Today's post is more career-y and less a chronicle of the things happening in my head. I do love writing general musings about life, but in this time of unemployment, I should also keep my eye on the ball.

Plus, I'm a self-professed computer nerd who likes reading about my industry.

So, without further ado, I give you....

The press release.

PR people depend on it. Most journalists resent it.

Even with the vast array of options available for communication about a company, product, or event, press releases are still relevant and effective assuming they are used correctly.

If a press release is good, it can result in great coverage with traditional media outlets as well as with influential bloggers and social media writers.

But if a press release is bad, it encounters the same fate it always did. Whereas it once fell straight from the fax machine into the recycle bin, it is now labeled as "PR spam" and sent straight from the inbox to the virtual rubbish bin.

So even though I went to journalism school, and decided halfway through that my future will not include sitting in on city council meetings or relentlessly calling a source who has made it very clear that he/she doesn't want to speak with me, I feel that I'm armed with some journalistic skills that will make me a fantastic PR person someday.

Here are just a few things I learned, proving once again that my time spent studying journalism was not a total wash:

1. A good press release, like a good news story, should grab the reader at the first paragraph.

First and foremost, this means telling a great story.
Great stories get attention. Make the story good, and makes sure people know it's good before they finish the first paragraph.

Second, it means tailoring the message to the audience. How is your message going to make the lives of the audience (and their readers) better? Look at what the writer writes about. Look at his/her audience. Go from there.

2. Good press releases, like good news stories, should be timely and relevant.

Make sure that you concoct a reason for sending out your information here and now. As my journalism professors used to say, "Why should I care?"

Tell them why they should.

3. Good press releases, like good news stories, should be concise and simple.

The ultimate purpose of journalism is to take a seemingly complicated story and make it readable--to interpret the facts and lay them out for people to understand.

I don't care if you work for NASAs Heliophysics Research Program. Keep the release uncomplicated. Leave out the lame quotes and executive psychobabble.

4. Good press releases, like good news stories, should be well written.

Nobody likes bad grammar. Nobody likes it when you use "your" when you mean "you're" or there" when you mean "they're." It's like nails on a chalkboard, and journalists will abandon your grammatically incorrect press release in steadfast defense of the English language.

Armed with this knowledge, I vow right now to stay off journalists' PR spammer lists even before I begin my career.