A hyperbolic plea for less hyperbolic PR
Another day, another press release carefully, consciously and wilfully crafted to annoy, to obfuscate, to say as little as possible. Another press release, in short, whose sole purpose would appear to be getting itself from Inbox to Trash as quickly as possible.
“Amazing Co., the leader in buzzword performance optimisation, announced today that Fantastic, Inc., the global leader in cloud-based scissors for the beauty industry…”
So this latest release (almost!) began. The italicised words have been changed to deny the guilty attention, but you get the point.
For those of you who do anything vaguely like what I do, these emails are a daily menace. Companies without sufficient belief in the merits of their own product hire PR firms with no apparent knowledge of either product or industry. Both want to get the attention of media, analysts, influencers, and the rest. Both share the badly mistaken belief that hyperbole is the way to gain that attention.
If our product isn’t ‘the leader,’ they appear to believe, we’ll not spare them a glance. If our customer isn’t ‘the global leader,’ they nervously muse, no one will care.
They’re wrong. All the ‘leader’ nonsense just makes them look desperate. And more than a little sad.
A leader, my dictionary tells me, is
“an organization or company that is the most advanced or successful in a particular area”
The most advanced or successful. Surprisingly, the definition doesn’t say “an organisation or company that has some product that does some stuff that you might — but probably will not — find a wee bit interesting.”
One of the points about leaders is that they have to have followers. In a market, some companies are out in front… and lots and lots and lots of companies follow along behind. They may do good stuff. They may have some smart ideas that will propel them to the front one day. They may have some great customers, a strong team, and a whole bunch of fascinating stories to share. But. They are not leaders. And no amount of pathetic self-promotion is really going to change that.
Some companies, of course, are leaders. And do you know what? They rarely say so in their press releases. Success, it seems, brings a healthy dose of modesty. Either that, or they’ve got — and they use — the evidence to support their claim. Why are you a leader? Who says so? What evidence do they have? How narrowly are you or they defining their criteria?
“The leading seller of burgers.” Is that because all the analysts agree you sell more burgers around the world than everyone else? Or is it because you think you probably sell more vanilla-flavoured burgers in East Yorkshire on a Tuesday morning than anyone else? Or is it because your gran once said you were?
If you can’t back up the ‘leader’ nonsense, please stop using it.
Technology companies, have a little faith in what you have to offer. Believe in yourself. Tell us why your product or your customer matters. It’s never because you claim to lead. If your PR firm comes to you with a draft release that uses ‘leader’ (or anything else from a set of other stop-words I will happily provide!), fire them on the spot. There are plenty of agencies out there, staffed by smart, personable, knowledgeable staff… who actually know how to tell a story in a way that makes us care. Hire them, even if it costs more. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time and money. And ours.
Marketing agencies and PR firms, have a little faith in what your client has. Discover what’s interesting, what’s new, what’s a little different. Help us to see that. If your client wants to be described as a ‘leader,’ challenge them. Ask them how or why it’s true. If, after that, they still want to lay it on thick with the meaningless drivel, walk away. You’ll lose one client, but you’ll feel so much better about yourself. And we’ll love you.
And do you know the saddest part? Beyond the opening paragraphs that made me want to scream? This particular press release appeared to hide a good story. That story was desperate to get out, to be heard, to be shared. But the hyperbole had it in a head-lock, and now it’s dead.
“Leader” murders exciting news. Now that’s a story.
