{"id":54028,"date":"2020-12-08T05:48:35","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T10:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imjusticemarketing.com\/blog\/?p=54028"},"modified":"2020-12-08T05:58:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T10:58:27","slug":"6-reasons-why-your-press-release-will-get-trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imjusticemarketing.com\/blog\/6-reasons-why-your-press-release-will-get-trashed\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Reasons Why Your Press Release Will Get Trashed"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, Editors receive around 200-300 Press Releases a week. <\/span><\/strong>
\nThat is 10,000 to 15,000 a year. Just to let you know.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Leading business magazines are heavily targeted. Many get more than <\/span><\/strong>
\n500 a week. Editor\u2019s employ assistants just to wade through them.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Editors reveal there are six main reasons why most Press Releases get <\/span><\/strong>
\nbinned (or not paid attention to), and often not even read.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Are<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Irrelevant to their interests
\n<\/strong><\/span>
\nEvery day, Editors receive Press Releases which have no conceivable relevance
\nto the subjects they cover. It is clear those sending them have made no attempt to
\ntarget.\u00a0They probably have not even looked at the publications. They adopt a scatter-
\ngun approach of sending Press Releases to every e-mail address they can\u00a0find. \u00a0In
\nthe good old days when they arrived by snail mail, at least PRs had to pay for the
\npostage and take the trouble of stuffing them into\u00a0envelopes. Now those cost and
\nwork constraints have disappeared. Because those who do take care to target
\ncarefully are rare, editors tend to look much more closely at what THEY send.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

No story or weak story<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\nA Press Release ought to contain some intrinsically interesting information that an
\nEditor would want to pass on to readers. Those who do understand the kind of
\nmaterial a publication uses score because they look for relevant ideas, then tailor
\ntheir release in a way which makes an editor sit up and take notice.\u00a0Editors apply
\nthe so-what? test to Press Releases \u2013 so what would happen if we did not run
\nthis story? If the answer is \u201cnot much\u201d, the release goes in the bin. If you believe
\na Press Release wouldn\u2019t pass the test, it shouldn\u2019t be sent \u2013 or the story should
\nbe strengthened so that it will pass muster.
\n.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Self-promotion or puffery<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\nToo many people who send out Press Releases do not seem to understand the
\ndifference between news<\/strong> and advertising<\/strong>. Editors hate having to wade through
\npages of boastful hype extolling an organization and all its works. Even Press
\nReleases which do contain the germ of a story sometimes get killed off because
\nthey are wrapped up in exuberant puffery.\u00a0I am not surprised that some Editors
\npass Press Releases straight to their advertising departments as sales leads.
\n.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Poor English<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\nA significant proportion of Press Releases contain spelling, grammar, or punctuation
\nerrors. Most Editors are turned-off, but a few forgiving souls do not mind correcting
\nthe English. Even so, howlers such as wrong use (or non-use) of the possessive
\napostrophe and failure to make the verb agree with the subject \u2013 two of the\u00a0most
\ncommon mistakes \u2013 undermine a release\u2019s (correct use of possessive apostrophe)
\ncredibility.
\n.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Confusing jargon<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\nSome Press Releases seem to have been written by computer. They start with
\nthe latest management-speak (\u201cpushing the envelope\u201d is a current favorite), add
\na layer of baffling jargon, and sprinkle in plenty of those impenetrable acronyms.
\nThe finished result reads like a secret code. The most skilled writers know that
\nstories are best told in simple English which can be read and understood quickly.
\nEditors do not have the time to decode jargon or play guessing games with
\nunknown acronyms.
\n.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Too long<\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\nMany Press Releases combine the twin faults of being too long \u2013 but not
\nproviding enough information. That is because the information they do provide
\ntends to be irrelevant background about the company, while key facts about
\nthe story \u2013 the value of the contract, the date of the product launch, the
\njob title of the newly appointed individual<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 are left out. Skilled writers judge
\nthe \u201cweight\u201d of a story. Most stories can be told in a page. Some may need two.
\nA story must be pretty close in importance to the Second Coming to warrant three.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A final word of good news. Editors and journalists do admit from
\ntime to time, <\/span>that they get a \u201creally good\u201d story from a Press Release.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Irrespective of your business goals, vision, or content, Press Release distribution
\n<\/span>is indispensable to flag a successful growth curve in the salient years to come
\nwithin your organization. Press Release distribution has opened the scopes of
\nSmall Business Owners especially who can participate in the digital movement of
\naudience engagement and market visibility without the liability of too great of an
\ninvestment. Marketing Consultants and Business Coaches and their Press Release
\nservices stand as a major initiation to something bigger in terms of capturing
\nmarket and consumer demands. It definitely should not be overlooked.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\n
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