Some pretty poor ideas for press releases

Posted: 2012-06-18 in Steaming Barrel | Tagged: bad media release, bad pr examples, bad press release, newsworthy

For God’s sake – these are not stories!

I don’t want to be mean, so I’m not going to name and shame directly (you can find them yourself on the web if you’re really keen), and I won’t include hyperlinks, but these are some massive non-stories that have been ‘released’ in the last two weeks:

<Company> Implements Special Offer on Bat Surveys until End of June
Summer holiday savings with <Company>
<Company’s> Customers Profit from Money Saving Offers Online
<Company> Provides Free Samples on Wide Range of Flooring Products
<Company’s> Employee Celebrates Record Length of Service and Dedication (it’s 16 years if you were wondering – will they do a 17-year version next year?)
Special Offer Now on from <Company> for a Limited Time Only
<Company> Announces New Website Launch
<Company> Increase Service Offerings to all Customers
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Sigh...

I urge you to read my post on what doesn't make a news story.

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Comments

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Ranbir

Wed 20th June, 2012

I am guessing and hoping that these releases have been written for SEO purposes. We work with companies who generate releases just for SEO. They don't want to attract journalists attention with the stories. They just want links from wires and aggregators. If however they have been written to grab journalist attention, then they have wasted their time.

Lucy

Wed 27th June, 2012

I completely understand where you're coming from with this one Heather. It's ridiculous "so what" springs to mind.

I bet you if everyone of those companies asked their employees if they had an interesting story to tell, it would make for much better reading. (Even if it didn't help with their SEO...)