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PR Fuel: Who Should Write Your Press Releases?Writing a press release can be a delicate matter. The PR person who must pitch the release wants to have a say in what is included in the release. The people quoted in the release, often high-level executives, want to make sure they sound professional and intelligent. Partners mentioned in a press release want to ensure that their image remains intact. Writing a press release can take days and dozens of drafts, so the question must be asked, who should write your press releases?In a perfect world a PR person will work with everyone involved to get a press release to the point where it's ready to be unleashed on the world. But not every company has a trained PR professional at their disposal, and not every PR person is a good writer. I know PR people who can use the written word in a way that would make Hemingway blush, but their verbal skills would make even a child laugh. And there are the people who have silver tongues and are all thumbs when it comes to writing. A press release is the media's window to your company's world, so it makes sense that whoever is tasked with writing it knows what they're doing. There are many solutions available to solve this problem: 1. A press release writing service 2. A technical writer 3. A professional journalist 4. Someone on staff who can write I'll start from the bottom. I know office managers who write press releases, and rightfully so. A job title means little and you will be surprised to find that some of your company's most talented wordsmiths are often the people who don't write as part of their normal job task. I've seen techies who can write circles around marketing people and executives who don't know how to use spell check. Consider querying your available staff, regardless of job title, about their writing capabilities. This is not a good time to be a professional journalist. Newspapers and magazines aren't hiring much and the dotcom downturn has left many good journalists without jobs. So now is a good time to get a professional journalist to turn to the "dark side." There are plenty of journalists who moonlight by writing press releases and marketing material, usually for companies they normally wouldn't cover as part of their duties. Poke around Internet job boards to find someone with a solid journalism background who can churn high-quality press releases on the cheap while the getting isn't so good in their profession. Technical writers fall into this category also. Many writers make a career for themselves by simply writing press releases, marketing material or inter-office corporate communications material. A press release writing service (like http://eReleases.com) combines the above two elements because they normally employ journalists and technical writers. Usually for a flat-fee you'll get a professional writer taking over the reins of your press release, which should guarantee that the release will be well-written, accurate and enticing. As always, there are a number of factors to take into consideration when writing a press release. What do you hope to accomplish with the release? How timely is the release? What type of follow-up will there be on the release? What will your partners let you say in the release? When you have a skilled writer handling the release you'll be able alleviate at least one major concern. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Recent Public Relations Disasters, And What Should Have Been Done Incident #1: Phoenix radio station KUPD is hit with a controversy after morning radio personality Beau Doran calls the widow of St. Louis Cardinals' pitcher Daryl Kile and asked her if she needed a date for an upcoming playoff game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Doran also told Flynn Kile she looked "hot." Daryl Kile, an All-Star pitcher, died this summer from natural causes, left his young family and an entire city grieving. The Immediate Aftermath: The city of St. Louis exploded in rage. Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa publicly hinted that Doran better watch his back (it's never a good idea to upset people who have dozens of baseball bats at their disposal). KUPD at first said something to the effect that the incident was in poor taste, but that it wouldn't take any disciplinary action. A spokesperson chalked it up to being part of a wacky "morning zoo" routine. After a public backlash, Doran was suspended and then fired. But you can bet that St. Louis and The Cardinals won't soon forget it. What Should Have Been Done: Sure, morning radio is a playground for overage frat boys and numbskulls, but you don't pick on widows. Kile's death was terribly tragic and made national news, and the death of anyone is not something to take lightly. KUPD should have fired Doran immediately, issued a public apology and offered to donate some money to a charity of Mrs. Kile's choice. It would have shown that the station did not condone Doran's behavior and it would have spun the story out of the media. Instead, KUPD looked and still looks like a bunch of amateurs who couldn't handle a loudmouth "shock mouth" in a second-tier market. ___ Incident #2: Sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C. area put the entire population on edge. Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who is running for Governor, begins an ad campaign against her opponent that touches on gun control and features images of masked men shooting automatic rifles and the Columbine massacres. The Immediate Aftermath: Opponent Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. lashes out at Kennedy for taking advantage of the tragedy and the media picks up the story. Kennedy defends the ads and goes ahead in the polls. What Should Have Been Done: There's not much Ehrlich could do. His team took the right approach, admonishing Kennedy and trying to show that she's using a high-profile and tragic news story to win an election. But this is politics and anything goes. The only thing Ehrlich could have done to deflect the ad was to ignore it. But that's easier said than done and you can't necessarily assume that people wavering on the gun control issue have been drawn into Kennedy's camp (as the polls apparently show), at least for now. But we know how quickly things change in politics.
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