All Those Bad Press Releases (Killing Us Softly)

I hate bad press releases just as much as anyone.

“The press release is dead,” you say. Well, calm down, killer.

Today and tomor­row, busi­nesses will still have to issue offi­cial state­ments to the gen­er­al pub­lic. The prac­tice of send­ing out press releases isn’t going away any­time soon.

However, I agree that quite a few bad pub­lic rela­tions prac­tices for press releases exist — and they drive me crazy, too.

Here we go:

Bad Press Release Practices

“Public rela­tions prac­ti­tion­ers should assess their impact on soci­ety and strive for coöper­at­ive rela­tion­ships with journ­al­ists to enhance a free and open exchange of ideas.”
Source: Public Relations Review ¹Cutlip, S. (1980). Foundation lec­ture: Public rela­tions in American Society. Public Relations Review, 6, 3 – 17. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​S​0​3​6​3​-​8​1​1​1​(​8​0​)​8​0​032 – 4

Bad Practice: Spray-and-Pray

There’s noth­ing wrong with cre­at­ing a not-so-inter­est­ing press release and adding it to your online news­room. Even though it might not be attract­ive to any­one out­side the organ­iz­a­tion, these press releases add to your brand’s timeline and pro­gress, like mile­stone markers.

However, if this is the type of press release you’ve cre­ated, why not just upload it to your online news­room and be done with it? Do you have to send it to every journ­al­ist on your list even though you know before­hand that they won’t be inter­ested in pick­ing it up?

Promoting these types of press releases costs real time and money, and they also tend to irrit­ate the recip­i­ents. The spray-and-pray tac­tic is poten­tially caus­ing more harm than any­thing else. ²Publicly traded com­pan­ies in most coun­tries are obliged by the law to dis­trib­ute any new inform­a­tion via press releases to vari­ous news out­lets.

Bad Practice: The Platitude Sickness

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Platitude Sickness: The Symptoms

I hate cor­por­ate plat­it­udes every­where I see them. I swear, a kit­ten dies every time. 

“A plat­it­ude is a trite, mean­ing­less, or pro­sa­ic state­ment, gen­er­ally dir­ec­ted at quelling social, emo­tion­al, or cog­nit­ive unease. The word derives from plat, the French word for “flat.” Platitudes are geared towards present­ing a shal­low, uni­fy­ing wis­dom over a dif­fi­cult top­ic. However, they are too over­used and gen­er­al to be any­thing more than undir­ec­ted state­ments with an ulti­mately little mean­ing­ful con­tri­bu­tion towards a solu­tion.”
Source: Wikipedia ³Platitude. (2023, December 9). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​P​l​a​t​i​t​ude

Here’s my “trig­ger list” of platitudes:

• “Synergy” = Overused to the point of becom­ing mean­ing­less, it refers to the coöper­a­tion of two entit­ies to pro­duce a com­bined effect more sig­ni­fic­ant than the sum of their sep­ar­ate effects.
• “Leverage” = In a busi­ness con­text, this is often used to mean using some­thing, such as a resource or an advantage.
• “Disruptive” = Refers to tech­no­lo­gies or innov­a­tions that dis­turb estab­lished mar­kets or processes.
• “Pivot” = A fun­da­ment­al shift in strategy or approach is often used for minor changes.
• “Value-add” = A term that refers to an ele­ment some­thing gives that some­how enhances it, but it’s often unclear what value is being added.
• “Bleeding-edge” = Refers to the abso­lute latest or most advanced tech­no­logy or innovation.
• “Actionable” = Generally refers to strategies or insights that can be acted upon, but are often used loosely.
• “Holistic approach” = An approach that con­siders the whole situ­ation or sys­tem rather than focus­ing on indi­vidu­al parts.
• “Scalability” The abil­ity of a sys­tem or a mod­el to handle growth is often overused.
• “Game changer” = An event, idea, or pro­ced­ure that affects a sig­ni­fic­ant shift in the cur­rent way of doing or think­ing about something.
• “Paradigm shift” = A fun­da­ment­al change in approach or under­ly­ing assumptions.
• “Cutting-edge” = Like bleed­ing-edge, it refers to the latest or most advanced tech­no­logy or innovation.
• “Thought lead­er.” = An indi­vidu­al or firm recog­nized as an author­ity in a spe­cial­ized field.
• “Empower” = To give power or author­ity, but is often over­used without con­crete meaning.
• “Innovate” = A buzzword for mak­ing changes in some­thing estab­lished, espe­cially by intro­du­cing new meth­ods, ideas, or products.
• “Low-hanging fruit” = The easy tasks or prob­lems to tackle first, but can be seen as a cliché in busi­ness language.
• “Outside the box” = Used to refer to cre­at­ive think­ing, but has become a cliché.
• “Streamline” = Simplify or make some­thing more efficient.
• “Strategic align­ment” = Ensuring that the plans or activ­it­ies of a com­pany are coördin­ated and con­sist­ent with its objectives.
• “Customer-cent­ric” = Placing the cus­tom­er at the centre of a com­pany’s philo­sophy, oper­a­tions or ideas.
• “Robust” = The over­used term implies that a product, ser­vice, or strategy is strong, dur­able, and able to with­stand demands or difficulties.
• “End-to-end solu­tion” = A ser­vice or product that solves a prob­lem from begin­ning to end, but is often seen as a buzzword due to vague definitions.
• “Unprecedented” = Overused to describe any­thing that’s nev­er happened before, often loses its impact due to fre­quency of use.
• “Breakthrough” = A sud­den, dra­mat­ic, and import­ant dis­cov­ery or devel­op­ment, but is often over­used to describe minor advancements.
• “Optimise” = To make the best or most effect­ive use of a situ­ation or resource, but it is often over­used and can lead to ambiguity.
• “Bandwidth” = Originally a tech­nic­al term, it’s now used meta­phor­ic­ally to refer to someone’s capa­city to handle tasks or issues.
• “Ecosystem” = Refers to a com­plex net­work or inter­con­nec­ted sys­tem, espe­cially in the con­text of busi­ness envir­on­ments or technologies.
• “Alignment” = Frequently used to describe the pro­cess of bring­ing dif­fer­ent aspects or depart­ments of a busi­ness into har­mony or agreement.
• “Agile” = Originating in soft­ware devel­op­ment, it’s broadly applied to describe flex­ib­il­ity and adapt­ab­il­ity in vari­ous busi­ness processes.
• “Deep Dive” = Used to describe a thor­ough ana­lys­is or exam­in­a­tion, but often over­used to mean any detailed look.
• “Touch Base” = A cas­u­al way to refer to check­ing in or fol­low­ing up with someone, but it can be seen as a cliché.
• “Granular” = Describes look­ing at some­thing with a high level of detail, but it is often used unne­ces­sar­ily instead of simply say­ing “in detail.”

