Last year I wrote an article for Crowdfund Insider called, “Recycling Yesterday’s News”. The piece drew attention to a “not-so-obvious” warning sign that a company may be headed for a downfall.
In the article I cautioned investors to be leery of companies that consistently post stale and irrelevant news instead of issuing bona fide press releases indicative of company advancement – such as customer growth, expansion through acquisition or partnerships which are immediately accretive to revenue.
I highlighted how, sometimes, when a company is failing to thrive, it attempts to feign progress by making trivial or dated matters appear newsworthy.
But when exactly is company news no longer newsworthy? Is it the next day? A month later? Two months later? Six months later?
According to eReleases, a company that provides press release drafting and distribution services, “News has to be, well, new. Something that happened a year ago is not news. Even a month has a way of turning hot news into an item for the archives. Don’t dredge up dated developments and hope to get coverage from them. Send a press release when something is actually happening.”
Conversely, eReleases also cautions companies not to release news prematurely. “If your organization is planning a new product, wait until you’ve got details and a firm release date before going ahead with a press release. That way everyone is saved from embarrassment if things don’t go quite as planned.” This is great advice considering that the best laid plans often do go astray.
eReleases further advises companies to think like reporters. If you were a journalist, would you be interested in the press release you’re about to send? “If the answer is yes, send it. If you’ve got doubts, rewrite it. If the answer is no, crumple it up and toss it where it belongs — in the recycling box.”
I, on the other hand, recommend looking at it through the eye of an investor. Does this announcement augment shareholder value? Will it entice investors to purchase your company’s stock? If so, then you better be sure that the press release is truthful, current and verifiable – as dated and/or premature releases can be construed as misleading. Better to be accurate and timely than face SEC scrutiny.
This opens the door to another question: is it disingenuous for companies to be continuously recirculating its old press releases through social media, thereby making previous accomplishments appear as if they are new company milestones? I mean, how many prospective investors would even notice that a headline tweeted seconds ago actually links to an announcement that was released months earlier? Because flourishing companies are typically too busy gloating over new developments to be wasting time regurgitating prior achievements, I view the dissemination of old news as a red flag that investors should certainly be mindful of. But does this action rise to the level of a more serious securities infraction? That I do not know.
Is luring investors by tweeting dated news as harmless as attracting suitors by posting a decade old picture on an online dating site? Or is it something that needs to be taken more seriously?
What do you all think?
This article was originally published on LinkedIn Pulse
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