The strategies for writing and distributing press releases for best effect are still relevant when one is seeking coverage by a major media outlet, but is fast being eclipsed by an emerging form: the news release. Unlike its older cousin, the news release targets, and is written for, the consumers and end users of a product or service instead of the reporters which may choose to write an article covering the topic. This new style is designed to reach a wide audience directly, and can still reach the journalists at traditional media like newspapers.
Writing for a Wide Audience
David Meerman Scott, in his book The New Rules of Marketing and PR, states plainly, “Guess what? Press releases have never been exclusively for the press.” Newswires have made press releases accessible to the public for years, and “since about 1995, the wide availability of the Web has meant that press releases have been available for free to anyone with an Internet connection and Web browser.” Release distribution sites like PRWeb.com make it easy for company news to make it into search engine results, and the ideal situation is that bloggers will read a release and post about it, increasing the visibility of the news even more.
Writing News Releases for the Internet
Press releases are expected to conform to a highly structured format for the convenience of journalists, with the general wisdom being that if the headline is interesting to the reporter, he or she may choose to write an article about it. “The fact of the matter is that most reporters have a special folder just for their press releases, one that the rest of us call the spam folder,” said Randy Aimone of Aim One Marketing at a seminar on modern marketing techniques he was giving in New Paltz, New York in August of 2009. “When they want sources for a story idea, they use Google to search that folder. They get so many press releases that they never read them.”
Scott uses the term “news release” in his book to contrast direct-to-consumer information with the old-style press release, which is designed exclusively with journalists in mind. A news release does not follow the staid and true formula of a press release, starting with a headline and ending with the archaic “###” to indicate that the paper may be torn from the wire reader. Instead, news releases writers should consider their audience and the medium of online communications.
- Issue releases on a regular basis to take advantage of search engine marketing.
- Identify a need that the target market needs addressed.
- Research appropriate keywords for that target market – how do they think about the problem?
- Include a link to a relevant landing page on the company web site.
PR and social media consultant Todd Defren went the extra mile by developing a template for social media releases, which capitalizes on the viral nature of the internet. Defren's template includes the same types of contact information at the top as a press release, but additionally has spots for photos, podcasts, and videos. He recommends making it easy for readers to share a news release through their favorite social networking sites or to subscribe to company news releases. In addition, the template has spots for recent comments on the release. The template is designed to capitalize on the social nature of the modern online world – a technique which Scott points out can lead to more links back to a company's site as the release is copied and pasted into different blogs via directories like Technorati.
Coverage in a major newspaper like the New York Times is still an appropriate goal for issuing press releases, but businesses which also write news releases can reach out to their target market in a much more consistent fashion.
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