If there’s anybody who has developed a successful model for charging for news content, it’s the PR industry.
In 2007, press releases represented a $2.2 billion market, according to Fortune. This figure only covers distribution through companies such as PR Newswire and PR Web. It does not include the cost to write and pitch them to the media which, in my experience, almost always exceeds the cost of distribution.
Most companies have accepted press releases (or social media releases) as the main engine powering their news programs. PR agencies love them because it’s the easiest way to generate revenue and there’s little resistance on the client side.
But how many of these press releases are actually worth the time and money? Not many.
Go to any corporate site and you would be hard pressed to find a handful of press releases (or social media news releases) that had enough news value to warrant their distribution. For example, recently, I was asked to weigh in on whether a company should write a press release about the launch of their corporate blog.
Press releases would be a lot less attractive if it weren’t for search engine optimization which allows PR folk to tout search rank and traffic numbers. In the old days, nothing spelled F-A-I-L like a press release that didn’t generate one piece of coverage. But these days, you get to say things like: “This press release generated 20K hits.”
Of course, these numbers are meaningless unless you can track a particular hit to something tangible, like a sale, a business lead or even a piece of coverage. One of my cartoons generated over 30K hits, but other than boosting my ego, it did little to move the bar for my business.
The point is this: Don’t let traffic numbers and search results give you a false sense of security about the success of your PR program. If you can’t tie it to a specific business result, you’re just wasting your precious PR dollars.
Now is a good time as any for companies to take a serious look at what they’re spending on press release development and distribution. Here are a few things you should do first:
- Go through your press release archive and count how many press releases reported major pieces of company news (e.g., new product launches, major corporate developments or achievements). As a point of reference, most companies don’t generate more than 5 major announcements (unless of course you’re a large company like Microsoft)
- Ask your PR department or agency to give you a total cost for each press release (including time drafting, newswire distribution, and media outreach).
- Ask your PR department or agency to tie each press release to a specific business objective (not just traffic hits or search results).
- Consider using press releases for only your most earth shattering news. For everything else just post a simple note on your corporate website or blog.
We think after going through this exercise, most of you will want to end your love affair with the press release. It’s probably better to be “just friends” anyway.
419.730.3040
andrew [at] newsvetter [dot] com
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Very interesting post here. For disclosure I run a “boutique” marketing firm with an emphasis on consumer technology and a blend of new/old outreach approaches. I found myself both agreeing and vehemently disagreeing with your post simultaneously.
First, the release itself. As a format, it’s fine, but the real beef I have with it is the method of release. The wires are barely useful, and *that* is where the bulk of cash is being spent. I think there’s quite a bit of merit in retaining the format of a structured doc, but the question of how the money gets spent is a bigger one.
Next, writing a release. I have no idea what big firms charge for these kinds of services, but we don’t charge anything extra. Why? Because in my eyes it’s just “part of the job” (granted we still charge retainers or project fees). But more importantly, writing a press release shouldn’t take all that long. It’s an easy-to-follow format, no matter how many links and media you want to embed. From my experience watching others at work, it seems that there are really just too many companies still issuing releases when they don’t need to (hence your point on it). I think this comes down to “old-school” mentalities of forcing a release on the wire every 30 days. That’s the real crime IMHO.
Next up the release/wire process. This ship is so broken it sinks before leaving the port. I don’t know *any* journalists anymore who find valuable utility in any given wire service. It’s become all noise, no signal. And this is where a lot of money disappears. A global release can cost over $10,000. A well-pruned, targeted list can cost even more.
Or a diligent firm can build their own lists, send their own emails, and spend nothing but time and energy. And get more out of it in return.
So I don’t want to kill the document otherwise known as the press release (or social media release or blog post or whatever).
I want to kill the way people are *using* press releases.
And now, pictures of raw meat!!!
I too run a boutique practice, in London, that helps US and European companies alike – the same issue exists here.
We are always surprised when a company believes that a wire, used to distribute well-written or poorly-written pieces, is enough to keep the PR fires burning. It’s not.
Our business won a long term account, initially, on the promise to make a company’s material more active and for less money than a wire could…it worked for all involved because this is still and will always be an industry that benefits most from relationships and familiarity but this takes time. You have to know who you’re dealing with and how they like to be dealt their news…wires could never accomplish that goal.
Later today I will be passing along knowledge to a junior PR person about press release writing…I look forward to invoking the inverted pyramid along with other tried and true lessons from bygone days as well as some new ones.
Hello:
Your main premise here — that a majority of news releases may have little to no true news value — certainly has validity. But be careful when making statements like:
“Go to any corporate site and you would be hard pressed to find a handful of press releases (or social media news releases) that had enough news value to warrant their distribution.”
“As a point of reference, most companies don’t generate more than 5 major announcements (unless of course you’re a large company like Microsoft).”
What statistics or research did you use when coming to these conclusions? I trust it’s basically your perception.
@Edward You calling me a liar?
This is not just perception. I’ve been looking into this topic for years, including speaking with journalists who bear the brunt of poor quality press releases (and pitches) on a daily basis. You can see one study I did here. Another great resource is the Bad Pitch Blog. They’ve built quite an empire upon a steady stream of bad press releases and pitches.
I wish I had’ve read this a few weeks ago. When we did a ‘blanket’ launch for our Australian website http://moneysavingmaster.com.au , I was talked into paying extra for a wire service. The response was non existant. Yet a couple of emails to the relevant journalists worked wonders.
I guess in the world of electronic media the journalists have got ‘press releases’ coming to them at every angle.
Are there any journalist reading this blog who’d be able to give their comments on their thoughts of the wire versus other sources?
Great post, and excellent comments by Jeremy and Greg. I agree that the problem isn’t so much with the format (i.e. the press release), but more with the distribution method.
As the only PR pro at my company, I’ve used both wire services and “hand-made” distribution lists to distribute press releases. In my experience, while using wire services can generate more placement on the Web, this coverage isn’t nearly as effective as working directly with journalists from specifically targeted magazines. A number of sites may copy-and-paste the content of the release distributed on the wire, but using a narrow focus and leveraging relationships with the media ensures that our news appears in magazines our customers actually read.
It may take some extra time to build these lists and establish these relationships yourself, but the end results are more powerful than using static-filled wire services.
I’ve been in media relations for 20 years now and I wonder, hasn’t it ever been thus? My first question to any client who asks about issuing a press release is “What would it look like if we made it a pitch?” Press releases as a form retain value because they put key information in one place and have the proper vetting to ensure they truly reflect what the company wants to say. Using wires to distribute them is a perfectly good way to make them easy to find for anyone who wants to find them. However, expecting them to generate journalism? Please. I started calling them “news” releases rather than “press” releases years ago because so few of them target the press.
For publicly traded companies there is the issue of SEC minimum disclosure regulations, which is legally satisfied via wire distribution. But I agree that the wires (and press releases in general) are over-used. What’s funny is that clients *want* to send them… even when we tell them they are wasting money. So at the very least, we try to keep them to less than 400 words.
@Mark Check out the last link in the post. Corporate websites/blogs can satisfy Reg FD too.