Rules for Effective Future Press Releases

Advocates recommend these rules for effective future press releases:

• Write the press release at a future (hypothetical) point in time when success has been achieved. Press releases at launch are good, but a better time is sometime after launch when success can be measured and discussed.
• Explain why the product is important to customers or other key stakeholders. Then discuss other reasons it is important and key goals.
• Set an ambitious and clear goal. Articulate clear, measurable results you’ve achieved, including financial, operating, and market share results.
• Outline the principles used that led to success. Identify the difficult challenges overcome, the important decisions, and the design principles that resulted in success. Discuss the issues that needed to be addressed to achieve success.

Address Difficult Issues Early

Tackling difficult issues early helps the team understand the real nature of the change needed. “Don’t worry about how to solve these issues yet. You’ve still got time to figure that out,” Rossman advises.

Brad Stone, senior executive editor for technology at Bloomberg News, also explains Amazon’s future press releases in The Everything Store^[4].

Bottom Line: Future press releases helped Amazon become an innovation powerhouse. The technique can also provide other companies a clear roadmap to successful product development. PR and corporate communications can provide valuable input as development teams draft the documents.

Download the 2020 Ultimate Guide to Media Monitoring, Measurement & Analytics for PR & Marketing^[5]