I came across a nice online tool that grades your press release, cunningly called press release grader. You paste your press release into various boxes and the software does its stuff and gives you a grade.
According to Hubspot, Press Release Grader's creator and internet marketing software company, the software has been developed in conjunction with PR and social media experts. So in theory in should work pretty well.
In practice it's not bad at all. It gives you pointers on how to make your press release more SEO friendly and have more of an impact in social media.
However, I would treat it with a pinch of salt and use it as a guide, rather than defining master formula for writing a press release, for a number of reasons:
- You shouldn't take a formulaic approach to creating releases/stories for mainstream media or social media. Your release should be written in the best way to get your story across. Templates aren't that interesting after a while.
- Press release are only one small tool that us PR types use. Sometimes they are not the best way of getting interest in your story. Plus, there is a groundswell of opinion [Tom Formeski for example] that reckons the press release is dead.
- The tool is designed by our friends across the Atlantic, who tend to do things a bit differently to us here in UK. What makes a great release stateside, doesn't necessary work over here [think 'revolutionary end to end solution designed to meet customers' needs].
Having said all that, it's a nifty little tool that prompts you to include things that search engines pick up and bloggers find useful. Plus, it's great for training those new to our fine industry.
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