Matt’s Musings

Everything thing you need to know about press releases.

My idea of a well written press release is one featuring a smart headline, about 500 words in length, and with complete (and accurate) contact information to help make my job easier. Most importantly of all the newsworthy angle must be front and center – I cannot tell you how many times I’ve received a release that is a thinly-veiled advertorial or promotional piece. Those releases, of course, never see the light of day on my end.

Mihaela Lica

Young people get their news online which means that your press release has to find them where they're at. Social media sites are a good place to look according to a white paper issued by Pamil Visions PR.

It seems that I’m not alone with this viewpoint because a recently issued white paper from Pamil Visions PR – Press Releases Designed For Effect – examines what works and what doesn’t work with today’s news releases. Pamil Visions PR also operates the popular Everything PR news portal, both of which were founded by Mihaela Lica who is a Romanian native currently residing in Germany.

I’ve crossed paths with “Mig” many times over the past several years and was happy to get a preview copy of the white paper which was written by Mig and Phil Butler, and edited by Laura Spencer.

Seismic Shift

As expected, the white paper examines conventional press (news) releases and how they were used by traditional journalists to report news. Much promoted through the 1990s and into the early part of this century, the traditional press release had once been dominant, but that began to change in the late 1990s with Google’s birth and the subsequent shift to where many people now get their news online.

Today, the traditional press release is “dead” not necessarily buried, replaced by the social media press release which currently holds sway. That newfangled piece is still big on the news basis but it brings in additional components, most noticeably a social media angle.

Online Penetration

Thanks to the likes of Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Twitter and Facebook, savvy press release writers understand that their news may get picked up and disseminated in ways that didn’t exist a few years ago with blogs and web sites getting into the game too.

No longer do companies have much control over the news once they publish their releases – today, news is oftentimes spread online, commented by customers who share their experiences based on their opinion of a service, product or market. Those changes are part of the “new rules” shared in the white paper, with the consumer playing a far more pivotal role than ever before.

Your Copy

There is much more found in this 13-page white paper than I’m willing to share here, with detailed instructions on how to reshape your release to adhere to contemporary modes of communication. Naturally, if you want those details you can purchase your copy of the white paper on the Pamil Vision or Everything PR site, certainly a worthwhile investment for the public relations professional or corporate communications manager.

Please Note: No compensation was received by Pamil Visions for this review.

Breaking up is hard, but sometimes customer divorce is necessary.

Once in awhile The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) publishes an article I simply must save. This past Tuesday I came across one such write-up – It Just Isn’t Working? Some File For Customer Divorce – which outlined how to bid certain clients good-bye. I immediately cut it out and decided to share my find with you.

We’ve all had them – clients we keep in order to help make ends meet or perhaps to cull some prestige by writing for their revered journal. But, deep down you may have entertained thoughts of banishing one or more of your demanding clients in a bid to recapture your sanity or perhaps to shift your energies elsewhere.

One look at the latest unemployment figures and you toss those thoughts away, but should you?

Severing Relationships

Judging by what was shared in the WSJ article, now may be a good time to remove high maintenance clients by gingerly giving them your walking papers, especially if your contractual agreement is about to come to an end.

Think about this: did you let certain clients renegotiate terms over the past year or more to their favor? Perhaps not even directly, but by default. Heck, you were so busy trying to keep you head above water that you hardly noticed that the following was happening, at least right away:

Payment Tardiness – Who likes to call a client to remind them that their payment is past due? If they’re one or two days late, you can probably handle the inconvenience, but if that same client stretches late payments out to seven, even ten days or later, does that present a hardship for you?

Don’t think for a moment that your paying a credit bill late would be overlooked; you’ll be saddled with a $39 late charge and your credit rating could take a hit.

On Demand – We freelancers pride ourselves with our customer service. I’m inspired by the level of professionalism exhibited by many of my peers, offering a clear demonstration to all that many self-employed folks certainly go the extra mile for their clients.

But, some clients take advantage of our generosity and not only push clearly marked boundaries but are bent on expanding them. The occasional special request is one thing, but not when they become the expected.

Other Work – As the WSJ article noted if you spend time chasing down delinquent payments, fulfilling special favors or doing anything else that eats up your time, that means you cannot take on work for other clients including those who may pay you more or at least on time.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been working long hours most of the past few years and I’m generally fine with that. However, when excessive hand holding, special requests, or certain changes with an agreement are demanded, then I feel used. Even abused.

Tough Times

Of course, if you have a client who is enjoyable to work with and they’ve been slammed economically like everyone else, then by all means continue with your relationship if that doesn’t cause you heartburn.

Once widespread economic recovery kicks in, I’m sure many freelancers will rethink their business relationships including asking some clients – gasp!– to pay more. Or move on.

Photo Credit: Bill Alexander

I recently received a message from a friend that went like this – Are you still on SU (StumbleUpon)? I thought that you canceled your account.

Yes, I did cancel my account many weeks ago, but SU gives account holders approximately two weeks to change their minds, a reconsideration time frame for users. More than a week went by without me planning to use SU again, but then I got to thinking: why am I allowing others to dictate how I interact with people online?

Actively Disengaged

Perhaps most importantly is that I realized I was suddenly disengaged from people I interacted with on a regular, if not daily, basis. I couldn’t expect them to keep up with me through personal emails, Twitter and Facebook, realizing that everyone has a limited amount of time or interest in other pursuits.

With that in mind, I decided to reactivate my account while rethinking my SU strategy going forward. To that end I made some changes including the following:

Trim Friends – Some SU users are under the impression that the friends function is no longer usable that we need to have people subscribe to our pages in order to keep up with them. Well that’s not entirely true. In fact, if you share a stumble with other users that same drop down share list you depended on before SU changed their interface is still there. But, that list of users is something I’m now picking through.

Essentially, I’m not subscribing to those contacts who have moved over to the dark side and are no longer sending shares of value – ads, uninteresting photos, link farms, and more. Lately, I’ve noticed that the percentage of quality shares I’ve been receiving has increased sharply thanks to my renewed effort to carefully examine what other subscribers like to stumble.

Niche Stumbling – While I am willing to stumble friend’s pages (and leave comments too), I have returned to an old habit that has served me well in the past: niche stumbling. Basically, the way that this works is for me to choose those subjects I’m passionate about and stumble those pages one after another. Writing. Cars. Consumer Info. Weblogs. Among others. That’s how I found many of my current followers in the first place, thus there is a good chance I’ll be stumbling your pages without you even asking me to do so. After all, with some 40,000 stumbles under my belt I’ve been around SU. Come January I’ll have been a member for three years.

Use Su.pr – I’ve discovered the usefulness of Su.pr, which is StumbleUpon’s URL shortener site. Though I still use Bit.ly, Su.pr comes in handy when I want to shorten a URL and send it out via Twitter and Facebook. What’s more, you can then stumble that page and it quickly becomes part of the SU matrix.

Which leads me to an important point: yes, I do stumble many of my own pages, but what is wrong with that? If I think something can add value to SU, then I’ll stumble it no matter who authored the work – myself or someone else.

He’s Back

I wasn’t planning to officially announce my SU return, but several people asked me what I was up to. A few of the SU police-types have left their harsh comments (which I deleted), but I really don’t care what these people think. Reddit, Digg, Propeller and SU have their self-appointed cops to chase valid users away, but I won’t be moved.

Like you, I see much value in using SU – where that leads us isn’t always known, but SU does still serve as an excellent way for people to stay connected online.

See Also – StumbleUpon: A Whole Lot of Fun