The recent declaration that the traditional press release is dead has been severely exaggerated—a digital rebirth might be a more appropriate metaphor. It is true that old fashioned news distribution methods have become increasingly unsuited to today’s digital world. But several variations of digital press releases have emerged to take their place including the Social Media News Release and the Electronic Press Kit. How does the SMNR differ from an EPK? There are a few differences but also many similarities.

The SMNR is a multi-media, two-way, direct to the public digital release that avoids “spin” and is aimed largely at bloggers and, via them, consumers. The EPK (also called Internet Press Kit/IPK, Ekit, Multi-media News Release/MNR and Electronic News Release/ENR) is an electronic press release loaded with images, links and video/audio and delivered directly to journalists’ inboxes.

One key difference is the aesthetics. The SMNR organizes information in a set format without consideration of client branding while EPKs are highly branded for maximum impact. SMNRs often include a logo but EPKs reflect, at a minimum, client color schemes and logos and, if customized, can communicate sophisticated brand identities. Both include the same key elements—contact info, links to additional data, images, video/audio—but the information is organized differently: the EPK being more flexible and visually appealing but the SMNR being more consistent in its layout.

The writing style is another point of departure. SMNRs generally use a bullet point format and simply lay out the key elements of a story in a “fact-based” and spin-free manner. EPKs are more commonly, but not exclusively, narrative and written like traditional press releases. At PWR, we leave the text and formatting to our clients. However, if you are targeting bloggers specifically it is a very good idea to avoid the hype and just provide details. Journalists, on the other hand, admit that they like to cut and paste language from the release and traditional PR writing is still appreciated with that audience, although over-the-top “salesy” language is never appreciated.

They target different primary audiences. Proponents of SMNRs and EPKs agree that getting their story to the public is the ultimate goal, but they pursue different primary target audiences. SMNRs are designed to target bloggers by taking advantage of optimization and earning a presence on social media sites. EPKs are primarily designed for journalists with the needs of that audience in mind.

Get the best of both worlds by using SMNR web tactics with your next EPK. One of the benefits of any digital press release is that, once it is on the web, it can be accessed by journalists, bloggers and consumers. The primary tools SMNRs use to get to the public—search engine optimization and social media tagging—can also be useful for anyone sending an EPK. At PWR, our EPKs are designed to be flexible in regards to this since some clients want a strong on-line presence while others do not. Although using SEO (search engine optimization) to boost your release’s web presence is a good idea, it is more difficult than it seems. The easiest way to do it is to use a traditional wire service (an opt-in option with our EPK service). This also allows to optimize your release and tag it for social media (Digg, Technorati, etc). We discussed strategies to optimize your release in a recent issue of Powerlines, you can revisit it here.

So, while proponents of SMNRs and EPKs agree that old fashioned “wire” releases are not effective in today’s digital world, and a that an electronic format is a better way to reach the right people and give them the right information, the approaches differ in aesthetics, organization, writing style and primary audience. There is a time and place for both approaches and if you are interested in a blog and social media focused release just let us know and we will help you optimize, tag and target appropriately.