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No longer an expensive marketing strategy, press releases can now be written and distributed for
little-to-no cost, but unfortunately, accessibility has led to a PR pipe clogged with bad,
non-newsworthy announcements.

Before you issue your next press release, here are 4 questions to help you assess whether your press release is ready for public consumption.

Question #1: Why will the reader care?

A press release with sticking power makes company news relevant to the readers. Find a story angle that will hit a nerve with the public, and write your press release around that angle.

Question #2: Will your readers “get it” if they only read your first paragraph?

If your readers need to read past the first paragraph to understand the point of your news story, then you’ve made a novice mistake that journalists like to call “burying the lead.”

People (especially journalists) are way too busy to dig for news, so make your leading paragraph strong, and make sure it can stand on its own. All of the subsequent paragraphs in your press release should support the message delivered in the lead paragraph.

Question #3: Does your press release look like a desperate attempt for incoming links?

Without question, press releases are an effective SEO tactic, but you need to balance your desire for incoming website links with your human audience.

To avoid the appearance of link spam, strive to have at most one link for every 100 words of content. For a typical, 400 word press release, that means you should have no more than four links in your release.

Question #4: Does your press release content pass the B.S. test?

HubSpot has a cool (and totally free) press release grader that will score your press release based upon language, content, use of links, and more.

To rate the B.S. factor, the tool looks for the over-used words and meaningless catch phrases that David Meerman Scott identified after analyzing 388,000 press releases over a nine-month period — words like next generation, flexible, robust, world class, scalable, and easy to use.

To purge the B.S. from your own press releases, use concrete examples, or try the “so what” exercise described in an earlier blog: “Do You Play B.S. Bingo.”

Sue Anderson
Marketing Lure, Inc.