In our latest press release entitled “Net-Results Utilizes Own System to Enhance Website, Trial Conversions” we discuss how we’ve recently revamped our website and trial offer based on actual data we obtained using our own system to track website visitors and send follow-up emails. I’m sure hundreds of SMBs also revamped their website last week, so the emphasis on the story was that we did it using our own tool. I struggled to write the release because I continually kept thinking… “who’s going to care?” and “how can we make this newsworthy?” dz5bgj9ce3
So, with that in mind, I tried to get a little creative with the title. Initially I wanted to headline it “Net-Results Eats Their Own Dog Food,” to which my CEO later suggested “Net-Results Drinks Their Own Kool-Aid”. I strongly felt like either choice would be a great attention-getter, following in the footsteps of great headlines like “How to Date a Crazy Cat Lady” and “Women Have Colons, Too”. However, our press agent strongly advised us against doing so, saying that our professionalism would be compromised and we would actually offend some members of the media.
It brings up the issue of desired company image versus actual company image. We’d like to be seen as an innovative, outgoing, and fun company – but we do not want to be seen as immature or outrageous. So where do you draw the line between being out there and playing by the rules to achieve the desired perception? I’d say put it out there and see what happens… but I think our press agent would prefer to err on the side of caution.
I’m torn on the topic – but I believe we probably should have followed our instincts. There’s no such thing as bad press as long as they correctly spell your name, right?
