Can your organization afford to toss $7,500 to the wind and blindly hope it results in an enhanced reputation?

I didn’t think so. But if you gin up a standard press release — a $7,500 process — and then spend another $750 to blast it out to an uncaring internet — you may as well shred it and drop the confetti from an airplane, for all the good it will do you.

The hard costs of producing a decent release include collaboration, legal review, and integrating search-engine-friendly terms designed to anchor search results, according to marketing consultant Fred Godlash.

And all that’s great. But if your message isn’t memorable and share-able, it’s also a waste.

The key to a press release that sparks coverage by media and industry influencers is to join a conversation that people already care about.

Really, that’s it. Nobody cares about your company’s 37th anniversary. Nobody cares that your company had a booth at a trade show. Nobody really cares that your executive spoke on a panel.

They don’t care because such messages are about you. And when you use a press release to say what you want to say, you miss the chance to say what people want or need to hear.