When the clients write news releases, they simply haven't followed the media response to enough news releases to learn the errors that are made. They haven't yet learned what the mistakes are, so there is no learning from continuous improvement.
I have actually seen a great deal of news release failure over the years, and I now understand precisely what the major issues look like and the best ways to take care of them.
I'm quite harsh on my clients, since their success is all that matters. My review procedure can injure a lot of highly inflated egos of a few otherwise very experienced individuals, on the way to a problem free news release that maximizes the possibilities for success when finally sent. Lots of people think they can write a news release.
I have an absolute obsession with this issue. I have certainly transmitted more than a thousand news releases in my profession by way of internet posts, social media blasts, and email. You probably think that I've got news releases failing on me day in and day out.
Actually, I don't. The news releases I send and write out for people do quite well. Because they are successful with their outreach efforts, my clients are quite happy with me.
It's the draft news releases that individuals send to me that are my issue.
Taking care of the issues I see in the news releases a lot of people give me takes a long time. It is also extremely unpleasant.
My predicament as a publicist is that I spend a great deal of time educating my clients attempting to get them to understand the psychology of dealing with the media.
It gets even tougher when another professional publicist wrote the news release for the client. Now the client is getting opposing advice from two professionals.
My life will be significantly improved if my clients send me news releases that take less time and energy to fix. Very simply, for each and every news release that comes in and doesn't have these problems, I'll free myself to spend more time doing things that are more profitable for my clients and me.
The problem is that when people send me news releases, it frequently takes a long, very long time to recognize and discuss the concerns, and afterwards additional time once again to explain and discuss all the word adjustments with the customers, and even more time still to wrap up the news release and have it ready and approved for transmittal.
I've sent out over a thousand news releases in my career by way of internet posts, social media blasts, and email. The rubber meets the road in the news release because this single sheet of paper is the key nexus for all communications with the media. It gets even tougher when another professional publicist wrote the news release for the client. You didn't tell the media what you want them to do with your news release. You won't get rich off one news release.
Listen to your publicist. Heed these warnings and reduce the risks of failure. Fail to pay attention to these issues, proceed at your own risk.
Often times, the quality may be there while the numbers are not.
One or two quality media responses may be what you need or want. It's a success if you get that.
You wrote about how your news ties in to someone else's fame and glory. Tell your own story.
You may simply have to be realistic and understand that while you are wildly interested in the topic, it may not have the broad general public interest that you have for the subject. Think again if you wrote an article that has local interest and you expect national media to pay attention.
You are trying to be different, just for the sake of it, but you come off eccentric. Forget it.
You are the center of attention, not the media audience. You focus on your business and your marketing, instead of things the editor and his or her audience will be interested in.
