2009/11/30 Charles Matthews
<charles.r.matthews(a)ntlworld.com>om>:
Thomas Dalton wrote:
> I understood what you were suggesting,
I'm just wondering why you
> think that is better. You sounded like you were quoting some standard
> rule about press releases and I know very little on the subject.
>
I've done press releases before, and got some
coverage. I don't know of
a rulebook: I picked up a few things from someone who had done them
himself. I don't regard them as hard to do, if you do have a "story".
There's a kind of template, and if you can fit your message into it,
that's the easy part. Then you have to know where to send them (how is
easier, now fax machines have gone out).
Yeah. Remember that anything you say will be grossly distorted and
written to fit into a preconceived story which may have no relation
whatsoever to reality, and if anything that's actually accurate makes
it into the article then it's a bloody miracle. And all this happens
with the best of intentions and no malice whatsoever.
Remember that Gordon Brown taught Tony Blair how to do a press release.
And how much thanks he got.
In other words (and I believe this to be entirely true) if you want to
"get the word out" through the media, you have to play the game their
way. Writing a competent press release is just a way of showing you know
what they want, and they certainly know what you want in terms of
getting into the papers. (WP is immensely fortunate that it has grown by
word-of-mouth, not hype.) But for this kind of thing you go along with
the game: don't be lengthy, and don't be boring, and if they want
corporate identity stuff you rely on them to ask. It's just about
getting them to contact you.
Charles