Hackneyed phrases to ditch from your press releases
Is your client truly ‘pleased/excited/proud/thrilled/honored/delighted/happy to announce’ anything? Research finds those trite terms in 38% of releases. Here’s how to do better.
I’m not so pleased to announce that “pleased to” has been crowned the most overused “happy” passive verb in press releases.
Marketing data and analytics consulting outfit Trust Insights reviewed 30,996 unique English-language press releases unearthed through Google News/GDELT over nearly nine months this year. Using custom-built software, Trust Insights discovered “pleased to” popped up in 3,182, or 10.3%, of the releases.
In all, the study searched for seven often-used phrases in press releases. Showing up in 2,996 releases (9.7%), “excited to” secured the No. 2 spot behind “pleased to.” The other offenders, in descending order, were:
Collectively, these terms cropped up in 38.1% of the sampled press releases, Trust Insights says.
The company says “pleased to” and “excited to” battle it out for superiority month by month. Some months, like January, April and June, PR professionals are more “excited” than “pleased,” the study shows.
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