How to make your B2B press release repel journalists

Want to make sure that journalists hit delete on your B2B press release?

Here’s a handy guide to what you can do to ensure the story on your press release doesn’t make it onto your target B2B news website or into the pages of a trade magazine or newspaper.

Close up shot of the delete key on a MacBook with the caption: It is easy to get your press release deleted. — Press releases are easily deleted. Photo by Ujesh Krishnan on Unsplash

Just put “Press Release” in your email subject line rather than a headline.
Write a boring subject line.
Don’t paste your press release into the email just write: Our press release is attached.
Send your press release as a PDF.
Make your press release really long.
Write your press release in huge blocks of text that are difficult to scan on screen.
Use marketing speak.
Use unsubstantiated claims (unique, leading etc)
Include a bland corporate quote that adds no value or context to the story.
Say your are delighted in your quote.
Waffle rather than getting straight to the point of the story
Bury the story some where near the bottom of the press release.

Why is all this effective for repelling journalists?

Journalists are time poor. They are under deadline pressures.

They get a lot of press releases. Too many press releases to read. If they read every one they were sent, it is all they would do.

What they want is to be able to make a quick decision on whether a release is worth spending any time on.

Which means they don’t want to have to click on links and open attachments to find out what they need to know.

They want to quickly understand the gist of your story.

Their job isn’t to do your marketing for you but to write stories their readers will find interesting and useful.

So if you don’t want your press release to repel journalists, make sure it is to the point and easy to evaluate for news potential.

What press release no-nos would you add?