Press releases only go so far.
If a service sends out a blast email, but no one hears your message, was it ever sent? While updating this idiom loses some of the philosophical zing, I think it may be a little more useful. As an industry, we’ve moved on from laying out facts in bullet points – it takes emotion.
Recently, I’ve toured two facilities for different manufacturers in the trucking industry for Fleet Equipment. In the same time span, I’ve read dozens of press releases, some of which I’ve already forgotten. What was the difference? In addition to physically seeing equipment in action, I got to meet people, not paper. I heard their voices, watched their hands gesture, listened as they explained a greater goal.
Prior to working in the B2B industry, I spent a decade in broadcast journalism and can tell you the same rules apply there. Look at news reporters. The good ones can succinctly give you the nuts and bolts of a story, but the great ones make you feel what’s happening or what someone is going through. Which one of those sticks with you more?
When you get to know who is behind a project, you can ask questions and grow to understand their message. Once that happens, I’m able to provide a more well-rounded writeup and relay the importance of what they’re doing to our readers. It’s not enough to say you make XYZ widget – readers want to know why XYZ widget has an impact. Without a deeper connection to the audience, the most well-intended informative release may come across as a shallow sales pitch.
Not everything needs to be a life story (looking at you, recipe websites), but I find greater strength in storytelling, and memorability in meaningful messages. At Babcox Media, our goal is to connect you with the audience – whether that’s through a sponsorship or advertisement, a podcast or video series, or an article in print or online. We offer research and analytics to make sure you know which options work best for you, and our staff chooses to work personally with clients to make sure we tell your story and tell it right.
