Common words in press releases

Following on from a post on Reputation Online about overused keywords in press releases, I thought I'd post some more detail on the research that post was based on.

Inspired by this post by Adam Sherk, we did an analysis of all words used in press releases on our press release wire the last sixty days to 18 August 2010 (that was the biggest dataset we could use without breaking the software we used). We just looked at individual words, not phrases. That’s 29,517 unique words from 1,269 individual press releases (during one of the quietest parts of the year).

I'm not quite sure what the results really tell us but what you might consider are current 'buzz words' don't seem to appear as often as you might expect.

The top 250 words are thus:

Rank	Word	Freq
1	information	2069
2	customers	1908
3	business	1704
4	online	1547
5	services	1215
6	management	1196
7	company	1162
8	service	1086
9	year	1052
10	hotels	1041
11	contact	1037
12	software	1027
13	data	1009
14	world	979
15	leading	977
16	hotel	906
17	visit	824
18	range	813
19	available	802
20	marketing	792
21	london	717
22	press	716
23	group	701
24	years	699
25	accommodation	696
26	best	692
27	mobile	682
28	technology	681
29	day	645
30	media	642
31	support	632
32	companies	614
33	market	610
34	global	601
35	work	596
36	research	591
37	director	590
38	quality	559
39	customer	544
40	event	537
41	ends	535
42	industry	534
43	high	526
44	travel	523
45	system	522
46	based	513
47	solution	507
48	offering	505
49	notes	496
50	product	487
51	network	485
52	businesses	484
53	july	484
54	experience	481
55	home	479
56	editors	468
57	free	468
58	organisations	467
59	aspx	448
60	provides	447
61	great	437
62	money	437
63	worldwide	436
64	international	432
65	systems	432
66	access	428
67	number	424
68	public	424
69	local	416
70	web	416
71	sales	414
72	place	410
73	rate	410
74	development	407
75	months	407
76	book	403
77	national	394
78	security	392
79	august	391
80	awards	391
81	cost	389
82	financial	385
83	independent	382
84	energy	377
85	clients	373
86	europe	372
87	whatever	370
88	centre	368
89	risk	363
90	health	361
91	variety	361
92	children	359
93	performance	356
94	women	353
95	summer	352
96	holiday	350
97	manager	350
98	key	346
99	deals	341
100	cent	340
101	design	340
102	during	339
103	social	337
104	office	335
105	tel	332
106	designed	330
107	provider	321
108	gold	319
109	car	318
110	survey	316
111	able	314
112	applications	309
113	life	308
114	staff	306
115	government	299
116	enterprise	298
117	process	298
118	results	298
119	city	297
120	providing	296
121	award	295
122	bed	294
123	british	294
124	costs	293
125	saving	293
126	last	291
127	digital	288
128	green	288
129	specialist	286
130	communications	284
131	search	281
132	content	278
133	insurance	274
134	booking	272
135	ensure	269
136	music	269
137	standards	269
138	announced	268
139	breakfasts	268
140	growth	268
141	largest	267
142	star	266
143	programme	264
144	properties	264
145	care	263
146	festival	263
147	managing	263
148	minutes	262
149	unique	262
150	important	261
151	trust	259
152	increase	258
153	room	258
154	june	256
155	partners	254
156	major	253
157	open	252
158	throughout	250
159	future	249
160	platform	249
161	availability	247
162	launched	247
163	education	246
164	improve	246
165	brand	245
166	deliver	245
167	internet	244
168	wide	244
169	includes	243
170	real	243
171	actually	242
172	read	241
173	visitors	240
174	choose	239
175	countries	237
176	project	237
177	cup	233
178	events	233
179	having	232
180	september	232
181	head	230
182	release	230
183	benefits	229
184	training	229
185	end	227
186	partner	227
187	cloud	226
188	division	225
189	expect	225
190	live	225
191	easy	224
192	reviews	221
193	compliance	220
194	create	220
195	family	219
196	flexibility	219
197	leader	219
198	ranging	218
199	standard	218
200	england	217
201	opportunity	216
202	report	216
203	investment	215
204	level	215
205	single	215
206	country	214
207	video	214
208	according	211
209	advance	211
210	food	211
211	times	210
212	growing	209
213	members	209
214	established	208
215	learning	208
216	net	208
217	technologies	206
218	environment	205
219	meet	205
220	user	205
221	consumers	204
222	following	204
223	innovative	203
224	luxury	203
225	added	202
226	effective	202
227	house	202
228	integrated	202
229	written	202
230	line	201
231	official	201
232	significant	201
233	large	199
234	power	199
235	addition	198
236	advanced	198
237	community	198
238	choice	197
239	normal	197
240	area	196
241	booked	196
242	destination	196
243	limited	196
244	ability	195
245	offices	195
246	pages	195
247	store	195
248	current	194
249	launch	194
250	enables	193

Comments

[Claire Kerr]

I can't believe "delighted" isn't on there. Companies are always delighted to be announcing something!

[Daryl Willcox]

'Delighted' is the 423rd most common word. I thought that surprising too - it's the sort worn-out expression CEOs often use it in quotes: "We're delighted to announce..." etc