Press Release Basics

By Laura Duggan, Posted 08/23/08     2 comments     Add your comments

Never underestimate the power of a great press release to drive traffic and build brand recognition.

The Purpose of Press Releases

A press release is a key marketing tool. It provides name and brand exposure, and free advertising to a broad base of readers. When written correctly, it will also drive people to your website, and increase your website visibility.

When to use Press Releases

Press releases can be used for newsworthy announcements about your product, services, and staff. These include:

  • New Products & Services
  • Seminars
  • New top-level executives
  • New Company Launch
  • New Website

Press releases can also be used to establish your company as an expert in your market. As you gather information about your market, either from other sources, or your own users, you can publish the trends that you see before anyone else has captured the trend.

For example, one client, EscapeHomes.com, was a newcomer in the second home real estate market. They periodically created a top ten list, such as the top ten most favorite destinations, or top ten beach destinations, etc. They gathered statistics from the searches on their website and then released the data as a press release. Their success was unexpected and unprecedented: traditional news sources began quoting the EscapeHomes press releases, establishing them as the leader in the second home industry.

Writing Tips – Style

The subject and second line of the Press Release should be catchy, clear, and intriguing. Use active words. Be Brief. Give the unique angle right away. Words like Free, First, Revolutionary, etc are all useful, if they are true.

Second, write clearly and sharply, with minimum words. The point of the press release would be to give enough information to lure readers to get details on the website, but not so brief that they can’t act immediately. Ideally your press release will fit on one page.

Third, be sure all contact information is included and is correct. Check and double-check phone numbers, website links, and addresses.

Search Engine Optimization

Since you will be submitting your press release to both electronic and traditional media, it is important that some of your key search words appear in the press release. If your business is about Web 2.0 for example, then Web 2.0 should be in the title of the press release.

In general, you want to write the press release with search engine optimization in mind. This means that later, when someone is searching for your product, your press release will appear as one of the search results.

Within the body of the press release, include key words which link to your website. For example, if your website is for application developers, then you might put a link to your website on the term application developers. Embedding links with key words helps boost the Search Engine Optimization ranking for your website.

Printed Media

Localize your press release for submission to local newspapers. For example, to submit information about a new company to the founder’s town newspaper, the headline was written with information about the founder: Auburn Resident Launches Virtual Technology Business; Latest Hot Web Tool Attracts Local Entrepreneur

However, that same press release was revised and slanted differently when submitted to a larger geographic newspaper.

How to Submit

The easiest was to submit your press release on-line is to use one of the services which does this for you. For example, prweb.com is well worth the money, as they insure search engine optimization and adequate distribution.

When submitting to local media, be sure to direct the press release to the appropriate editor. Follow up with a telephone call or email. Remember, Newspapers are in the business of providing news and are always interested in newsworthy items. A press release is a great support to a busy editor, if it is well written.

Where to get more help

Spartina.com provides fast, efficient and cost-effective press release writing services via our valued partner, Nicasio Press . Please contact them for pricing estimates.

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Reader Comments

2 comments

Press Releases for Press or Search?

From: Michael Slater, 05/28/09

Marc, in my experience, the chance of getting a journalist to write a story based on a mass-distribution press release is very small. The reason to distribute press releases via PRWeb is for all the people who will get the release through Google Alerts and other services, and for the SEO value it brings because of the sites that will run the release. If you want to get someone to write an article, I think you need to make a personal contact. So using your own list is fine, in fact it is probably better, for communicating with journalists who know you and who might write a story. Using PRWeb is valuable for other reasons.

Frequency, Newsworthiness

From: Marc Austin, 05/28/09

Laura, Great article. Thank you. The PRWeb referral was worth the read alone. A great follow-on article would address topics like frequency and newsworthiness. A lot of us at big companies and small struggle with this dilemma. It typically works like this. I have this event that just happened for my company. I think it's big, but is it big enough for somebody to write a story on it? Should I wait for some additional news to add into the press release so that it is more newsworthy, or is it better to just get the news out as it happens and let the story unfold over time? If I save up my news for a bigger story, is there an opportunity cost? Does frequency matter? Is it better to hit the same journalist with a series of smaller stories with the goal of establishing a dialog, building rapport and eventually getting to a story that covers the content published in 4-5 press releases? Some additional questions that I would love to see addressed are: Who is the somebody? Should I be segmenting my PR audience? For example, if I think the story is relevant for the investment community, should I just send it to Venture Wire, or should I also add a broader range of journalists? If I have a good email list of writers, should I bother with PR web or just email my contacts directly? Should I have different distribution strategies based on not just the relevance but the materiality of each release?