Category Archives: Working with the media

Is the press release, like the parrot, really dead?

Social media, Working with the media

“It is an ex-release: it has ceased to be” – apologies to all Pythonists for that sacrilege, but I’ve been wondering whether the press release, rather than the parrot, has had its day. Have a Google and you’ll see that the debate rages unabated amongst the communications fraternity.

It’s life Jim, but…
Certainly the distribution method of press releases has changed out of all recognition, and the channels open to corporates to share news have expanded hugely,  but I don’t think that social media has quite removed the need for the venerable old bringer of news quite yet.

Relevant and readable
Media outlets, whether newspapers, trade magazines or blogs, still take information directly from company press releases – sometimes as a direct copy and paste, and I think that most journalists will still prefer to have a well written and well targeted release.

And therein remains the secret: making sure a release really does have news in it; is not full of corporate flimflam; is well crafted and straight to the point; and, above all, is relevant to a title’s readership is still the key.

As for the parrot, it has, I’m afraid, ‘ceased to be’.

It’s a web, not a cobweb

Talking to your customers, Working with the media

I’ve developed an annoying habit. It’s probably one that is unique to people working in corporate communications and might well be motivated by a touch of Schadenfreude, or at least, relief that it’s not me facing the flak on this occasion.

Sailing serenely on
I’ll come clean: when a crisis kicks off at a big company and their name is splashed all over the news, I’ll head straight to their website to see how they’re handling it. And what do I find there? Most of the time nothing it seems. The home page of the site sails serenely on through the digital ebb and flow of cyber space with little acknowledgement of the growing storm in the real world.

Does the company not care? Does it think people will not find out?

Get it up
Ironically websites might seem a bit old hat in the online world, but they are still one of the primary and most effective means of communication.  So if trouble strikes, get something up on the site quickly:

  • acknowledge the problem
  • tell people what you’re doing about it
  • and have regular updates.

Communication is too fragmented these days by the numerous methods of social media to hope that you can keep a lid on an issue. So make sure you can update your site quickly and use it as the frontline in your crisis communications – people will be watching.

Publish and be damned

Communicating in a crisis, Working with the media

It’s early days with this story, but you have to admire Louise Mensch’s (MP) method of dealing with questions from an investigative journalist.  

Faced with an email alleging details of taking drugs and other misdemeanours in a previous career, she has simply admitted them and published the correspondence for all to see  – the journalist must really hate her.

As ever, if you‘ve nothing to hide, transparency is everything and if you have something to hide, transparency is even more important. It will come out in the end so you might as well control the when and the where.