I was wrong. The press release IS dead. I’ve often been asked this question over the years – and each time I would vehemently defend the need of the press release. “It represents the organization’s message!” “It’s the official statement of record about an issue!” “Reporters depend on it!” The press release is still all of these things; really, it’s the format that’s changed when it comes to pitching a potential media story. Nowadays, I’m more likely to use a customized and comprehensive pitch note to successfully land coveted media ops. A succinct pitch note can detail: why the story is relevant to a specific media outlet’s audience, an outline of relevant statistics, and how interviews can be easily organized. The press release becomes more of a backgrounder providing a deeper dive of information or statistics as well as a few quotes for good measure. From the client’s point of view, the press release either finds its way to a website’s news section, or it’s turned into a blog post. Yes, it’s a lot more work that a one-sized fits all press release distribution, but the results will speak for themselves.
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