The Press Release is Dead. Long Live the Press Release!
Settling the tired debate once and for all: what press releases can do, what they can't, and why they're not a strategy
Something is going on with funding announcements. Within the last month, I’ve noticed at least two startups in my LinkedIn network have announced a not-infinitesimal funding round via LinkedIn posts: no press outreach, no media coverage, just a post from a LinkedIn company page.
Could this be the “go direct” model rearing its misleading head? The effects of marketing budget cuts? Startups thinking they can DIY PR? Multiple things can be true.
But I have also seen prominent folks in communications saying that it’s time to kill the press release. That they’re a vestige of “traditional PR” that doesn’t acknowledge how media consumption and channels have transformed.
I’ve heard some version of this take for at least a decade, but the people calling for the tarring and feathering of press releases are usually trying to sound provocative while missing the point.
A press release isn’t a strategy. It’s a tool. One of many in your comms toolbox. It serves a purpose, but it doesn’t serve all purposes. And if you’re relying on blasting a press release to a massive list of reporters or only on a LinkedIn post, you aren’t using all the tools in your toolbox.
But what are press releases for? Why have they gotten such a bad rap? What can they do, and what can’t they do?
Let’s dig in.
What are Press Releases for?
Press releases are an efficient way to get information out to the media in a format that’s easy to digest, leads with the most important information first and answers the most likely questions reporters would have about the news.
A smart comms pro crafts a pitch with the hook and the “so what?” that makes a reporter care and explains why their readers will care. The press release is the supporting document once you’ve already grabbed their attention — something that makes it easier for them to write their story. And it has to be written with that audience in mind. Not for your sales team. Not for your product team. Not for your CFO. For media and their readers.
A bonus perk is SEO, and they’re now indexed by AI search, which gives them even more functional value than they had five years ago.
But if you’re relying on press releases to do all the heavy lifting for your comms program, you’re doing it wrong.
Why Does Everyone Want to Kill the Press Release?
Unfortunately, the sins of the few are paid by the many. Every industry has people who are terrible at their jobs, and myriad sweat-shop PR agencies issue a press release for every move a company makes and call it a strategy. They churn out releases, blast them to massive lists of reporters who wouldn’t cover, and then count “press release syndications” as coverage.
Here, I would agree — this practice needs to die!
Strategic comms leaders don’t write a press release, schedule it on the wire, and then log off for happy hour. When used effectively, press releases are still relevant and useful in gaining visibility for your company and can build relationships with the media.
What Can Press Releases Do? What Can’t They Do?
I’ve had clients who want to issue a press release for every move their company makes, regardless of newsworthiness. I get it — it feels official. It feels like doing something.
But a press release doesn’t make something news.
The question should never be, “Should we do a press release?” Strategy should always start with the business goal. What story are you trying to tell? Who are you trying to reach? How can you best get in front of those people?
One of my startup clients recently had a new hire to their leadership team that impacted how they work with certain partners. I’ve done my share of new hire press releases over the years. And let me be honest: unless you’re a publicly traded company, very late stage on the road to IPO, or you headhunted an exec from a FAANG company, top-tier business and tech reporters aren’t going to cover it.
So we didn’t write a press release.
We knew that one of their important trade publications that reached their partners covered people moves and often pulled news from LinkedIn. So our strategy became laser-focused on getting that one impactful trade to cover the news. We skipped the long-winded, jargon-filled press release (side note: always leave the jargon in the drafts) and went with LinkedIn posts from the new hire and the CEO instead. We coordinated the date and time they went live, then immediately sent links to the posts to the reporter with a tight “so what?” pitch explaining why their readers should care.
They covered it and linked to both posts. Goal achieved — and notably, we still did the media outreach. We just skipped the press release.
And then there’s news that genuinely warrants a press release.
For that same client, they opened a new HQ office and facility space. For a startup with a smaller footprint, that’s not typically big news on its own. It’s not, let’s say, a story about major metros bidding for the next Amazon outpost.
That said, we wanted to reach local leaders and position the company for its next stage of growth. And this new facility set them apart from competitors.
So we leaned into the local angle as the strategy — the industrial boom making a resurgence in their area, a startup that had grown in size and revenue, and an HQ opening that was part of a larger local trend and economic story.
We did write a press release, but it served more as a fact sheet to support our story pitch. We offered an exclusive to a local business journal and used the press release to relay the details. But the bulk of the story still came from a targeted pitch and a CEO interview. After the exclusive was published, we then pitched the release more broadly and secured additional pickup, amplifying the feature and the impact narrative behind it.
The day of the feature story, my client saw the highest website traffic all year.
A press release can’t replace media outreach. It won’t make a boring feature update into a compelling story. But it can be a useful method in maximizing the reach of the news, when used effectively.
So yes, let’s kill some press releases.
👤 The release that gets blasted to irrelevant media
🤖 The release so loaded with jargon it needs a decoder ring
📉 The 2.1 product update release that could have been an email
But not doing press outreach at all? You’re missing an entire channel that can raise your visibility and credibility. The startups announcing funding rounds on LinkedIn aren’t wrong for using the platform. They’re wrong for stopping there.
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