How Will Press Releases Benefit My Business?

This reply is for William:
This may seem obvious, but first you need to know what newsworthy or noteworthy accomplishment or event you want to notify the press about. Once you've got a topic, you'll want to hire someone adept at writing press releases. There are certain elements and phrases that will make your PR more likely to be read, and circulated.

Once you've got your topic and writer secured, you'll want to get a subscription to a PR site. There are a variety of PR engines, and you'll want to do some research for the best one that suits your budget and your industry. There are some free options for pushing out PRs, but in my experience these don't get the visibility most people are looking for when they craft a PR.

Once the PR is published, do some online listening. Check to see where it's been picked up and link back to those sites, ideally via your website and social media channels.

I hope this information is helpful. Get in touch if you'd like assistance with this and good luck. Thanks to Juan Manuel for starting the conversation.

PRs are great for creating attention and for SEO (search engine optimization).

One of the quickest ways to get a business listed in the local maps 3-pack in Google search is from properly promoting the website and Google My Business profile using Press Releases.

In fact, Google My Business now provides many free marketing tools inside the dashboard for local businesses to use. One of the most powerful options are the GMB Posts.

When you combine the power of press releases (for both traffic and SEO) with the tools that GMB provides, you're almost guaranteed to get into the 3-pack for your local area.

As far as what could be considered "PR worthy", here are several "excuses" to publish a PR:

Customer reviews
New products or services
Specials or promotions
Blog posts or videos
New employees
Awards or recognition
Sponsorships

There's no doubt PRs should be part of every business's marketing arsenal. I make them Standard Operating Procedure for all my clients. If anyone has any questions about this or would like to see examples, please reach out to me.

What is the first step in trying to get a press release going.

Press releases are more of a historical reference than a right now thing.

They should only contain significant advances or accomplishments or bad news that a duty is owed to report to your customers.

Don't get to technical , understand your demographic and adjust your game plan don't be greedy and make the long play.

Try to affiliate yourself as little as possible you want your success to be attributed to more than 75% of your own doing the other 25% employees, friends, family etc.

You don't want to have to payback a favor one day that requires you to risk all you have built.

If I'm looking for a company to invest in or that has been trying to get fda clearance I look through press releases along with other metrics to get a 1-5 year snapshot of the success and failures.

Write the press releases yourself and have some one clean them up but, make them your words. This seems a bad idea but, in the coming times this will be seen as genuine and real. Anyone can spot a paid release and skim through it.

If you write it they will always read every word

I do agree that business do not leverage the power of press releases. I also must say a press release strategy will always get the best return within a mixed impact strategy. The problem isn't one single method over another, I feel the problem many small businesses have with marketing is a lack of sound strategy and specific goals.

Press Releases will NOT benefit your business. Media mentions that come from press releases will. They get you ten times more credibility than a paid advertisement . . . and the publicity is free.

Of course there is a price-tag attached, because in my 45 years of career experience with this function, I have only ever experienced one business owner who knew how to write and distribute press releases that got major media attention . . . therefore professional PR services that create, write and distribute (and badger media people) cost money.

So, the real the question is: will the cost of those services be more than covered by the sales that result from the public (or trade or professional) exposure that's generated?

You can only ever know by trying, but I strongly recommend doing a lot of homework before committing to a fee. Make sure the PR person's track-record is in fact what is represented. It's worth being a detective.

Be careful what you wish for.

Many years ago we were selling a local girls eco friendly cleaning products, they sold quite well on our eCommerce site. Then one day we started to get hundreds of orders, we quickly contacted the owner who said she had recently done an interview with a local paper and the national papers had copied it.

So in this instance our supplier should have told us so we could be prepared.

So, yes press releases do work.

Good post Juan, no doubt got people talking. Had a chance to read many of the replies and interesting to see the wide range of opinions from, "press releases are useless" to the polar opposite. Lots of questions on press releases, services and methodology. Some info that may be helpful:

- Do it yourself (at least a few times) before ever hiring someone else (consultant, firm, etc.) as this will allow you to learn the process, ins and outs, how the services work, etc. This will provide you an enormous amount of leverage if/when you hire it out.

