News Wires Are for Web Dissemination, Not Reaching Newsrooms

I did a release this morning about my interesting new client, Shareholder Representative Services. They are a very successful new company pioneering a new market niche in the venture capital space.

The release was about a new client win. Now, the vast, vast majority of new client press releases are turgid and boring and will get picked up only by the narrowest trade media, if at all. In our case, this client win probably won't get picked up by any trade media, because the niche is so new.

So I submitted a release to Business Wire with the following headline and lead:

Shareholder Representative Services (SRS) Relieves Venture Capitalist of the Stockholder Representative Headache
Former Shareholders of Era Systems Name SRS as Their New Representative in Merger With SRA International

San Francisco, CA – February 19, 2009 – Being the representative of the shareholders who sold a venture-backed company to a big corporation is a lot of work – even if the merger goes flawlessly. Venture capitalist Jonathan Perl with Boulder Ventures knows firsthand – he has been a shareholder representative before, and recently signed up to do it again, in the merger of Era Systems Corporation, which was acquired in 2008 by SRA International (NYSE: SRX).

This time, Perl thought better of his decision and turned the job over to Shareholder Representative Services (SRS), the professional choice for managing the post-closing escrow period after a merger.

To my surprise, I had a call from Business Wire after submitting this release last night, with the editor there saying that this wasn't a properly written release, because it had a soft news lead, and that "the media" prefers hard news leads. They recommended I rewrite it, though I didn't get the call in time and the release went through as submitted.

As it happens, I had written an early draft in that stilted format, but my client urged me to loosen it up a bit. Here's the original version:

Former Shareholders of Era Systems Corporation Name Shareholder Representative Services (SRS) To Represent Them After Merger With SRA International

San Francisco, CA – February 19, 2009 – Shareholder Representative Services (SRS) has been named the official representative of the former shareholders of Era Systems Corporation, which was acquired in 2008 by SRA International (NYSE: SRX).

In its role as shareholder rep, SRS will professionally managing the post-closing escrow process on behalf of the former shareholders of Era. This includes handling potential claims by SRA International related to working capital disputes, earnouts, breaches of representations or warranties; communicating with escrow agents and other parties to the transaction; and resolving other matters that may arise.

OK -- which version do you like better? To me, it's a no brainer -- the first is much more lively and creative. Yet to the brains at Business Wire, this wouldn't be a "successful" release because it wasn't written in the old rigid style.

I tried to get a call back from Business Wire today but didn't hear from anyone. But let me tell you what I am thinking:

I wrote the release for the web, not newsrooms. I had already planned to send the release via email into the newsrooms I cared about, and wasn't relying on Business Wire to generate other pick-up, which I knew it wouldn't. In fact, I paid for the cheapest wire distribution possible, because what I was really going after comes free -- web distribution.

Within minutes after my release went out as written, it was on MarketWatch, MercuryNews.com and StreetInsider.com, as well as many other web sites. Since I had embedded links to my client in the release, many of these brand new web pages now linked to my client's web site.

This is why I used Business Wire -- because I know that they have redistribution agreements with tons of web sites, who will post my release automatically after I put it on the wire.

So now, look back on the two leads -- which one would you want to read if you found my release on the web? And to Business Wire -- don't you think it's time your media relations advice took into account the Internet and SEO?

PS -- I got a report from Business Wire  on the distribution of the release, but it noted that the report did not provide information on whether the release was picked up by the "thousands" of web sites that repurpose Business Wire releases. Why not? That's what I'm paying for!