Interlude
The New Life of Press Releases
The Internet has radically changed the audiences, the life span, the distribution, and the use of press releases, but press releases haven’t changed to meet the needs of web users. They should.
If your web site includes news briefs in any of their various forms – press releases, news items, announcements – this interlude is for you.
The old – and ongoing – life of a press release
A typical press release is one or two pages about a key event, a key person, new results, or new information. Press releases were originally designed to get information to newspaper and broadcast reporters in a timely manner, with the hope that the news would be featured that day – or shortly after that day – in the paper or on radio or TV. Most press releases include the name and phone number of someone in the organization’s press office so that reporters can call for more information. Press releases are often meant to entice reporters to call so that a public relations person can expand on the information, connect the reporter to people to quote, and so on.
Newspapers, radio, and TV are still there. And reporters still need press releases – delivered to them electronically or on paper. But those very same press releases are also now posted on the organization’s web site – not just for a day, not just for the “press,” not just to entice people to call for more information.
What has changed?
Once that press release is posted to a web site, it becomes part of an entirely different world. The following table shows the incredible difference between the traditional life of a press release (or any type of news item or news announcement) and its life on a web site:
| Old world: print and broadcast | New world: web | |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Media people: journalists and reporters | Everyone! |
| Life Span | One day? Less? May be filed for future use | Forever! |
| Distribution | Sent only to specific people | Available through home pages and search engines – including external search engines |
| Use | Often expanded by talking to a media relations specialist and other people | As a summary, fact sheet, or basic information, either standing alone or linked to more details elsewhere in the web site |
How do people use press releases on the web?
Story 1: Press release as summary
The new life of press releases hit home to me when I was usability testing a web site meant for researchers and research librarians. The first scenario went something like this: “You have heard that researchers at ... just released a new report on ... and you want to see what they have to say on that topic.’
We thought that participants would look for the new report. Some of them did. But half of the participants first clicked on the tab for Press. One said: “I always look for a press release first. A good press release summarizes the key findings. Then I’ll decide if I really want the report.’
Great idea. But, at the time, the press releases on this web site were just copies of paper documents; they didn’t even link to the full report. They do now!
Link press releases to relevant information on the web site – full reports, pages about people, production information, and so on.
Think about the long life, new users, new uses of today’s press releases.
Story 2: Press release as fact sheet
I started to be more alert to how and when press releases show up on web sites. In another usability test – this time of a health information site for the general public – some people searched for information. Old news items (press releases) showed up in the search results.
Several participants selected the link to a press release, without realizing that’s what it was – or even knowing anything about press releases. They assumed the links were to web information and they treated the press releases as fact sheets.
For these participants, the old press releases were simply information on a relevant topic. They wondered why the pages didn’t have headings, why the pages had wall-to-wall text, why the pages looked different from other pages on the site.
Participants also assumed that the contact name on the page was the researcher when it was really someone in the organization’s public relations office. The press release page did not say who the person was.
Consider a new format for press releases – one that matches the web site and typical web writing. Or plan for two versions – one for print and one for the web.
Include a date on all press releases.
Think about whose name and contact information should go on a document that may live a very long time on the web site.
State clearly who the people you name are.
Story 3: Press release as basic information
I was helping another web team do a content inventory of what they had available on each of the main topics the site covers. To everyone’s surprise, most of the information was in old press releases.
What are your press releases like? How well do they serve as summaries for the public? as fact sheets? as basic information? How well do they fit into the look and feel of your site? How well do they work as web writing?
Story 4: The press call up
I once had several reporters as participants in a usability test. They all said they had no time or patience for trying to use the organization’s web site. They knew whom to call. They were not reading news items on the web site.
What should we do?
Plan and write press releases with the web audiences and web life span in mind. Write them as web information. Use subheadings, short paragraphs, bulleted lists, tables, graphics, and links.
Think of both the print and the web life of press releases. If you must keep the paper version in its traditional style, produce a second version for the web – one that will work well for its long web life.
| Typical press release | Web-based information |
|---|---|
| No headings after the title | Broken into sections with bold headings |
| Long paragraphs | Very short paragraphs, bulleted lists, tables, graphics |
| No links | Links to full report, additional information, other relevant pages on the site, relevant people |
| Full page, looks like a paper document | Fits into the template of other information pages on the site |
| Name and phone number of media relations specialists, often without saying who they are | Clearly indicates who each person named is; links to email or information about the person |
Also remember that today’s press releases are going to people who write for other web sites, not only to people who write for print newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and broadcast radio or TV. Your press release may show up just as you created it through a link in a blog or copied onto someone else’s web site – all the more reason for putting out the press release in a version that follows guidelines for good web writing.
Does it make a difference?
Yes. A client let me test different styles in a usability study. We took a press release that had all the features in the table under “typical” and redrafted it to have the features under “web-based information.”
For more on this study, see Redish, 2005.
In one scenario of the usability test, participants got to a press release that we had not changed. In another scenario, they got to the one we had changed. (The two press releases were on different topics, but they were similar in length and level of detail. Both were information based on studies that researchers in the organization had done. Both came up as primary choices when people searched the site for their respective topics. So both were acting like fact sheets.)
Many participants noticed the difference and commented spontaneously and favorably about the one that was more like web-based information:
At the end of each session, we pointed out the two press releases again and asked the participants which they preferred. All but one preferred the one with headings and links that was formatted like the rest of the site. The one who differed said: “I always print the web pages I want.’
What would the difference look like?
Look at the press releases in Figures Interlude 1-1 and Interlude 1-2. Both are from Jiffy Lube, a company that takes care of cars. The first figure is in traditional press release style. The second is much more like the type of page that people expect on the web.
Figure Interlude 1-2 A different press release from the same site. This one is much closer to good style for web information.
On the Jiffy Lube site, both of these are found only under the link to Company and then to Press Room. However, I found them by Googling for information on how to get my car ready for winter. So press releases, even when deep in a site, are web information that is readily reached by ordinary people asking a search engine for help on their topic.
Press releases show up as web information through searches – at your site or through an external search engine.
And the search results from Google led me to the same press release on many other sites. Your press releases may have a very long life as web information – not only on the site you maintain, but on other sites as well. Think about this new life and consider writing press releases to serve better as web information.
For an example of how a press release became web information – and needs to be updated and managed as web information – see Case Study 8-4 at the end of Chapter 8.