I’m about to hunker down to write a release. The client requests that it be one of our “irreverent” kind, which is always a little tricky. Our releases are irreverent because they are true. We cut through corporate B.S., spurn franken-quotes and report on the real experiences and activities that take place behind the scenes of whatever the news happens to be, usually in a light-hearted manner.

In business it is tempting to try to compete and impress by benchmarking what the big, corporate, category leaders do. It is easy to sound big by doing this but remember that these are the same businesses that have to get their press releases approved by their legal department… and talk about risk averse, dry, and not creative. “Let me run this by legal,” is the kiss of death for any kind of brand-differentiating press release.

When you strip away all the corporate happy crap and speak truthfully about what the news is and what it means to you and your company, throw in a dash of self-deprecating humor to show that your company realizes that they haven’t found the cure for cancer, the chances that the release will actually be read and remembered improve dramatically.