The Press Release – it’s a staple of traditional Public Relations work, and like most traditional staples that’ve made it to 2015 – it’s seen some change. Ronn Torossian of 5WPR takes us inside the life and times of the PR Press Release.

1. State of the Press Release in
2015

2. One reason press releases have changed in 2015 is that public relations
and the public has changed. In the 1920s, headlines for press releases
were in the style of radio broadcasts.

3. Press Releases Then and Now
Here’s a headline from October 1929 from a Brooklyn Daily Eagle NY
newspaper: “Wall Street In Panic As Stocks Crash.” In the 1940s,
headlines reflected current events and political figures.
Press releases after the 1960s tended to rely on catch phrases and
acronyms. The content of press releases changed from a regimented
style utilizing the typical, “Who, What, When, Where and Why” to
today’s freer style of press releases focused mainly on the subject
followed by added information.

4. This example of press releases at present is from the New York Post’s
February 2015 Business section report on the Doral Bank in Puerto
Rico: The first sentence contains information about the FDIC shut down
of the bank before it goes into details about the location or the amount
of deposits and assets.

5. Public relations changed to adapt to the public’s desire to get to the
heart of a news or press release quickly. Public interest in press
releases demands a format that meets with the public’s scanning style
of reading and selecting keywords quickly.

6. Social Media Changes Press Releases

7. Depending on the venue used to announce press releases, there’s a
need to format public relations and press releases to conform to
demands of search engines and social media like Twitter. A press
release in 2015 is formatted to include keywords users access via
search engines quickly. Keyword use in press releases is the mechanism
that creates faster online visibility. Use of unique keywords in headlines
and content increases traffic to a website. Press release content needs
to contain sufficient quantities of keywords without appearing
“stuffed” and/or difficult to read. For Twitter, for example, the amount
of content is limited by the number of words allowed in a “tweet.” In
this example, hash tags often are an identifying link to the content of
the press release. The hash tag becomes a preview of the content.

8. Capturing Public Attention

9. The other part of a case study of the state of the press release in 2015
is that the ability to capture public attention. It’s more difficult than in
the past due to greater competition for media visibility. With an
increased number of media outlets, online and social media venues,
press releases must offer instant news with lightening speed.