In journalism school, I was taught to never use words that are subjective in an editorial context. As a PR person, I often counsel clients that terms like “state-of-the-art” and “best-in-class” should generally be reserved for sales pitches. Sure, you can put those words and phrases in news releases. Best-case scenario is a journalist cuts them from the story. Worst (and more likely) case, they write your story off as puffery.
I was reminded of the importance of word choice this week when my journalist husband sent me this video, which pokes fun at the word “revolutionary” and PR people who take themselves too seriously.
There is definitely a place for superlatives in public relations – as there is for embargoed news releases and exclusives. And I do believe you often need to shout from the proverbial mountaintop to be heard. But if engaging with third-party influencers (i.e. journalists and bloggers) is part of your strategy, it’s critical to remember that they cover news.
While (I hope) this video is intended to be a parody, I am afraid it’s not too far from reality. Several years ago, in one week’s time, I had three clients in three different businesses tell me they’d come up with the same positioning statement: “We get the right information to the right people at the right time.”