Do Not Mix Editorial with Press Releases.

Editorial written by publications is not a press release for your company. So, why are so many companies mixing the two or even worse, placing them all under the header of ‘Press Releases’.

We find this to be a major problem in the Fashion industry. We finally find the News or Press Release section of the website only to see a bunch of magazine covers and not a single press release from the company. And there’s not even a press contact in case we want to get the actual news.

If you want to include your coverage, that is fine. Just create a section for news issued by the company and another for editorial coverage of the company. If your executives write articles that can be published by any publication, create a special section for that with clear instructions and permissions. Do not mix these articles with articles written exclusively for certain publications.

Here are the three common sections you should have on your web site and the appropriate terms for each:

• ‘News’ or ‘Press Releases’ – For official statements issued by the company and available for companies to publish immediately without permission and without a byline.
• ‘Executive Articles’ – A special section of articles written by the company that can be published by publications while giving a byline credit for the author. Make it clear if the publication needs permission before publishing it. Do not mix these articles with articles written exclusively for certain publications.
• ‘In The News’, ‘Media Coverage’ or ‘Editorial Coverage’ – This is a section to show off your coverage. Nothing in this section can be published by another publication without permission and should be clearly marked. This is also where you can place articles written exclusively for certain publications that cannot be published by any other publication without permission.