I recently came across this fantastic definition of a press release or news release. The description was offered by Michael Gury, Global Communications, Marketing, PR, Branding Expert on Linkedin in response to someone's request for a proper definition. Thanks Michael. Couldn't have said it better.
1. A press release is a disciplined and formulaic means of announcing news that distributed [or] broadcast for the benefit of a person/company/entity. The operative word here is "news" and a hefty amount of press releases that are posted every minute don't really contain "news". But it's like trash and treasure. The germ of hope in anyone writing and distributing a release is that there is treasure in there for someone.
2. It is also a legal document as public companies must announce "material" -- meaning financially substantive -- events such as transactions, changes to financials, etc.
3. It is a marketing tool. It can excite your customers, warn your competitors, lay down the lines of battle.
And in my (Michael's )experience --
4. It is forcing mechanism within a company to articulate something and put it down on a page or two. The urge to generate a press release is quickly tempered by having to actually describe what the news is (or isn't; as we sometimes find out while attempting to craft the release).
5. Irrespective of the immediate distribution via whatever means, it is a calling card after it has been distributed.
For the Sales force, it can be a powerful communications deliverable if the release is about a product or service.
For the PR person, it's a great excuse to get in touch with journalist friendlies, and create a cover note that explains what the news means (which I usually do within seconds of posting of a release).
Because of their factual bases press releases don't usually convey the "meaning" of the news. That is actually good because news has different meanings to different people and audiences. And this open-endedness can mean additional phone/email conversations which are really how the news creates value and substantive stories get written.
6. Final point, ...there are now a lot of tricks to distribution. Through the miracle of modern technology we are now able to create a very surgical distribution / marketing plan for each release.
An equally huge responsibility after having been tortured in creating the release is coming up with a "media plan" for it. That may involve multiple distribution services, your own distribution, etc.
Anything else to add? Leave a comment.
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