Conversational Writing, Brand Journalism: The New PR

I’ve been a vocal proponent for steering PR pros away from using the standard, AP-style press release exclusively. I think good writing is still critical, but the stale template makes us lazy as communicators.

When we set out to build PitchEngine back in 2007, one of the fundamental questions we had to answer was about the type of content we would allow. The wire services like PR Web, PR Newswire, Business Wire and Marketwire all have editorial guidelines that prohibit content they deem not “newsworthy.” Some of the services have editorial departments, while other have mathematical formulas for how they vet press releases. I firmly believe that the future of public relations is consumer-facing. And, consumers don’t read press releases, regardless of what the holdouts will claim. The gatekeepers of the past will be left holding the gates. And Chris Brogan‘s “gate jumpers” will pass them up.

Ad Age ran a great article this week about this shift toward conversational content this past week. It’s only going to get more important for communicators.

 

Influencers, which include journalists, bloggers, and your customers, are all news consumers. They read content because it looks engaging. That means you must have more than a snappy headline these days to garner attention. What’s more, you have to make it concise, conversational and catchy. That’s why PitchEngine has made such an impact on the PR industry in just a few short years. It enables communicators to be creative on behalf of their brands and share their stories, announcements and digital flyers with actual people who care. Why? because you took to the time know them.

 

Beth Mansfield uses PitchEngine for Carl’s Jr. and exemplifies the combination of creative and formal brand journalism. Take a look at this pitch, targeted to the restaurant’s demographic, an 18-24 year old male. From the headline to the Twitter Pitch, there’s not much about this that screams “press release.” Instead, it’s a fun, conversational piece of content – a pitch – with the wherewithal to go viral with her audience.

Think about it.
- As a communicator, you are now a brand journalist.
- You (or your brand) own your audience – you’re not just renting it from a news outlet.

 

So, do me a favor. Next time you get ready to share some news, or a story about your client or brand – write it like a blog post. Write like you would like to be written to.
Breakout of the old and get with the now. It can be very liberating.

- @jasonkintzler

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