Have you ever attempted to plan a surprise party or an event requiring time-sensitive information? If so, you are aware of how taxing this procedure may be.
Most of the worry associated with planning such an occasion consists of ensuring that the birthday boy or girl does not discover the surprise before the event. Nobody enjoys a ruined surprise party, correct? Well, no one appreciates press releases that spoil company news, either.
Distribution can be difficult, especially when dealing with corporate news that is not yet well recognized. To prevent news from leaking while simultaneously coordinating press release distribution and media outreach initiatives, many businesses leverage the embargo features of a service.
What is an Embargoed Press Release?
A corporation sends an embargoed press release to media outlets requesting that the material not be published until the company publishes the information. The request for an embargo must be sent to the outlets by the corporation or PR firm responsible for the company's communications plans.
Consider briefly the previously described scenario in which you are throwing the surprise party. What would happen if the secret was revealed and the surprise failed? The worst-case scenario would be that a substantial amount of output would have been invested in an unsuccessful plan.
The opposite is true at the corporate level. Companies have suffered, and jobs have been lost owing to time-sensitive information being released to the public. In one extreme instance, Apple imprisoned 12 former employees for leaking confidential information. Because of these reasons, embargoes are highly useful instruments.
Some material is disclosed owing to an oversight of the marketing and communications department. These information dumps are comparable to those that have harmed the reputations of high-level executives at businesses like Equifax, Dow Jones & Company, and Tesla. Some of the largest corporations have endured public reactions due to information leaks. That should not be you!
By efficiently utilizing the authority of an embargo request, you accomplish three things:
- You inform the outlet of the company's plans; you instruct them to delay the publication of any content until after a specified date.
- You are preventing time-sensitive material that could harm the brand's reputation from leaking to the public.
- You pique the reader's curiosity with the request! Consider that this is comparable to the cookie jar theory. As a child, what is the first thing you want to do when you are told not to grab a cookie from the cookie jar? Grab one! In a professional situation, the main difference is that doing so has legal repercussions; therefore, it is doubtful that someone will reject your embargo request for a simple delight. Nevertheless, you make the story more engaging by including a time-sensitive element. The outlets will study why you pitched the story in this manner; thus, it is a win-win-win situation.
