A desperate prospective client called a couple of weeks ago begging us to write a news release about his recently opened company that he could post on PRWeb. He said a colleague claimed that PRWeb was solely responsible for the colleague’s company’s success. The prospect then related exactly what he wanted in the release. All well and good, but what the prospect wanted in the release was mostly the old rant, “We’re great, We’re great!” There was not much of substance that he wanted to offer for end user. These days news releases must contain information that is useful, needed and pertinent to the end user. This is confirmed by other practitioners.

In a survey released recently, 420 marketing and PR professionals were asked how they use online press releases. Their answers are in the charts here.

The number one audience for online releases according to this group is traditional media with bloggers and new media coming in second. We’d answer that for us, the number one audience for press releases are consumers (whether that is B2C or B2B).

We concur with the second group of findings. The number one goal for one’s online press release is increasing visibility and credibility with audiences. Announcing news is second. What a change this represents from the old days!

The final significant finding is that the criteria for measuring success of online releases demonstrates the level of sea change in the world of PR. The number one criterion for measuring success is that the news release is republished on websites and what might have been number one a few years ago, an article based on the news release is number three.

We did not agree to write the release for this prospect (for many reasons.) However, we do agree that online releases are a vital way to provide information to businesses’ propsective customers. Just remember that is is more important to provide useful information, not just “We’re great!”