The Press Release is Alive

Posted on March 15, 2006

Susan Getgood at Marketing Roadmaps has a post declaring the press release is not dead. It is amazing she has to do this in age when PR Newswire and Business Wire are still releasing numerous press releases each day. Some of them even come with photos and videos. But there are people like Tom Foremski at Silicon Valley Watch who really hates press releases and wants them to die. There have also been the "press release is dead" memes that pop up from time to time.

Companies can announce new products and services in a blog but it is still nice to have something more formal like the press release for major announcements. Steve Rubel says everything is a press release but blogs posts don't follow the format of a press release. In many cases it is easier to find information in a well-written press release than by scrolling through the company's blog posts trying to find general information about the company and/or its products. At the same time a blog is also very valuable. Corporate blogs can be used to answer questions, discuss product bugs and tweaks; announce software verson 4.31; etc. -- situations where a press release would be overkill.