Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Why Run A Press Release On New Hires/promotions?

Posted by Anonymous on 6/17/2008 at 6:41 PM ET 250 Points
My company is hell-bent on getting press releases out as much as possible regarding our new hires and promotions. In my efforts to learn the PR and marketing game, I checked with newspaper and TV business editors about what they're interested in for the press releases and also the content at this site (and many of the cross-referenced materials). One of the major things that always comes up is:

"When submitting a press release, make your content applicable to the audience. Don't ask us for a "free ad" by placing hiring and promotion PRs, our job is to inform the public, not to promote your business. If you're going to submit a PR, tell us *why* this matters to the public, and *why* we should even care."

This begs my question, then: "Why run a press release on new hires and promotions?"

Aside from Bobby or Sue's parents being proud that their children have found a job, no one truly seems interested in seeing that a company hired these people. I have a horrible time trying to justify why I should write these press releases, as I can't really see anyone being interested. So, can anyone tell me WHY a PR like this is needed/wanted?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 6/17/2008 at 7:18 PM Accepted
    Like the previous contributor said, business publications and the business section of your local paper typically have a "Recent Moves" section for just this sort of thing, so there is a market for these releases.

    Companies do it as a way to keep their name out there, even if it is buried deep in the back sections of a newspaper.

    Also if the recent hire/promotion is significant, it's also a way to tell clients and the competition "We've got some major talent working for us." In that regard it's actually a good idea, not to mention it's actually newsworthy.

    But it's a bad idea to send out PRs for every single hire/promotion in your company because you'll be flooding the papers with trivial releases, and eventually they may ignore you.

    What you might want to consider though is using online channels instead of traditional channels. Get a twitter account, broadcast these hires on Linked In, start a company blog - there are so many other ways to get this message out there besides the standard PR channel. Not to mention the people that will be reading this information will be the ones who are actually interested in what you have to say.
  • Posted by bruce on 6/17/2008 at 8:12 PM Accepted
    Your question seems very direct and straightforward, if not a tad cynical:
    "Why run a press release on new hires and promotions?"

    The answers are simple: You can drop TV & Radio from the distribution list unless your are really living in a "small town," but Newspapers print this fluff (and other relevant Company information at the same time) because they're desperate to try and catch up with the speed of the Internet with their only competitive advantage: "local content."

    And by adding the local content component, it is one guaranteed way of achieving that real-time differentiation with an older and still influential baby-boomer audience that still values a "mention" and will always get their local, daily content from the rags and their Industry info books.

    But more importantly, because like the Obits, we ALL read this section of the Newspaper every day it's printed to try and measure our own professional competitiveness and how well we're stacking up against our neighbors, peers and competitors.

    This is especially relevant to the professional services industries where local personalities carry weight in a hire. Industries like Manufacturing, Real Estate, Finance, and oddly enough, IT.

    But regardless of the Industry, word-of-mouth still works remarkably well in creating Company brand awareness and community pride. It puts a human heart-felt spin on even the most mundane events.

    And finally, YES, you make one Mommy and Daddy, brother, sister, relative, friend, and all the 6x6x6 network of people they speak to every day very, very proud. And don't forget the photo when you put your next Shop Foreman or Bank Teller in the Sunday paper...! I bet you'll even feel good about it.
  • Posted on 6/18/2008 at 8:56 AM Accepted
    To add to what others save said, you might also send the release to trade publications in your field. I know, for example, that DM News (a direct marketing magazine) regularly runs new hires/promotions/new business features.
  • Posted by melissa.paulik on 6/18/2008 at 9:05 AM Accepted
    If you live in a smaller town these are very relevant. I live in a "city" of under 200K people. The nearest city of significance is a four hour drive away so the local paper serves this community and the many farming communities in the region. It's not a depressed area, but economic development means bringing new talent to the region to replace the young people that move to more metro areas. In addition, the local public likes to see "one of the own" make it locally.

    I know it's a stereotype but people in smaller cities and towns really do like to stick their noses into their neighbor's business. If you can get some coverage out of it, why not take advantage of it?

    All the best!

    Melissa
  • Posted on 6/18/2008 at 9:47 AM Accepted
    You've gotten some really good responses. I agree with most everything that has already been said so take their advice to heart.

    I picked up on something in your post though that I have to comment on.

    I infer from your statements that the releases you are sending out ARE getting printed/used. I think that is the ultimate reason to keep doing it. It is working!

    You now have a STACK of editorial content you can refer to...your name is in print REGULARLY...you are getting FREE publicity!

    The editors may say they want the "what's in it for me" but obviously you are giving them SOMETHING they want or they wouldn't keep using your stuff!

