We’ve all seen press releases and many of us have written them. It’s WAY too easy to get trite and undermine your own credibility in the process, as Robin Water discussed recently in “10 Words I Would Like to See Banned from Press Releases” at her TechCrunch blog. Here, for example, is number one on her list of over-used words:
1 ) LEADING / LEADER
You know the kind: “Initech, the leading blah in blah blah blah, has partnered with Initrode, leader in blah blah blahblah blah blah blah.” Every single time a press release carries either one of these words in the first sentence, I cringe. Why? Because if everyone is leading, no one is. Period. PR people, next time you start writing a news announcement, ask yourself if you really should be using the words ‘leading’ or ‘leader’ just because it’s easy and everyone is doing it.
While press releases are an invaluable tool for crisis management, marketing and a myriad of other business purposes, if used carelessly they end up trashed, along with your reputation.
JB
Jonathan Bernstein
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/