Getting rid of cor­por­ate plat­it­udes is an uphill battle. They are such a waste of edit­or­i­al space and only lead straight to mediocrity.

Join the resistance!

Learn more: The Platitude Sickness: The Trash of Corporate Writing

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Bad Practice: Corporate Cringe

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Corporate Cringe (Examples)

Many cor­por­ate texts are writ­ten in poor taste. Unlike many oth­er cre­at­ive pro­fes­sions, cor­por­ate com­mu­nic­a­tions have some­how for­got­ten that hav­ing great taste is an actu­al skill.

Here are some typ­ic­al examples of cor­por­ate cringe:

• Over-exag­ger­a­tion. Corporate mes­sages are often tone-deaf due to excess­ive emphas­is or embel­lish­ment. “No, people aren’t that excited on account of your new piece of news.”
• Implausible claims. Communications that present dubi­ous asser­tions can erode cred­ib­il­ity and gen­er­ate unne­ces­sary scep­ti­cism. “No, you’re not a leading‑, revolutionary‑, innovative‑, or game-chan­ging company.”
• Unintended awk­ward­ness. Corporate com­mu­nic­a­tion will often inad­vert­ently appear clumsy or out of touch, cre­at­ing a dis­con­nect with the inten­ded audi­ence. “No, it’s not cool — and nev­er will be — to say you’re cool. That’s not the way that works.”
• Excessive self-glor­i­fic­a­tion. Communications that overly focus on an organ­iz­a­tion’s achieve­ments or vir­tues can be per­ceived as insin­cere or self-con­grat­u­lat­ory. “No, you didn’t just save the plan­et, so please stop pat­ting your­self on the back so furiously.”
• Prescriptive mes­saging. Corporate com­mu­nic­a­tion that dic­tates opin­ions or beliefs can be per­ceived as overly con­trolling and may ali­en­ate audi­ences. “No, everyone’s not lov­ing your new products or services.”
• Overzealous efforts. Striving too hard to impress or engage can res­ult in com­mu­nic­a­tion that feels inau­thent­ic or con­trived. “No, scream­ing louder and mak­ing stronger and stronger claims won’t make any­one care more about what you’re saying.”
• Monotonous ton­al­ity. Corporate mes­sages that lack dis­tinct­ive­ness or per­son­al­ity can fail to res­on­ate with audi­ences, lim­it­ing their over­all impact. “No, your con­tent reads as if it was writ­ten by unin­spired middle man­agers who lost their pas­sion some­where along the way.”

By being cog­niz­ant of these poten­tial pit­falls, organ­isa­tions can refine com­mu­nic­a­tion strategies to ensure more authen­t­ic and effect­ive engage­ment with their stake­hold­ers, influ­en­cers, and pub­lics.

More examples: https://​www​.red​dit​.com/​r​/​c​o​r​p​o​r​a​t​e​c​r​i​n​ge/

Learn more: Corporate Cringe

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Bad Practice: Weak Call-to-Actions

Imagine someone see­ing a link to your press release on LinkedIn — it could hap­pen. Then, ima­gine how that per­son decides to read your press releases through to the end. Such an indi­vidu­al is act­ively inter­ested in what you have to say, which makes this per­son highly valuable.

But here’s what’s driv­ing me crazy: People who read your press releases from begin­ning to end are essen­tial. So, what call-to-action (CTA) are you offer­ing these VIPs?

“For more inform­a­tion, please contact …”

I swear a kit­ten dies every time here, too.

Include a clear call to action at the end of your press releases. Tell your read­ers why they should get in touch and explain what’s in it for them if they do. 

Anyone who reads your press releases all through deserves it!