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19 things not to do on a press release – by the journalists you want to
read it
1. Write “warbling” subject lines
“If your pitch is about robots, just say: ‘EXCLUSIVE: Robots to replace humans within 5 years’, not ‘Robotic technologies to evolve to replace human labour within a number of
years if current trends continue’.”
Rebecca Burn-Callander, Enterprise Editor, The Telegraph
2. PUT SHOUTY CAPITALS IN THE SUBJECT LINE
“SHOUTY CAPITALS in the subject line annoys me!”
Emma Haslett, Online Editor, City AM
3. Get basic details wrong
“I had an email the other day from a business quoting Google’s motto. They wrote ‘Do No Evil’, it’s ‘Don’t be Evil.’ Get it right.”
Gabriella Griffith, Assistant Commercial Editor at News UK
4. Not state what your business does
“When a release says ‘solutions provider’ I’m confused, do they mean
industrial chemical solvents?”
Charles Orton-Jones, former Editor of EuroBusiness and former PPA Business
Journalist of the Year
5. Spray and pray
“My number one complaint is to people who fire off press releases without
considering if they’re relevant to the journalists or not. Much better is to
target a handful of writers you know for sure will be interested.”
Dan Matthews, Contributor to Forbes and Editor of minutehack.com
6. Send the release as an attachment
“This means I have to actually download and open the thing to see what it’s about.
Rookie PR mistake.”
Rebecca Burn-Callander, Enterprise Editor, The Telegraph
7. Write “I know this isn’t your usual topic... ”
“It's annoying to receive releases that are completely irrelevant to your beat”
Rebecca Burn-Callander, Enterprise Editor, The Telegraph
8. “Solution”, again
“Things that prompt me to click delete include the word ‘Solution’ in the
headline. Almost a decade after the wretched word became ubiquitous in business speak, it’s still everywhere –
and still meaningless.”
Scott Payton has edited international business magazines and written for the Financial Times, the Spectator and the
Independent among others
9. Putting the wrong publication in the greeting
“If you want to really p*ss me off, put the wrong publication in your greeting. That lets me know that I am just one of many
journalists that you’ve pitched the story to – and that my publication wasn’t even your
first choice.
Rebecca Burn-Callander, Enterprise Editor, The Telegraph
10. Use “Urgent”
“Please don’t put “Urgent” in the subject line when it’s really not.”
Emma Haslett, Online Editor, City AM
11. Verbose intros
“One software firm insists on sending me releases which begin with seven lines of
boilerplate blather before getting to the point.
“Each time they mention their company name they append it with Nasdaq ticker data, ® and
TM copyright information, share price, disclaimers and tonnes of other assorted junk.
Meh. Delete.”
Charles Orton-Jones, former Editor of EuroBusiness and former PPA Business Journalist
of the Year
12. Omitting survey numbers
“The biggest thing press release writers miss is the number of people taking part in the survey. If it’s 2,000 I might write up the
story, if it’s 50 I might not. But if I don’t know, it’s just an excuse not to progress
the piece.”
Dan Matthews, Contributor to Forbes and Editor of minutehack.com
13. Putting “profits not released”
“I need to know how big the firm is. Staff numbers, turnover, number of offices, all help me understand the market position
of a firm – telling me ‘profits are not released’ is absurd. Companies House
has a public record of all this data.”
Charles Orton-Jones, former Editor of EuroBusiness and former PPA Business
Journalist of the Year
14. Tenuously latching onto a news item
“I hate it when PRs try to make something completely unrelated relevant to a news
story. Like ’10 reasons why tampons are a bit like the World Cup’.”
Emma Haslett, Online Editor, City AM
15. Start with “Story for Monday”
“ A ‘story for Monday’ is a story for the bin. I often read them as ‘We know this is a bit weak, but you might be desperate to fill
some space over the weekend so this might do.’”
Scott Payton has edited international business magazines and written for The Financial Times, the Spectator and the
Independent among others
16. Call up 30 minutes after you’ve sent the release
“Following up too fast after you send the release is very irritating. Give me a chance to
read the email!!”
Sophie Hobson, Editor of LondonlovesBusiness.com
17. Fail to make the embargo clear enough
“If you’ve got an embargo, put “EM-BLOODY-BARGOED” in giant red bold
letters”
Emma Haslett, Online Editor, City AM
18. Attach massive files
“If there are good pictures for a story, tell me, and maybe attach one tiny low-resolution one, but no massive files
please.”
Rebecca Burn-Callander, Enterprise Editor, The Telegraph
19. Always include a mobile number
“Always include a mobile number. If I can’t get you on a landline, I want an
alternative contact.
“Yes, this means I might call you on a Sunday morning but, hey, your client
will be in Monday’s paper so that’s kind of your job.”
Rebecca Burn-Callander, Enterprise Editor, The Telegraph
