Some PR Hurts

LinkedIn is a great source for stories about public relations and this one is no exception. Alex Goldfayn, a former columnist for the Chicago Tribune and now a PR consultant, has seen a lot of press releases. And most of them, he claims, hurt your efforts rather than help.

The reasons, he sums up, are as follows:

1) You are better spending time developing relationships with certain editors and then sending your news release, rather than the scatter gun approach of deluging the entire media market with your release in the hopes that someone will sit up and take notice. Bottom line is they don’t.

2) Most press releases are terrible because they focus on what YOU have for “sale” rather than on what you can do for YOUR client. Subtle difference. And most of the time the releases don’t tell a STORY. And story is what everyone loves to hear.

3) Releases all too often do not reflect the company’s story, brand, character. Public relations teams operate separately from the rest of the company and are out of sync in what they tell the world about the company.

The way forward, Goldfayn suggests, is to focus on real content: who your clients are, what they want, what your company’s true character is. And then tell a compelling, honest story about it all.