation.)
Don’t talk about the product. It’s not that interesting.
You might think it is, but the writers and editors you’re pitching? Your product is just one of 100 they’re going to to see that day. And chances are your press release is pretty terrible, like the rest of the releases these poor people read. (And they are poor, in any number of ways.)
So, don’t talk about your product, because it’s not interesting, and it makes your pitch just like everyone else’s.
Rather, talk about what your product does for people.
Talk about what happens to people after they use your product. (Don’t know? You better find out. Don’t know how? Ask. People love to tell their story, and they’ll be pleasantly shocked you’re asking.)
Talk the results your product creates.
Talk about your customers. Tell their stories.
I call this your Results Story.
Ever see the Shipping News? It’s a great film where Kevin Spacey gets a job in Newfoundland as a newspaper reporter. He’s charged with writing up the contents of the ships that come into town (that’s the shipping news). He rightfully decided that that was boring and began relating the stories of the people who owned the boats. Their lives. Their families. Their dramas, successes, failures, marriages and divorces. That was interesting. Within the context of the movie, he revolutionized the way these shipping reports were done.
Revolutionize the way you do press releases by focusing on the people who use your products, instead of the products. It’s easy. It’s really interesting. And journalists will be happy to relate your story, and by extension, your product details, to their readers, viewers and listeners.
Most press releases are terrible, even though professionals write them!
Please reread and think for a moment about that sentence, because it’s a stunner.
Companies who make excellent products hire presumably trained experts to publicly relate to the media, who can then pass along your message to consumers.
But as a former Chicago Tribune columnist, and as a current host of a nationally syndicated daily tech radio show, I can tell you that 95 percent of press releases are useless:
They’re ill-conceived conceptually.
They’re poorly written.
They’re usually filled with grammatical errors — and they’re sent to professional writers and editors!
They’re not interesting. No. They’re boring.
In the tech field, they’re sometime impossible to understand. Sometimes, not only do I not know what the release is trying to say, but I don’t even know what the product is!
They fail to capture the recipients’ attention.
They play “the numbers game” — pitch as many journalists as possible and hope somebody bites. This is NOT a good way to interest the media. (A better way would be to take your story and shape it for each recipient, whom, ideally, you know well. More on this tomorrow.)
They often talk about the products and specs, which almost nobody cares about.
They rarely tell a good story.
And I repeat: it’s professionals, internally and externally, writing these horror shows for companies who invest billions in product development. How embarrassing!
Now imagine getting press releases this bad, 100 times per day.
Now imagine why reporters and editors HATE getting press releases.
Now ask yourself this question: Do you think it’s easy or difficult to stand out in this horrid crowd?
You’re constantly thinking about your job security — and about the fact that you’re trained to work in a dying business.
You’re under never-ending deadline pressure.
You think and craft and mold your piece all day long. And when it’s finished, there are no compliments. There’s no dap. There’s only the next story to start working on. (News rooms are notorious for their silent management style. If you don’t hear from your editor, it means you’re doing fine. How’s that for positive reinforcement?)
You’re constantly fielding phone calls, emails and press releases from people who want you to write about them.
A hundred press releases daily. Sometimes more.
And now imagine that 95 of those press releases are flat-out terrible.
So bad that it’s painful to try to read through the headline and the first paragraph — which is why most journalists don’t.
Chances are, you’re probably sending journalists mass-mailed press releases or pitches. Chances are you’ve never talked with many of the recipients of your releases. And chances are your releases and pitches are typically terrible.
Now put it all together and imagine how horrible your chances are of turning your terrible pitch into a story with that journalist.
And here’s the saddest and most exciting part: it’s incredibly easy to immediately and dramatically improve your media pitches.
Tomorrow, I’ll detail more specifically the many problems most press releases have.
Then, on Friday, I’ll start detailing how to improve them.
And I repeat: it’s frighteningly easy. But it does take a bit effort. The question is, do you want to improve, or do you want the easy way: the way it’s done now?
Yesterday, I presented the difference between convincing consumers and exciting them. Today, the visual. This is what the two approaches look like. Which one is more attractive to you?
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