Tag: ego

11
May

Hey Mr. CEO, You’re not the story

I am looking at the lead of a press release and assuming the poor PR people knew better than to NOT include the CEO’s name in any missive they issue.

That could be the only reason for this sort of thing:

“Charles J. Beech, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trivantis, the company behind the successful Lectora eLearning brand, today announced the Company’s agreement in principle to acquire its partner Flypaper Studio, Inc., providers of the leading Flash content creation and digital signage platform.”

You know what Mr. Beech. You’re not the story. It takes 20 words amounting to nothing to actually get to the point of this release – which is that his company just bought another one. The acquisition is actually the story, and if the PR people want that story read and to better control the message, they should package it up so it actually reads like a story.

Failing to do so means the PR people have to hope and editor or blogger will take the time to make the thing a story, and that they won’t shake their heads and skip it.

The story here is that eLearning software firm Trivantis has reached an agreement in principle to acquire Flypaper Studio, which will mean <inset meaningful words here> …

Later on, Mr. Beech can beat his chest and tell the world everyone is delighted by the deal.

The whole point of issuing a press release is to relate news about the company that creates interest among the unfamiliar, and generates excitement and/or confidence among clients and partners. Over and over, I see press releases so bogged down by egos and 25-year-old writing formulas that the news gets lost and the release doesn’t get the amount of reads that was desired when the process started.

It’s forehead-slapping obvious. A new release should lead with news.