Press Release - Design advice please!

Compudaro

Hi guys,

I'm caught between the proverbial "rock" and "hard place".

I plan on sending out regular press releases but don't know whether to just distribute them as a text-only email or as a nicely designed .pdf attachment.
When I receive press releases, I do tend to read (at lease some of) the text-only ones that "appear" straight away as soon as you click on them in your inbox. The .pdf versions require the receiver to download/open the attachment which I fear many people won't bother doing (it's extra effort!) and so the release may go unread in many cases.

Any advice on how I should proceed?

(Hope I've posted in the correct forum - Mods, please move if I haven't!)

Thanks

koHd

HTML email. If you can't write HTML, get somebody that can. They will make your email as impressive looking as the pdf.

dcmu

Probably is the wrong forum. Anyway, I think you've answered your own question. There's no way I'd go to the effort of opening an attachment. The text I might read if it caught my eye. I'd say most people are the same.

Compudaro

Thanks guys, I think koHd's solution is best - HTML! Wonder if there's a little software package that will help me to do it (I'm no HTML genius!)

Thanks again.

pickarooney

Moved from CW as question is now how best to create a HTML-format press release.

tricky D

Ideally, you should just use text simply because as the lowest common denominator and being universal, you just can't go wrong.

Once you start using html there's the temptation to add too much formatting when the only bits which really need formatting are emboldening the headline and the release date and location.

Also and importantly, the display of html by email clients is notoriously inconsistent especially if you use a software package (including email clients) to make it. Too many of these packages throw in junk which combined with the display inconsistencies, will too often make a mess of the release resulting in it being binned.

jmcc

Text only. Brief and concentrate on one main idea. Remember that the "journalist" [1] reading it is of limited intellect and time. (Formerly, press releases for these people were printed on drool-proof paper.) He or she is more likely to recycle it as news if it is well written and sounds important. Also include a quotation from some importantly titled individual and contact details (name/e-mail/phone number).

Be very careful about using Javascript and link tracking if you do opt for a HTML version.

Regards...jmcc

[1]I don't have a high opinion of many people in the technology journalism field who pretend to be technology journalists as they frequently haven't a clue about technology or business.

OctavarIan

It has already been mentioned several times but from working in the news business I think it's worth repeating that the importance of a press release being easy and to the point cannot be stressed enough!

You're trying to get your message across to someone who has seriously limited time to extract and repurpose information, sending them pdfs or badly styled html will only impede this process, and indeed on some occasions your email wouldn't even get more than a glance.

p

Compudaro wrote: »

Thanks guys, I think koHd's solution is best - HTML! Wonder if there's a little software package that will help me to do it (I'm no HTML genius!)

An irish company have a piece of software called Toddle(www.toddle.com) which works very simply. You hire a designer to make you an initial template that fits in with your branding etc... and then you can modify it from then on, without needing to know how to code etc...

Agree with everyone regarding press-releases. If that's what you're doing keep it very simple and easily to skim over.

KJF

Email press releases, mailing lists etc are a very tricky business. On the one hand they need to look the part as this gives a good first impression but on the other they need to be functional and work across a wide range of email clients, some of which block images and files and on top of that have very lose criteria for marking stuff as spam.

Don't waste your time. The best thing to do with email press releases and mailing lists is outsource them. Two companies that excel at this kind of thing are:

http://www.mailchimp.com/
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/

You'll get some lovely prebuilt html templates (which you can edit yourself) or you can build your own. They also send a text version so things degrade gracefully.
They'll provide analytic tools so you can see who clicked on your mail and which mails bounced. They will even analyse your email for common spam phrases and alert you before sending.

I use these for all my client project press releases and never had a bad experience.


tinktank.ie

mneylon

A press release should be text only. No HTML, no fancy anything else

Editors need to be able to copy and paste the text etc.,

HTML emails could also have issues with delivery, as you've no way of knowing what kind of email filters etc., are in place