What’s New in News Releases?

Reaching the right people.

Standing out.

Having the “right stuff.”

These are the three biggest issues public relations professionals find when developing and sending news releases, says the 2^nd Cision State of the Press Release report, out now.

More specifically, the study, which examined more than 100,000 news releases over the past year and surveyed thousands of communications professionals from across North America, found that the combination of properly targeting news releases; providing content that cuts through the clutter to make an impact with the target media; and ensuring the links to images, video and other assets were appropriately sized/loaded are the three things most top of mind with PR folks as it relates to media outreach today.

It also reported:

• News release writers should aim for headlines of 70 characters or less, because email applications and Google’s search engine will cut off any text over that amount.
• Journalists are most often actively looking at news releases during business hours (9 a.m.-5 p.m.), with the peak occurring Monday through Thursday in the morning.
• Buzz words that journalists are sick of include: best of breed, world-class, dynamic, unique, cutting-edge, thrilled, excited, disruptive, award-winning, seamless, user-friendly, extensive and transform.

For the full report, click here.

For more advice on best practices as it relates to news releases, click here.