A press release is one of the few documents a firm publishes that it cannot revise after the fact. Once on the wire, it is in the public record, picked up by databases, cited by analysts, archived by search engines. The standard the document has to clear before issue is, therefore, higher than the standard for most other corporate communication — and most firms do not apply it.
The first test is factual defensibility. Every claim in the release should be defensible in writing under audit. Numbers should be sourced. Achievements should be measurable. Comparative claims ("the largest", "the first", "the leading") should either be true and documented, or removed. The discipline of asking, for each sentence, "could this claim be challenged?" produces tighter, more credible releases — and avoids the kind of correction notice that itself becomes a news story.
The second test is voice consistency. The release should sound like the firm. Most press releases adopt a generic PR voice — euphemistic verbs, abstract nouns, three-sentence paragraphs that say nothing in particular. A release in the firm's actual voice is more useful to the reader and reflects better on the issuing organisation. If the firm has an editorial standard, the press release is the place to apply it.
The third test is restraint. Most press releases say more than they need to. Sub-headlines that repeat the headline, executive quotes that add no substance, boilerplate that runs longer than the news itself. Cutting the release to only the material it actually needs — sometimes a third or less of the first draft — produces something readers will actually read.
The fourth test is timing. A release issued because there is real news to communicate earns attention. A release issued to fill an editorial calendar earns scepticism. Firms that release only when there is something specific to say earn credibility over time; firms that release on cadence dilute the credibility of every release they issue.
Kaelo's release standard is documented on Press & Media Centre. Each release goes through factual review and sign-off before publication. We do not publish releases on an editorial calendar. The discipline is to issue only when there is news the firm is willing to defend in writing under audit, years later.
