I’ve just read a really interesting take on the future (or should I say lack of one) of the press release.
The writer of the article suggests that there is no longer any need for the poor old press release and that today there are many other effective methods of releasing a news story. Indeed, he makes a lot of interesting points mainly that writing press releases no longer improves your visibility on search engines as Google is now discounting any content that you pay to distribute. And, once you’ve distributed a press release, it becomes old news – and journalists aren’t interested in old stories and the embargoed story holds little weight now-a-days either.
However, although I agree that today there are many ways to tell a story and that the press release isn’t always the best way to deliver it, in my experience, it is often difficult to actually speak to a time-pressed journalist these days, or to even get their attention on Twitter, so often, sending them a press release can be the first step towards engaging with them.
Also, I often find that if I do manage to get hold of a journalist before I ‘sell’ my story to them, they will often ask to be sent the press release as it holds all the basics of the story they need in one place and from there they can decide if and how to progress with the story.
I think B2B PR agencies need to remember there are more ways to skin a cat when it comes to telling a client’s news story but I don’t think it’s time to say goodbye to the press release just yet.
