Can we talk about how I used to write press releases like they were novels?

For two years I packed every press release with flowery adjectives and backstory, thinking it made them 'compelling,' until a journalist in Cleveland told me he deleted my last three without reading past the first sentence. Turns out I was burying the actual news under fluff and wasting everyone's time. What specific mistake did you catch yourself making in corporate comms that you thought was smart?

2 comments

2 Comments

lunaw729d ago

Honestly, that Cleveland journalist probably did you a huge favor. I spent three years at a nonprofit writing these long, heartfelt intros about our mission before ever getting to the actual news, thinking it would pull people in. Then my boss sat me down and showed me that our open rates were basically zero on those emails. Ngl, it stung to realize I was just making more work for people who already have too much to read. Tbh, learning to cut straight to the point is harder than it sounds, but it saves everyone so much time.

victorross9d ago

omg same, it was brutal realizing everyone just skimmed my intros lol