What do you think are the most overused words when it comes to press releases and promotional materials?
Any business editor would be able to have a pretty good stab at the top marketing buzzwords without needing to refer to new research, which identifies them as being:
- Leader (161,000 mentions)
- Leading (44,000 mentions)
- Best (43,000 mentions)
- Top (32,000 mentions)
- Unique (30,400 mentions)
- Great (28,000 mentions)
- Solution (22,600 mentions)
- Largest (21,900 mentions)
- Innovative (21,800 mentions)
- Innovator (21,400 mentions)
- Award-winning (11,000)
- Exclusive (10,700)
Undertaken by Adam Sherk – clearly a man with a lot of time on his hands – the research was based on a review of thousands of press releases stored by Google and PR industry databases.
Jaded, world-weary journalists become suddenly animated on this topic… they are infuriated when people describe their businesses as award-winning (without explaining which awards they have won).
They become immediately distrustful of companies that describe their new product as unique – when a quick Google search reveals something almost identical already on the market.
The lesson is that we need to work harder to find fresh, engaging messages. It is too easy to resort to ready-made formulaic language that reflects the opposite of the ‘leadership’ and ‘innovation’ that we are trying so hard to establish.
Writing for social media is – I am sure – engendering greater spontaneity and creativity in our approach to disseminating messages. This must be reflected in our more formal communications.
Pronounced doomed and superseded by social media, the press release is, I believe, still very much alive and kicking – it remains a valuable tool for clearly encapsulating a news story from the company’s perspective, with all the pertinent facts and sources for additional information.
But, keep it engaging and keep it fresh…
