Every PR professional has been there: a press release is in its umpteenth iteration and the list of people invited to edit it has grown exponentially. The once tidy release with a clear lead, compelling nut graph (the paragraph that summarizes why you should care) and relevant background is gone. 

Instead, there is bloviation, poor writing, industry jargon and quotes that read like they were never spoken by a human being. The work becomes murkier and less newsworthy with each review cycle and version update. It’s immensely frustrating — primarily because as a PR pro you know it will end up deleted. It’s work for the sake of work and nothing else. 

The “too many cooks in the kitchen” problem isn’t confined to press releases. It can show up in any kind of content for clients like bylines, blogs, pitches, website copy and more. What generally happens is that someone wants to make sure everyone is happy and that they don’t offend someone or shut them out by not letting them take a crack at a piece of work. While this may help office politics, it’s disastrous for clarity and messaging. The whole purpose of writing a press release or piece of content is for it to be read and published, resulting in media coverage. Write to be read, not to make everyone and their dog happy.

How can you escape the problem of multiple cooks? Here are a few practices that might save you from “revision Hell” and produce a better piece of work at the same time.

1. Decide Who Needs to Review It: At the outset of a client relationship determine who must see a piece of work. Don’t  just include someone because they are part of the team. If possible, leave reviews and approvals to the parties involved (the person named on the press release) and an executive. If you can work directly with a single executive to get their sign off and avoid a piece of work dying by committee on the long slog to approval, even better. 
2. Establish a Clear Review Cycle: Determine who will review and approve work and stick to that process — before there are multiple projects in the pipeline. For example: someone at the agency drafts a piece of work and then has a colleague review it. The work can then be sent to a client for review, ideally by no more than two people, then returned for final proofing and submission. It’s a simple process – with a dedicated approval chain – that will prevent many headaches.
3. Push Back against Bad Writing: Clients edit or change work in many instances simply because they can, not necessarily because it makes the writing or story better. Edits that sometimes  completely ruin the story altogether to the point that it loses the plot. Ultimately, a PR agency’s name is on a piece of work along with a client’s name. If something looks bad or is poorly written it’s the PR agency’s job to gently tell a client and restore clarity. Doing so will help the client get coverage and preserve their reputation with the media — as well as the PR agency’s whose business and reputation lives — and equally dies — based on their ability to tell clear, concise and compelling stories to media that ultimately result in media coverage placements. 
4. Watch the Suggestions and Edits: Edits and suggestions should be tracked. They should then be accepted so whoever looks at a document next sees a new clean version. Piling edits and comments and highlights on top of each other is a recipe for mistakes that can get lost in the fray.

5. Check It: While a good human editor is best, services like Grammarly can spot typos or grammar mistakes before you send a document. Please edit that press release or content before it goes live.

Looking for help with pr strategy, digital pr, or public relations? MGP public relations is a top PR firm. Get in touch with us at hello@wearemgp.com

Every PR professional has been there: a press release is in its umpteenth iteration and the list of people invited to edit it has grown exponentially. The once tidy release with a clear lead, compelling nut graph (the paragraph that summarizes why you should care) and relevant background is gone. 

Instead, there is bloviation, poor writing, industry jargon and quotes that read like they were never spoken by a human being. The work becomes murkier and less newsworthy with each review cycle and version update. It’s immensely frustrating — primarily because as a PR pro you know it will end up deleted. It’s work for the sake of work and nothing else. 

The “too many cooks in the kitchen” problem isn’t confined to press releases. It can show up in any kind of content for clients like bylines, blogs, pitches, website copy and more. What generally happens is that someone wants to make sure everyone is happy and that they don’t offend someone or shut them out by not letting them take a crack at a piece of work. While this may help office politics, it’s disastrous for clarity and messaging. The whole purpose of writing a press release or piece of content is for it to be read and published, resulting in media coverage. Write to be read, not to make everyone and their dog happy.

How can you escape the problem of multiple cooks? Here are a few practices that might save you from “revision Hell” and produce a better piece of work at the same time.

1. Decide Who Needs to Review It: At the outset of a client relationship determine who must see a piece of work. Don’t  just include someone because they are part of the team. If possible, leave reviews and approvals to the parties involved (the person named on the press release) and an executive. If you can work directly with a single executive to get their sign off and avoid a piece of work dying by committee on the long slog to approval, even better. 
2. Establish a Clear Review Cycle: Determine who will review and approve work and stick to that process — before there are multiple projects in the pipeline. For example: someone at the agency drafts a piece of work and then has a colleague review it. The work can then be sent to a client for review, ideally by no more than two people, then returned for final proofing and submission. It’s a simple process – with a dedicated approval chain – that will prevent many headaches.
3. Push Back against Bad Writing: Clients edit or change work in many instances simply because they can, not necessarily because it makes the writing or story better. Edits that sometimes  completely ruin the story altogether to the point that it loses the plot. Ultimately, a PR agency’s name is on a piece of work along with a client’s name. If something looks bad or is poorly written it’s the PR agency’s job to gently tell a client and restore clarity. Doing so will help the client get coverage and preserve their reputation with the media — as well as the PR agency’s whose business and reputation lives — and equally dies — based on their ability to tell clear, concise and compelling stories to media that ultimately result in media coverage placements. 
4. Watch the Suggestions and Edits: Edits and suggestions should be tracked. They should then be accepted so whoever looks at a document next sees a new clean version. Piling edits and comments and highlights on top of each other is a recipe for mistakes that can get lost in the fray.

5.  Check It: While a good human editor is best, services like Grammarly can spot typos or grammar mistakes before you send a document. Please edit that press release or content before it goes live.

Looking for help with pr strategy, digital pr, or public relations? MGP public relations is a top PR firm. Get in touch with us at hello@wearemgp.com