Mike’s Points

When you’re shaking a lot of trees, sometimes it takes awhile for the fruit to start falling. But, keep shaking.

– Mike Driehorst

That’s an improved version of what I tweeted yesterday. Whether you’re looking for a job, seeking business or other activity where “nos don’t matter,” keep trying. Sooner or later, the fruit will start falling.You just have to have faith.

Drew Kerr had a worthwhile column this week at Ragan.com about “three words every PR pro should ban.”

If you want to make a professional New Year’s resolution, start by  banning “excited,” “thrilled” and “honored” in all press releases

It  is the duty of every public relations professional who is called upon  to conjure quotes for executives to remove these three words from their  vocabulary immediately.

While I don’t know if I agree that excited, thrilled and honored should completely be banned from all news releases, his point is well made:

Let’s elevate the art of creating quotes so that instead of being a lot of self-congratulatory and kiss-blowing jumble, they actually make executives appear to have depth, personality and insight.

News releases are supposed to be about news, features, and related editorial-type subjects.
But, regardless of the topic, the primary end goal is to get it picked up and used by a media outlet, or at least used as the basis for a story. So, why not write like the media audience you are targeting?

It just makes sense to remove the fluff and nonsense in news releases and write informative, factual information. If you call yourself a true media relations pro, you definitely can still include your company’s or client’s branding position or other key message points in the news release and write so the reporter on the other end doesn’t gag while reading it.

In media relations, don’t forget that if you want to be a trusted, reliable source, you have to serve the media you work with nearly as much as the clients or employer who you are working for.

-Mike