    Take care...best of luck...I know that writing those pieces isn't the most glamorous part of your job, or the most fun....but I think it is essential.

    Kris

  • Posted on 6/18/2008 at 11:33 AM Author
    I'd like to thank everyone so far that has posted, and it has really opened up my eyes to some of the "why" behind this type of press release.

    ericlowe01, they are actually wanting to send out a release on every single new hire and promotion, even though we haven't had any major positions filled in almost a year. All of the positions so far have been entry-level and generally common positions. I am curious, though, how setting up a Twitter account would be involved in press releases. Than again, I have had nothing but trouble even trying to get into the Twitter stuff.

    bruce, would you suggest then trying to get these types of releases into the hire's/promotion's home paper? That's the only thing I can figure from the 6x6x6 comment.

    stlubahn, thank you for the idea of submitting to chambers of commerce. Of course, when they said, "Get it into print," they didn't bother to tell me where except every major newspaper in the state, and the major neighboring papers (even trying to get it into Minneapolis/St. Paul papers, 300 miles away).

    Melissa, this is also a "small town" atmosphere in that we are hovering at the 50k population, and the nearest large city is Winnipeg, Manitoba followed by Minneapolis, MN. Something that would be nice would be an expanded story on the number of people we're bringing into a typically "undesirable" employment location (particularly for the demographics we end up hiring). Grand Forks ( and North Dakota, for that matter) has a very poor stereotyped perception. A lot of people think of that atrocious movie, Fargo, when you mention North Dakota (even though it was all set in urban Minnesota except a couple of scenes), and then they also think of inhospitable conditions and backwoods culture. Now, I just need to figure out a way to feed that concept to a journalist.
  • Posted by steven.alker on 6/19/2008 at 10:30 AM Accepted
    Just a word of caution for you to think about.

    If you pack your press release with human interest content such as the background of the new hire, their interests, their charitable work (Always newsworthy!) along with their academic and career background, hinting at the local interest angle of what a boon to the community they will be (Or in a trade magazine, what a useful member of the trade they are) you will make them a target for every pensions consultant, real estate sales person, charity collector and head-hunter who scours the press for just this kind of information.

    The head-hunters are best at this. They note the hire and note the details you print. Then, 3 months later, they phone them up, sounding like someone who has been on their case for their entire career and make a none too subtle suggestion that they might know someone who would be interested in a senior position they are trying to fill. Having established contact they swing the conversation round to the now not-so-new-hire and tentatively offer them an opportunity to talk about the position in question.

    Before you know it, you’ve lost your new hire by helping the professionals in the recruitment business through providing them with 90% of the information they need to make a “Friendly” contact.

    That is the major reason why the majority of company websites don’t publish a list of their staff, unless they know that they are so loyal, they will say get stuffed to an overture.

    You might point this out to your senior execs to dampen their enthusiasm a bit!

    Steve Alker
    [URL deleted by staff]
  • Posted by warnerc on 6/19/2008 at 11:50 AM Accepted
    For better or worse, the kinds of releasse are common in my industry (enterprise software). I think many of the previous responders have covered most of the pros and cons for this type of press release. But there are a few other factors you might want to consider:

    1. These releases can help SEO/SEM rankings (at least a small amount), particularly if you don't generate a lot of releases in other ways. You'll need to choke down the cost of putting the release on the news wires, but that's relatively small compared to most marketing budgets.

    2. These types of releases can enhance the appearance of 'life and activity' in a company, particularly to prospective partners (and to a lesser degree, prospective customers).

    3. You might want to increase the 'critical mass' of these releases by combining a couple of them into a single one. We've done this very successfully (putting a new VP of Sales and a VP of Marketing in the same announcement). But then you'll have to tackle who gets listed first. ;-)

    I also strongly agree with previous poster that you won't get any pickups from the press (other than maybe the local newspaper) unless the person/persons in the release is/are a very big name. And this means you'll want to manage the expectations of your executive team accordingly regarding this type of release.
  • Posted on 6/19/2008 at 1:30 PM Accepted
    I like Twitter because your followers are people who are generally interested in what you have to say. So unlike a traditional mass media release with its "let's see what sticks" approach, your Twitter community actually wants to hear from you -- you're talking directly to people interested in your company.

    Twitter is limited to 140 characters, so obviously you can't post the entire release. What Twitter is good at doing is directing traffic to your release (if you post it on your company website).

    A tweet along the lines of: XYZ has just hired 6 new people [URL to that release goes here] will help drive readers to your site.

    And because the tweet is going to people who want to hear from you, your chances of it being read are decent.

    But don't just join Twitter to flog your company and recent hires. To be successful you'll want to participate, follow others and patiently build your community.

