Cheap Automatic Press Releases or Complete Crap?
What is it?
PR-O-Matic’s press release generating software - it’s a simple tool where you input various portions of your press release content, and it spits out a formatted press release, including code to include it directly on your website.
Price?
It’s cheap… someone sold it to me over a forum for $2.00. I’ve seen it in other places for $8.50-15.00.
The Verdict?
Complete crap.
Why?
When I first saw someone selling software to automatically format or create press releases, and touting it as an “absolutely foolproof way to create attention getting press releases for any product,” I had to chuckle.
It would have been bad enough if it were just being pushed on unsuspecting webmasters who honestly didn’t know any better, but the language was targeting actual professionals, including firms, saying it was a tool to use on clients’ releases that would “instantly” create and format your press releases the way editors want to see them.
The idea is absurd, as with every piece of crap content generation software on the Web. No professional would touch something like this for client projects with a ten foot pole. That’s just what I thought upon reading about it. But I decided to fork over the whopping $2 and try it myself, just so I could speak from experience. And I was right.
Here are the problems with the software and how it’s marketed:
- There’s honestly nothing “instant” about it. You still have to write the release. You just have to write it in the specific chunks of content that the software asks for.
- The tool doesn’t even allow you to add a date… ummm duh? If you don’t need a date on it, it’s not newsworthy enough to be in a press release anyway. Technically, you can add a date, but “in place of” the FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE line. They’re both needed in a press release.
- For a tool bragging about being ideal for both print and online releases, it’s neither. It’s missing very basic press release components like a simple boilerplate and a summary. Without a summary field there should at least be an optional field to add a sub-heading.
- The tool tries to force quotes in very specific locations. You should never force quotes into a press release. They should definitely be used if you can use them effectively (and you better have something to say that actually needs to be in a quote if you want to use one), but no, they don’t need to be placed in the areas where the software tries to force you to insert them.
- There’s no real ability to add any scannable qualities to the release (like bulleted info - while not used in all releases, it’s highly effective in some). There’s no differentiation or options available to tailor the release to your needs, whether it be an event release, general news release, product press release, etc…. all slightly different animals.
Frankly, you can’t be missing some of the most basic press release components and market a product as outputting a release the way editors want to see it. Editors want to see a well-written and well-formatted press release. This tool doesn’t give so much as a hint of how to actually write “for the media” to effectively impress editors and journalists, doesn’t put out a product even remotely close to a properly formatted press release, and is frankly a waste of time and money (save your $2 and buy a cheap cup of coffee).
You’d have to be the laziest ass out there to use a tool like this, just because you can’t be bothered to write a few paragraphs with a centered title in a word processor… that’s pretty much what the “tool” gives you.
Alternatives
If you’re smart enough to save your money (and frankly, if you’re not, you’ve lost my sympathy and you’ll see your releases right where they belong… on the bottom of the scrap pile), there are much better free alternatives out there to help you properly format a press release.
Just search for free press release templates, look at sample releases put out by major corporations, and do some reading on real PR sites. You’re very welcome to use my own free press release templates and press release writing tips at BizAmmo: Public Relations (there’s a template there for print distribution and one for online distribution). And since I’m not interested in simply plugging my own site, here are two others you should look into:
- Publicity Insider (hate the press release template here, but love his site… it’ll definitely get you better results than PR-O-Matic)
- About Public Relations (one of the more comprehensive sites out there right now)
I do have to give PR-O-Matic credit for one thing though: it’s got my gears turning. I’ve yet to see a decent piece of software dealing with press releases, although there’s plenty of garbage out there. Maybe what the market needs is something by someone who actually knows what the hell they’re talking about, who can provide real options in press release writing software, offer plenty of samples of successful releases, and tips on how to do it right, rather than turning out cookie-cutter pieces of garbage. I’ll get right on that. Yeah….
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Thanks jhmattern :)
You’ve just saved me 2 bucks :)