Top 7 Press Release Mistakes That Everybody Should Avoid in 2023
A press release is one of the most important tools for every business and individual. However, people still make a lot of press release mistakes that should be avoided, learn more.
Almost every other business organizations and individuals opt for press releases for its array of benefits in the field of marketing and business growth. However, it often happens that they fail to reach desired results and gain maximum media coverage. These could happen to a lot of mistakes that are not commonly addressed by most. But these small mistakes can drastically change the results of the PR campaign. Instead of crafting a PR poorly, you should be aware of the common and repetitive press release mistakes that affect the end results. Let’s take a better look at it.
1. Failing to Offer Newsworthiness
Without any newsworthy elements, your press release is not an important document anymore where journalists might want to cover your story. The newsworthy angle with a journalistic tone makes the content even more authentic and engaging in the industry. As a result, it can offer better results with a long-lasting impact. Newsworthiness of PR can depend on various elements such as the timing, angle of the story, up-to-date topics, relevance in the industry, and many others. Before writing your PR, check on these crucial factors. For help, you can also study the PRs in the market that garnered maximum attention.
2. Not Following the Right Format
Writing a press release is perhaps not rocket science but it still requires following the right format in order to churn more effective results. Starting from the title, opening paragraph, body, boilerplate, and media contact; the right PR format includes every element that makes PR distribution even more effective and fruitful. Not only the format, but you also need to follow the ‘inverted pyramid’ structure along with 5ws which makes your content readable and relevant even after skim-reading. Following the format makes your PR gain instant approval from both journalists and the distribution platforms.
3. Using the Wrong Type
Even though every press release follows the same format, each of them is distributed for different purposes. Based on that, PRs can be categorized into various types such as Event PR, Crisis PR, Launch PR, Partnership PR, Grand opening PR, Award and recognition PR, etc to name. Although the key elements in most PRs remain the same, you need to make small alterations for every purpose. Don’t treat every PR in the same way. Rather craft it on the basis of your distribution purpose.
4. Using a Bad Headline
The headline is the first thing that a reader notices and judges the content whether to read it any further or not. So, if you are crafting basic and unattractive headlines for your PR; stop right now! A headline is supposed to be highly attention-grabbing that can make readers go through the whole content. Here are a few tips on how you can improve it.
- Answer a Question – Whether it is a journalist or any other reader, everyone wants to know what purpose this PR serves and so the header should be answering a question or providing a solution to a need. It helps to gain maximum attention.
- Offer Relevance – Create only relevant headlines that create an appeal for the readers, customers, and niche people from the industry.
- Create Suspense – A PR is supposed to offer all the necessary information but at the same time, it should spark some sense of curiosity in the readers’ minds that makes it more engaging. So do not miss to share a little mystery that leads them directly to your business website.
- Use Active Voice – Using straightforward and active voice is more formal and reliable
- Keep it Short – Keeping the header short is highly effective. Chances of getting read increase 50% when the headline is less than 100 characters in total.
- Evoke Emotions – What creates a bond between your brand and customers is emotion. If you are able to elicit an emotional response through the headline, more readers would read it.
5. Overusing Quotes and Links
One of the common mistakes to avoid while writing a press release is over-stuffing. Using quote and link embeds is great to optimize your PR content but when only when used moderately. But the mistake of overusing it still widely prevails. You might want to create hype with your PR but putting some of the CEO quotes is not an option. Putting too many quotes and links does not make the content unattractive but also it also hampers the ranking of the content on the Search Engine as it appears very spammy for the browsers. Spammy PRs are strictly rejected by Google.
6. Neglecting Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is one of the top priorities for every digital marketing aspect and when it comes to PRs; the need for SEO gets even bigger. Providing high-quality and keyword-rich links to your business websites is an effective practice of SEO that can help the website rank better on the search engine result page (SERP). SEO is vital to gain media coverage and neglecting it is never an option.
7. Not Attaching Multimedia
Visual vibrancy often helps to churn out better results in marketing and the same goes for PR as well. When you attach multimedia elements to the PR such as images, GIFs, or clips; the story is better established. With the help of info-graphics and other elements; readers can easily find the content more attractive. So make sure you do not repeat the same mistake again.
Bottom Line
Avoiding the aforementioned mistakes will help to craft a flawless PR that offers fruitful results at the end of the campaign. But it can be a daunting task to keep an eye on all these aspects. In case of that, you can always hire a professional press release agency or an expert writer who can help you craft such a perfect PR without any worries.
I am Darryl Broadhurst and i give investors an insight into the most recent news hitting the “Technology” sector in Wall Street. I have been an independent financial adviser for over 11 years in the city and in recent years turned my experience in finance and passion for journalism into a full time role. I perform analysis of Companies and publicizes valuable information for shareholder community.
