If all the great writing that I've seen on blogs about the social media press release went into the actual press release, then maybe those of us who receive them without requesting them would not ignore them so completely.
For me and a growing number of reporters, any form of press release is like lipstick on a dead chicken. No matter how you try to pretty the thing up, it's still a pretty homely bird.
But Shel Holtz and others is right. Press releases are not dead. I helped Pat Phelan write one for Roam4Free yesterday. I've been working with David Parmet on one for Scrapblog who goes live in a few weeks. There are some traditional reporters who may pick up this release and write about my clients because of them.
The release is still worth doing. But it is less relevant today than it was yesterday. And it will be less relevant tomorrow than it is today. It is not dead, but it is dying. The people who use them are fewer. The people who ignore them are more. The people who want to make money writing them seem to remain about the same in numbers.
If you want to get me to write about you, and if I want to get the people who are most relevant to Roam4Free and Scrapblog to write about these clients, I don't pitch them. I don't send them email attachments. I don't call them up on the phone. I join their conversations. We get to know each other. Hopefully, in many cases, we will get to know and trust each other. When my audience is interested in what a PR practitioner is talking about it, I write about it and thus accelerate the conversation.
If you are in the PR profession, I think you need to stop pitching and start becoming part of the conversation relevant to your market and your client. The blogosphere is becoming more relevant to your clients and the traditional media less so. If you wait until your client has an announcement then try to come barging in here shouting for attention, I, and other bloggers, will simply ignore you.
If you stay too loyal for too long to lipstick-smeared chickens, then you will end up biting the bird.