So What?
Posted by: Mike Geraci | 31 October 2006 | 3:27 pm
During a recent bout of over-eagerness to promote, I was wrestling with a press release that had the potential to be a nonstarter, and I had to take a step back and ask myself, “So What?”.
We ask ourselves So What? a lot, because the answer to So What? is the filter that determines if your “news” warrants the time and effort involved with a press release. If you can’t come up with a really interesting, newsworthy answer to ‘So What?’ then you should either toss the release and go skiing or come up with a more interesting way to push the news. (Streaking is effective and newsworthy)
The media are pummeled with scores of press releases every day and most of the media have severe cases of ADD. So, right after the they read the headline of that sweet press release you sweated over for days, they immediately start thinking, “BFD”. The answer to So What? should turn that frown upside down and make the reader feel as though they will gain something from reading the next two paragraphs, and not feel like they just wasted 15 seconds (which doesn’t do you or your client any favors).
Write the lead/lede/led with the standard Who, What, Where, When, Why and then take a swig of coffee and/or beer and ask yourself “So What?” The answer should be the last sentence of the lead/lede/led paragraph.
The answer to So What? might provide:
- Market research insight
- Unique perspective on a trend
- Some deep internal information that will give your audience a better understanding of the business.
- An opinion
- Slanderous competitor bashing…
So, new products, new hires, new marketing campaigns, your new footwear line, a new sustainable/green initiative…the answer to “So What?” will make your release stand out.
As for the release I was wrestling with…I won’t be streaking but we are taking a different tack. I’ll post it when it’s done.
October 31st, 2006 at 4:17 pm
so what? Great post Mike and has me thinking. That’s what.
October 31st, 2006 at 6:03 pm
In my experience, most PR people are too new to the industry to be able to comment on what is truly new or even trends — present company excepted of course! Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told about the latest-greatest that was just an iteration of something from the previous decade (or earlier). I’d love to see press releases with opinion or slander…they’d be worth reading
November 4th, 2006 at 1:00 am
I’m glad someone’s thinking like this. The 12 releases I deleted this morning sure didn’t go through that internal audit!
Now the big question– you really take 5 days to write a press release?
December 11th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
[…] Our recent post on “So What?” garnered a bunch of comments and emails from the media that can be summarized as, “Most press releases are worthless…”. Which got us thinking: Is the press release dead? […]
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:08 am
[…] release about a new hire, our new social media director. I wrote the lede as news, then I wrote the ’so what?’ but it still felt weak. Then I asked myself why, twice: News: We hired a social media […]
July 9th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
[…] So What? Ego aside, so what? Be sure your release can pass the so what test to keep it to the point. […]