A great press release can go along way in terms of gaining virtually free publicity for your business, especially in an increasingly digital media environment. Learning to combine old tricks and new in your press release composition and distribution can help you leverage the power of both traditional media outlets, such as newspapers and magazines, and newer ones, such as blogs and social media networks, to get your message to your markets.

What Has Changed?

A press release is defined as ‘a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value’ (Wikipedia).

Traditionally, when public relations and marketing professionals disseminated press releases to news media, that meant sending them to specific news editors and reporters via mail, fax, or email to consider running the story in print, or more recently, online.

However, as our focus increasingly shifts from print to digital, the role of mass media gatekeeper, normally reserved for editors and reporters, has expanded to include bloggers and regular Internet users who like to share stories they deem newsworthy with their friends and followers on social media sites. Public relations professionals must consider the power these new gatekeepers can have in propelling a story or brand message, since social networks can reach a large number of people if the story they post goes ‘viral’, or rapidly spreads across the Internet through endless networks of users.

As the PR model changes, certain techniques can help maximize exposure in this new landscape. For example, since online press releases are indexed by search engines, keyword optimization is a wise move. According to Melanie Waldmann, Social Media and Search Marketing Manager at Marketwire, 75% of public relations professionals now use keyword placement in their press releases. Releases can also be formatted with specific social media sites in mind, like Twitter, for instance, where headlines must fit within the 140-character status update limit.

Writing a Press Release – Basic Tips

Though the press release has evolved to adapt to the increasingly digital world, some essential elements remain the same. Following are some basic tips for writing traditional press releases that have stood the test of time:

• Write your press release like a news story, with all the most important information (who, what, when, where, why) in the beginning (inverted pyramid). The less an editor has to change, the more likely your press release will be printed as is.

Example:

Poll: Internet Users Place More Weight on Web Design

Vancouver, B.C., June 3, 2009 — The demand for good web design is increasing, reveals a recent Webcopyplus online poll. Almost 25% of web users indicated “poor visual presentation” is the number one element that drives them away from websites.

• Find a unique angle that makes your story newsworthy. For example, tie it to a recent event that made headlines or an upcoming holiday. Or, if your story has an unusual element, highlight it (e.g. ‘first ever’, or ‘record breaking’).
• Make your press release short; one page is ideal. News editors don’t have a lot of time to sift through long releases, and studies have shown that the average consumer of Internet content has an online attention span of just a few seconds.
• Use widely understood terms to reach a wider audience.
• Specify release date (immediate, or delayed) and ensure the timing is relevant.
• Keep your release factual and avoid fluffy, sales-type writing.
• Include quotes from authority figures, including sources within your company.
• Include a call to action along with all the necessary information needed to act (e.g. enter a contest, visit a website, etc.).
• Include a boilerplate at the end of the release. A boilerplate includes information about the source of the release that can be reused for subsequent releases. It should include basic company information and where the reader can go for further details on the company.

Example:

About Webcopyplus

Webcopyplus is a Vancouver, Canada-based web copywriting firm that helps designers and businesses increase online traffic, leads and sales with optimized web content. Clients range from independent designers to international service providers, including AT&T, Scotia Bank and 1-800-Got-Junk.

For more information, please contact:

[PR contact information]

Writing A Press Release – Advanced Tips

In addition to the basic tips for writing a press release listed above, you can apply these advanced tips to further increase your press release’s exposure on the Web:

• Include keywords that editors, reporters, and bloggers might use to search for story ideas online. Research your keywords using a free tool like Google Adwords.
• Place your keywords in the areas most likely to be scanned by search engines, such as headlines and subheads.
• Include relevant links within the text for the editor, blogger, or reader to find out more information, if desired.
• Craft your headline with social media networking in mind. If your story is posted with a Twitter account, for example, the headline must fit within the 140-character limit. Also keep in mind, however, that there must be room for the story URL, and the Twitter user’s @name within these 140 characters.
• Familiarize yourself with specifications of online news aggregators, such as Google News, which requires headlines to be between a minimum of two words in length, to a maximum of 22 for proper indexing.
• Post your press release on your own website for additional exposure.

Strive to make your press release as ready as possible for easy dissemination through a wide variety of online channels, but ensure that you’ve double and triple checked it. If you’ve done your job well, your story could take on a life of its own online, and you’ll want to ensure the message that goes ‘viral’ is one you can be proud of.

Distributing Your Press Release

Traditionally, press releases have been distributed via snail mail, fax and email. In the interest of saving trees, a simple email, either sent individually, or using a mass email program, and follow up call can suffice.

To build your media contacts list, visit newspaper and magazine websites and look for a ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Masthead’ section. Most will include individual reporter and editor names, sections, email addresses and phone numbers. You can build your list according to the type of audience you want to reach, and have phone numbers ready to follow up after sending your release. Keep in mind that some magazines plan the stories they’re going to run months in advance, while newspapers tend to have stories assigned by the end of the week. If these specifics are not listed on their websites, try doing some good old-fashioned telephone research.

