How to stop writing crappy press releases

Seems like there’s something in the water lately. It’s bad. And it’s affecting the very people who write your press releases.

Maybe that’s you. Or someone you work with.

Or worse, someone you pay!

Over the past few months, the quality of press releases and materials we’ve received at my cycling website, Bikerumor, has been falling off a cliff.

There are a few outliers, and a few brands that are consistently good. But the rest? Ooof. Bordering on (and sometimes downright) terrible. If you’re the one sending them out, sorry. But it’s true. We’ve all noticed.

And the result is less-than-great coverage for your new product. For your brand.

You’re not gonna like this…

Not all media are created equal.

Some give a s#!t and work really hard to deliver a story that’s valuable to their readers.

Others basically copy/paste your release.

So, if your press release and images are crap, guess what kind of story you’re going to get?

And if the media that’s really trying to write a good story has crap to work with, then, well, as a friend used to say about a rival school’s football stadium, “You can polish a turd, but it’s still a piece of s#!t”

Here’s what to do

Get out of your head.

As someone inside the brand, you’re probably (hopefully?) intimately familiar with the product you’re pitching. But the rest of us aren’t.

So all those little details you’re glossing over? The media needs them. The stats, facts, figures, specs, weights, colors, changes from prior model? The media wants those.

Some of us ( *cough* Bikerumor *cough* ) will always go above and beyond. But if you want better stories in the press, give us better materials to work with. Make the images easy to access and download (pro tip: Don’t make me add your DropBox folder to mine just to see them…I don’t have room for it). Be available to answer questions. Leave out the hyperbolic marketing fluff.

Then pay attention to the media that’s putting in the work to make you look good, and support them.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.