Is the Press Release (Finally) Dead?

It wasn’t so long ago when the press release was the centerpiece of our work in the communications and public relations industries.

PR firms could always count on the drafting and editing of press releases to add up to a few hours of billable time.  We’d print the releases out on the client’s letterhead and proudly stuff them prominently in the folders of thick, glossy press kits.  We’d painstakingly review our printed masterpiece to ensure the margins were exactly 1.0 inches, and the staple was perfectly placed in the top left corner.

The press release was the cornerstone of the media plan.  The foundation that held the entire campaign together.

Thank goodness those days are over.

When I transitioned from agency public relations to the world of political campaigns so many years ago, I quickly learned the wastefulness of the “form-over-function” press release gimmick.  As I’ve often told people, on numerous occasions I hand-wrote press statements from my candidates to hand to reporters.  A press release could’ve been written on a cocktail napkin — as long as the content was effective.  Phone calls and conversations were just as important as a release.

Over time, as technology has transformed the communications industry and the journalistic profession — the press release has become even less important.

While there still are some journalists who still rely on old-fashioned press releases to get their pitches, and while some pioneers have developed the “Social Media Release” as a new way of pitching the news, and while, yes we still do send out traditional press releases for some of our clients — I just have to wonder how much more time will go by before the press release is dead, once and for all. Here’s why:

• Earlier this year, we helped a candidate launch a statewide political campaign — and garnered statewide media attention without issuing a single press release.  We relied on a short online video and a brief email to supporters.  Most news outlets based their stories off of the video and email — and some simply called us directly for comment.  No press release needed.

• When we helped a think-tank release a policy study last March, we knew we wouldn’t get much coverage from our press release.  That’s why the centerpiece of our media strategy was the microsite we built for the study’s release.  We were correct — while most of the immediate coverage came from blogs we pitched through social media outlets, other “mainstream media” outlets (such as National Public Radio) have found our study and contact information from the microsite.

• Social media tools are quickly replacing the press release as the main source of story ideas for members of the media.  Many journalists are not only effectively getting pitched on Twitter — some news outlets are reporting their stories based on the Twitter updates of politicians and celebrities.  Public relations strategist Sarah Evans created #journchat as a weekly Twitter discussion that connects journalists with communications professionals.  And Peter Shankman’s “Help a Reporter Out” program is providing a great way for journalists to direct queries to PR professionals and get story ideas quickly, effectively and, yes, for free.

There are numerous other examples of why the press release has outlived its usefulness but, trust me, it has.

In closing, I’ll leave you with a brief anecdote:  I once had a boss who put as much (if not more) effort into editing the fonts and margins of her press releases as she did in the actual content of the release.  She would ensure that the release looked wonderful in Microsoft Word, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense since all releases were then cut-and-pasted into the body of an email and then sent out to reporters.

Talk about painting the outhouse.

The moral of the story is this:  forget about the billable hours, the margins, the fonts and the letterhead.  Kill the press release and start engaging in conversation with the media and building your effective content strategy.