Posts Tagged ‘news releases’

Is a press release any good anymore?

Depends.

If you are pitching a national story with strong news interest and relevance, you can use a release to make sure those outlets and journalists you pitch have all the information they need. However, if you are just using it like a message in a bottle, casting it out on the water just to see who answers; not so much.

The use of press releases has evolved. They are a great tool for reaching your many customers. Self publishing them to your blog or newsroom is critical. Releases can help you deepen content on your website and are great when optimized well to bring interested customers to your site.

The days of mass blasting of a news release are gone. What is critical these days is a planned pitch to bloggers, social media followers and interested journalists with whom you’ve developed relationships. Ask for permission to send a release or know that they are open to receiving your release before you send it. Make sure to send it in the manner that they request. Some no longer wish to receive pitches via e-mail and have returned to the days of snail mail.

Don’t wait to get to know bloggers and journalists; develop your following early and in the sectors in which you have the most knowledge. After you pitch them, then if they are open to it, you can send them a release.

Flickr creative commons photo courtesy of Mykl Roventine

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!”