10 words often misused in press releases

It’s bad enough that some communicators overuse buzzwords in news releases and memos. Even worse is the sad truth that often those words aren’t even used correctly.

Any writer should pause and ask, “Am I saying what I think I am?” before using these 10 words.

Quality. A lot of times you’ll see this word floating in a sentence, all on its own. “Our products are quality,” or, “These are quality services.” Looking the word up in the dictionary does yield definitions that show the word “quality” by itself can mean excellence, but more often the word refers to a scale from good to poor. Something can be “low quality” just as easily as it can be “high quality.” Add in that modifier—”excellent quality, highest quality”—so people know for sure what you’re trying to say.