Stop Writing These Words: What Gets Press Releases Trashed Immediately

If you have ever written a press release as a founder, you have probably used at least three of the words on this list. So has almost everyone else. That is the problem. Every word below signals to a journalist that the release was written internally, by someone who wanted it to sound impressive. That is the opposite of credible. Journalists have pattern recognition built from reading thousands of releases. When these words appear, pattern recognition fires before they've consciously decided anything: "corporate fluff, stop reading." And it's not just journalists anymore. LLMs trained on press releases have learned to treat words like "groundbreaking" as filler. If you want your announcement to surface when someone searches Perplexity or ChatGPT for relevant news in your category, these words actively work against you. The Words That Kill Credibility "Groundbreaking" claims novelty without proving it. If it's groundbreaking, show the journalist what's new and why it matters. Let them reach the conclusion. Replace with a specific description of what changed, and for whom. "Revolutionary" is "groundbreaking" but louder. If the technology is actually revolutionary, the description of it will be revolutionary. The word itself never is. Replace with "the first [category] to [specific capability]," if that's actually true. "Innovative" communicates nothing. Every company using this word considers itself innovative. It's a placeholder for a specific claim you haven't made yet. Replace it with whatever the innovation actually is, in plain English. "Thrilled" is the press release equivalent of "I'm so excited to share." CEO emotions are not news. The announcement is the announcement. The emotion is implied. Delete it and start with the news. "Cutting-edge" was overused in 1998. Journalists have been reading it for 25 years. It signals that the writer couldn't describe the technology specifically. Replace with a description of what makes it technically distinct. "Synergy" survives only in partnership press releases where no one wants to say what the partnership actually produces. If there's synergy, describe the specific outcome. Replace with: "This partnership gives [company] access to [specific asset] and [partner] access to [specific asset]." "Leverage" means "use." Just say "use." "We leverage our proprietary technology" becomes "we use proprietary technology." One is corporate. One is clear. "Best-in-class" says what, exactly? Best in class among who, according to whom? Without a specific comparison or data point, it's an assertion with no evidence. Replace with "highest-rated among [specific category] by [specific source]," if you have the data. "Unique" is what you write when you can't name the differentiator specifically. Almost nothing is unique. If your product has a specific differentiator, name it. Replace with the specific feature, capability, or approach that no competitor has. "Excited to announce" could be deleted from every press release ever written with zero loss of meaning. Start with the news. "World-class" is identical to "best-in-class": empty without a standard of comparison. Replace with a specific metric, award, or benchmark that supports the claim. "Disruptive" has been used to describe everything from taxi apps to cookie delivery startups. It means nothing anymore. If your company is genuinely disrupting an existing market, describe the disruption specifically: what existing behavior changes, what incumbents lose, what customers gain. The One-Word Test Before any word goes in a press release, ask: does this word carry specific meaning, or is it filler? If a journalist could plausibly say "prove it" after reading the word, replace it with the proof. Press releases don't fail because they're too specific. They fail because they're too vague. Every word on this list is a symptom of vagueness. Replace them with specifics, and you've solved 80% of what makes a press release unreadable. 24HRPR's structured prompts are designed to prevent these words from appearing in your first draft. Start your first press release free.