“Another bloody press release.”
Folk peopling newsrooms pride themselves on being unique, a bit edgy. But in reality they’re all exactly the same. There are three distinct types of journalist: the maverick, the acutely lazy and the terminally oppressive. In a world with ever more shades of grey, the newsdesk of today is an ever more pointed trifecta.
One commonality shines through, irrespective of their principled style of working: the hatred of the press release. Unwanted, unrequested and most often unrequited, it’s a mark of uselessness in the majority of cases. There’s the odd occasion where it’s allocated a thrifty number of seconds, but only when accompanied by some form of gift meriting a derisory huff from, and residence in the back pocket of, a hard-bitten hack.
The press release, lone ranger of the everyman PR. Preposterously expectant, the writer commands only hope. Column inches are reserved for the daring, the deft, the insulting or the incredible; where the odd press release once found scant space, extra spelling mistakes now inhabit, or a pub offer from the landlord friend of the editor.
So what’s a guy with no inspiration, no real promise of awe, to do? Hire a stripper? All too often the PR possessing an unearned high opinion of themselves will plough on, until the shop dies a death foretold in the failures of too many clients’ stories to be given due airing.
Today I was enthralled to discover an alternative to the customary path. It came to me from an inspiring socmeder, Sree Sreenivasan (@sreenet).
But I wonder whether it’s still asking too much from an industry schooled by and large in the principles of ‘just enough will do’.
PressLift joins together all your bits – words, videos, links. You add any embargoes (does/should anyone do this any more?). PressLift gets crazy with shipshape SEOing of your work, you get access to metrics at a granular level. Then you distribute.
And as a result, your message gets there – and gets noticed.
McGraw-Hill use it well. But then, Bill Clinton was a good President, and then there was Bush.
It adds a new dimension to the realms of releases.
But I have a problem. Those that want to do this, are probably already engaged. Those that don’t, won’t. I wonder whether this system, as the newsroom, has a trifecta. I suspect not.
What is needed is a turnkey distribution system that offers a tiered service for both PRs and direct-hit businesses. One with infinite flexibility, that shapes the press release depending on the target media using algorithms or human intervention. What we really need is a company staffed entirely by experts with both-sides experience to intimately understand the needs of press and PR.
I dearly love the idea of PressLift, and hope it catches on. Give it your eyeballs, and give me your thoughts…