When emailing, include the press release content in the body of the email, in addition to attaching a PDF, in case the recipient is wary of opening attachments from unknown sources. Include your carefully crafted, eye-catching headline in the subject line.

For maximum online exposure, you can also submit your press release to a wire service. There are several wire services available at different prices (some at no cost) that allow you to specify which industries you want to reach. Some options include:

• Marketwire
• PR Web
• PR Newswire
• Business Wire

If you use one of these services, be sure to pay attention to their specific press release formatting requirements.

Measuring The Results of Your Press Release

The success of your press release can be measured in many ways, including the number of resulting print or online stories, the number of times your press release has been viewed, or how much additional traffic is driven to your website. Most online wire services display how many views each press release receives, and direct website traffic can be measured using tools, such as Google Analytics.

By learning how to combine traditional press release writing and distribution techniques with new ones customized for digital media, you’re on your way to taking advantage of the cost-effective marketing potential of the almighty press release.

While it was once a requisite SEO tactic, submitting a website to search engines is no longer required. Still, several SEO companies continue to aggressively promote search engine submission services.

Search engines like Google now have the ability to quickly and easily discover and index new websites and content through links. So, to get discovered, you just need to get some links pointing to your website.

If you can get others in the industry to link to your website, great. Think of family, friends, suppliers and associations. If you can create compelling content to entice others to link to your website, even better. One article that goes viral can create dozens or even hundreds of valuable inbound links. If you don’t have the contacts or resources, don’t worry. You can leverage the social media platform.

For instance, you can create a LinkedIn account and a link from your profile to your website. You can use the same tactic with Facebook and Twitter. Search engines crawl these sites constantly, so your website and content will be found without delay.

There’s no longer a need to pay an SEO company for search engine submission services. Put your marketing dollars to better use.

Regardless what business or industry you’re in, websites have evolved into the base of operations, where prospects and clients inevitably go to gain product, service, and company information.

Of course, other marketing elements play a role: postcards, e-mails, PR, commercials and much more. But these sources frequently push people to a website. Even TV commercials are trading in 1-800 numbers for website addresses.

That’s because websites can do more than inform. They can also allow online transactions, from simple enquiry requests, through change of detail processing to full-on purchases.

To be sure, when properly planned and developed, websites can become virtual ambassadors.

From an SEO perspective, it will reportedly inject a new ranking factor into the algorithm — website speed. As a result, Google will be pushing faster sites higher in the search results, whereas slower sites will find it harder to rank.

On that front, here’s an insightful article you might want to check out: Website Performance: What To Know and What You Can Do.

Mayer says the ideal will be to get access to your friends’ updates in search. There may be increased privacy concerns and complaints from publishers, but Mayer and Google likely won’t be deterred.

Look out! An omniscient, omnivorous Google is coming, and it knows what you want — even if you don’t.

Read: Marissa Mayer: An omnivorous Google is coming

Comment spammers abuse comment fields of innocent websites, like blogs and forums, to get inbound links in an attempt to improve their website’s organic search ranking.

In line with its objective to provide Internet users the most relevant and valuable results, Google has algorithmic ways of discovering those alterations and tackling them.

Google’s advice: “At best, a link spammer might spend hours doing spammy linkdrops which would count for little or nothing because Google is pretty good at devaluing these types of links. Think of all the more productive things one could do with that time and energy that would provide much more value for one’s site in the long run.”

We agree. Post quality content on your website, and the links will come naturally.

Read: Hard facts about comments spam

“Email customer service habitually drives customers further — sometime irreparably — from their online objectives,” stated Forrester’s Diane Clarkson.

In a recent Forrester evaluation of retail websites, websites commonly missed opportunities to use email customer service to encourage web interactions or provide seamless transitions to other channels.

“eBusiness professionals must re-address how their customer service email strategies can keep consumers satisfied,” noted Clarkson, “by re-engaging them with online content, facilitating online purchases, and providing seamless cross-channel customer service.”

Click fraud occurs when someone sets up a website, signs up with an ad network, and then clicks on the ads to generate ad revenues with false clicks. DormRing1 operated the same way, except it easily involved more than 1,000 people who set up more than 10,000 Websites to spread out the fraud.

Read the full Tech Cruch article: Massive Chinese Operation DormRing1 Uncovered.

A professionally written white paper can demonstrate your know-how in a way that provides value to your prospects. It puts forth your point of view, addresses issues your prospects face, and serves solutions.

A white paper that contains useful, practical information builds trust and rapport with prospects, and can help grow your client base.

Is there a common pain in your industry you could address with a white paper? If so, you could be sitting on a productive lead generation and relationship building tool.

Before you start pitching to media outlets and bloggers, there are a few things you need to consider.

Read: Using PR to Drive Traffic to Your Website