Question 2: Would the press release pass what I call The Teen Test? Would a person not at your workplace find the news interesting? Would your son, niece or grandma understand the implications?

An experienced and awesome PR pro, Laura Taylor, who used to be at one of IBM’s PR agencies I had hired on retainer once told me, PR is basically logic. That stuck with me and I repeat it to new and existing clients often. Does your story or news release hold such simple appeal that a wide audience would understand its implications? If you explained your news to your child, perhaps a teen or even a 10 year old, would they say, “That’s interesting.” If not, think about just direct communications instead. Email the news out to clients and analysts. Announce it to employees directly. If it’s on a complicated technology or product, can you include a cool analogy that everyone would understand? Chris Preimesberger from eWeek once told me that he really likes good analogies and that they could make bland tech news more appealing to his audience.

To use an IBM example again, during the Think 2018 conference they announced the world’s smallest computer, tinier than a grain of sand, that could detect something wrong in a supply chain. It was well done and the media coverage was very good. (Although I don’t remember a press release on that. IBM, a huge company with a lot of blog followers, issued a story on this milestone from the head of IBM Research. But a small company would have issued a release on that. IBM had enough website followers to not need a press release.)

Another way to make your news interesting is to talk about application. How can it be used and do people care about that use? For example, is the technology helping fight homelessness or save rescue animals? One press release I issued discussed how collaboration technology helped run an automobile manufacturer better; they reduced emissions and the rates of asthma in that city went down. How did I figure that out? I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the customer who offered those stats when I asked for results. Awesome, right?