Peter’s Place

I work in a television newsroom in a medium-sized market.  Needless to say, we get a TON of e-mail every day… from viewers, from co-workers, from managers, and most of all: from various companies or organizations looking for coverage.  There are 3 really bad habits in many press releases, which I absolutely hate.  (And a few others that are pretty close runners-up.)

Press releases come from lots of places.  Non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, politicians, law enforcement agencies, various governmental offices of all levels (local, state, national).  I could break it down even further, but anything else I can think of fits into one of those categories.  

Long story short: there’s lots of people, businesses and organizations out there, all looking for their 15 seconds of fame.

Top 3 Things that Make a Press Release Crappy

1) When the subject line simply says “Press Release” or “Media Advisory.”
It’s quick, it’s simple, it’s tidy.  But “Press Release” doesn’t give me the slightest clue what the message is about.  From a PR standpoint, you probably think that’s good because it forces me to open the message and read it.  But put yourself in my shoes.  Every day, I have close to 100 messages — most of which are either spam or press releases.  I don’t have all day to read every single one.  By putting a description in the subject line, I can immediately find the relevant press releases, and delete the rest.

What’s relevant or irrelevant?  There’s no hard-set rule.  It depends mostly on the other news of the day, and our daily staffing lineup.  The exact same event could happen at the same time and place every day for a week, and there might be only one day when it outranks everything else happening on a given day.

See, if a message just says “Press Release” and it turns out to be something lame, boring, out-of-town or otherwise irrelevant, then I get mad because it wasted my time.  When there’s a descriptive subject, sure, there’s a chance I’ll delete the message without reading it — but at least I don’t get mad at the sender.  When consistent “Press Release” offenders get me mad enough, they get added to my “blocked senders” list.

Runner-up: People who just leave the subject line blank.  Just as frustrating and useless as “Press Release” or something else equally undescriptive (like “News from [Politician or Company Name Here]“).

Solution: Give me a hint in the subject line.  Some PR people are really good at this.  Things like “Campus to receive $100 Million grant” or “Six arrested for cocaine possession” are a lot better than just “Press Release.” Yes, this will increase the odds I’ll simply delete your e-mail if it’s something I’m not interested in on a given day.  But at least you won’t be on my blocked senders list.

2) When Press Releases are only sent as attachments.
Whether I’m opening your message because I want to, or because your vague subject line tricked me into reading it — nothing annoys me more than when the e-mail body is blank, except for an attached Word or PDF file.  Especially when the filename is vague.  Now, I have to waste MORE time opening the file, just to find out your press release is probably boring.  

Solution: Take 2 seconds and copy the text from your document, and paste it into the e-mail.  At least then, I can read the message without having to open an attachment.  Sure, it only takes a few seconds to fire up Adobe Acrobat or Word, but seconds add up when you’re racing against deadlines.

3) Politicians who send out releases every day, just for the sake of doing so.
When it comes to politicians, I don’t care which party you’re in.  Nothing annoys me more than politicians (or hopefuls challenging incumbents) who send out press releases every single day, just to get attention.  Even if there’s nothing going on, they’ll make up something to whine about.  It’s like watching a catty argument between two children.

Runner Up: Press Releases not intended for TV
I love it when people ask us to “publish” their stories and/or photos like we’re a newspaper, or the occasional politician who sends us audio clips like we’re a radio station.  Any PR person who knows what the heck they’re doing should at least make the press release appropriate to the type of media receiving it.