4 ways to improve quotes in press releases
Too often, statements attributed to executives sound contrived and artificial. These techniques will help you solve that problem and elicit quotes worth including.
Well, besides clichés, superlatives, and meaningless terms such as “cutting-edge,” using poorly worded quotes will have reporters hitting the delete button before they read your third paragraph.
Don’t fall victim to this problem. Consider the following tips as you are crafting your press release.
Trash those lazy verbs
A common problem with press release quotes is that they’re full of lazy corporate verbs such as synergize, utilize, leverage, or facilitate. “We are leveraging cutting-edge technology to meet our customer’s needs.” What does that even mean?
Instead, describe your customer’s needs and how your product solves it. “Suppliers often do not have real-time access to customers. This app enables them to send secure, instant messages to anyone in the supply chain.”
Keep it conversational
Another problem with press release quotes—particularly those from the CEO or another executive—is that your audience knows these quotes are made up.
When was the last time you actually heard someone say, “This new app will foster a new synergistic environment where suppliers and customers can leverage the new social media environment to communicate”?
Conversational quotes are more believable.
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