    Best of luck!
  • Posted by J Geibel on 6/23/2008 at 9:55 AM Accepted
    I have to agree with one of the posters above that your company is just attracting headhunters, insurance salesmen, etc. to your new hires.

    There is also another issue here - when I evaluate a company as a prospective client - I look to evaluate the turnover in their senior management - you would be surprised how well you can develop an organizational chart and employee turnover list from the new personnel announcements culled from a few years. And everything you put on the web stays there - including previous versions of your web site.

    If you want to announce - perhaps have a short list of major customers or others who might be interested - but always ask yourself - do they really care, and do I want to clog their in-box with this stuff?

    Usually - the answer is no.
  • Posted by steven.alker on 6/24/2008 at 11:20 AM Accepted
    What an utterly correct and well focussed piece of advice from J Geibel and I’m not just saying that because he/she agrees with me! The rest of the posts are pretty good too – at least the ones urging caution.

    Yes, your people-PR must also appear on your website. The bio can be expanded beyond the 300-900 words beloved of editors.

    If your boss is hell bent on having their profiles press released, than at least anonomise them by missing out their surnames. Explain that it company policy. Offer a landing page where, on completion of the viewers data, you grant them access to the full name and their in-depth bio.

    Although I only do very high tech consulting on recruitment (I handle the jobs were the head-hunters can’t understand or even pronounce the job title!) I could guarantee that I could find new, better remunerated positions for them to jump ship to within 3 months!

    Good luck with this – if you get the balance right it will reap rewards for you. If you get it wrong, you will both lose your staff to your competition and / or have them stressed out of their wits, trying to work out how to pay that $300 a month premium on a life policy which a nice man, who appeared to know you as a friend, sold you.


    Best wishes
    Steve Alker
    [URL deleted by staff]
  • Posted on 6/24/2008 at 1:51 PM Author
    Thank you, everyone, for your advice. I have taken your advice, particularly of the cautionary information, to heart and passed this along. Interestingly enough, they didn't seem to understand the need for caution in putting out these hire/promotion PRs, but they are ultra-protective of providing information regarding our products and services. This is an odd group that I work for, them being almost entirely scientists and academia backgrounds.

    Hopefully, with enough well-backed information and advice from the experts here, I can get some points across to the management. Thank you, again!
  • Posted on 6/24/2008 at 3:39 PM Author
    NuCoPro, I have definitely been looking around for new employment, unfortunately, my initial role at this company was not marketing and I feel at a complete disadvantage trying to find work elsewhere since my last eight years have been "Jack of all trades" rather than a specialist. It seems everyone wants a specialist of late.

    I have a good background in graphic design, photography, editing, and dealing with government agencies. Marketing was sort of thrust on me and I have been trying my hardest to learn as much as possible in a short time, but without any sort of training opportunities, it is tough to know if I'm even headed in the correct direction.

    By the way, this company is full of scientists and academics, and our principle business is business-to-government (we provide weather forecasting and maintenance decision support for state and federal departments of transportation). It's really tough trying to conduct/learn marketing as B2G, whereas I can find tons of material on B2B and B2C.
  • Posted by steven.alker on 6/26/2008 at 9:46 AM Accepted
    Actually, marketing for academics is very much name driven. That is because it is reputation driven. Due to the complexity of the ideas or products on offer, you are often seeking to sell from one recognised name, reputation and ego to another. Or with Government as the buyer, someone who ought to know, but probably doesn’t!

    The most important place where academics and researchers get their names published is as the signatories to peer reviewed articles in the academic journals. A subscription to one of the databases such as SilverPlatter or Medline will give you access to all their names, abstracts of their publications, their academic addresses and their commercial collaborators.

    I once had the task of increasing the new business of a behavioural research tool. A quick run through the abstracts gave me 600 names of academics involved in this kind of work which used this equipment. I got an undergraduate intern to build up a CRM database of all 600, where they worked and so on, and then to spend the summer talking to them, discovering their commercial collaborators and finding out what equipment they wanted, but couldn’t afford. Then we asked the big-Pharma collaborators to buy the stuff for them!

    Easy-peasy, if you know how, I suppose, but it does show the value of understanding the importance of a published name in this sector of business, as Gary (NuCoPro) has rightly pointed out.

    Best of luck


    Steve
  • Posted on 7/2/2008 at 5:45 PM Author
    I'd like to thank everyone that has contributed to this question. I have formed your advice into a coherent conversation, and the owners/managers still want to run press releases on *every* single new hire or promotion. So, I will just continue to do the job, pump out the text, and knock on the newspapers doors.

    Thank you again!
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