- Forget the "free" online press release services (they aren't really free, plus many are scams that can actually hurt your brand online, etc.). Utilize only a legitimate service such as PRWeb, PRNewsWire or BusinessWire. In terms of price, PRWeb is the most affordable and there are different package options, release coverage (more coverage, such as nationally, costs more), etc. -- but the key is getting started is simple plus you can pay as you go. Utilize sites such as PRWeb and PRNewswire for samples, recommendations, how-to's, etc. It's important to keep in mind that when using a legit service, you can't write whatever you want (e.g., "Our product is the best!") and send it out -- there are requirements, rules, guidelines, etc. -- and that's key to understand plus will help guide you through when to write and issue a release and when it's not appropriate. As Patty Mooney mentioned, "it's a big no-no to write about how great your business is (even if it is) unless there is a newsworthy component" -- I'm always amazed how our clients and many businesses don't understand this key point. This extends to other forms of marketing such as email blasts -- 98% of them are just awful, mainly because no one wants to have their inbox filled up with what I call, "the junk box of lies". E-mail marketing absolutely works, problem is, few people have a clue how to plan, prepare, write, design, acquire their list(s), send, analyze, etc.

- Leverage the press release:

With an effective, paid release service you'll get some exposure but the process isn't, send out the release and pray for the money to flow in. I'll leave out the choice of topic, planning, writing and testing your release before issuing -- that's a whole set of topics by themselves -- we'll save that for another day. Let's jump right to when you are ready to issue / send out your live press release. Email (or use web forms on the sources' websites) to local and targeted contacts in your industry. Could be a few key people based on your industry and location -- or could be 20 or 30+ -- but this is your local coverage as well as industry-specific coverage. When you send to these people, do not sell them -- keep your message to them professional, calm and not self-serving (humility still works, even today). You are requesting a favor from these people -- keep that in your mind first and foremost -- then simply present to them honestly and that's it. If there's a local person or hot topic that seems to need an extra push, you can even call and leave a voice-mail, if you don't get them. But after that let them come to you -- could be weeks, months or even years, but they'll start to show up.

Website: Post your release on your website and link back to the social link from the PR service (such as at PRWeb, PRNewswire, etc.) in the news section, blog or home page based on how your site is configured.

Email Blast: Even if you have a list of 100+ clients, friends and family members -- adjust the press release so it's more informal, helpful and informative -- then prepare and send a blast. Reference the press release link at/near the end of the blast content (keep your blast short, concise and to the point!...this is not the time to be verbose).

Social Shares: Get on LinkedIn, Twitter, G+, FB, insta, etc. -- and share that press release.

Blog: Write about your release in a more personal and informative tone -- turn it into a post that is helpful, informative or at a minimum, extremely interesting. Forget selling and never push your biz, product or service unless it's specifically in a form that educates/informs readers. This is a huge point and very difficult for most people -- but it's critical to long-term success. Push out the blog on your website, social, etc. Connect with sources and other businesses that you may have mentioned in the blog/release -- or use that as a springboard to hop into new relationships. Want to get someone interested?...ask them about their business instead of telling them how great yours is...and you'll build those relationships. The next release or blog may one where you invited a vendor, customer, etc. into a new topic -- and grow on it.

The list doesn't stop there on how to work your press releases to success points. Is it time consuming? Absolutely. Is it free? Pretty damn close (150 bucks and some of your time is pretty close to free). Will it yield results? No doubt. Will it take time? Yes. How much time? Depends on different factors as each line of business is different plus there is some talent required here in terms of planning, creating, writing and following through. But there are some excellent people out there for each of those aspects. Taking a hands-on approach and doing this yourself (or with your partner, etc.) is key to not only learning the process but also being able to leverage your research in order to measure your success rate.

Is PR instead of advertising, SEO, PPC, etc? No, absolutely not -- it's yet one more tool to leverage for your business. Embrace it, commit and follow through -- and you won't be disappointed.

Plus, look at the bright side -- after you read through this thread on Alignable, it's clear that many, many people have little to no experience when it comes to utilizing press releases. That should be pretty clear to most people that by diving in, you will gain a significant competitive advantage -- and the longer you engage in the process, the farther you'll leave your competition behind.

I have perused the number of comments and advice and while some of the information being shared has merit, not once have I yet to see how press releases can or should be part of your overall communications plan (and how that communications plan ties back into your business strategy).

There's a difference between pumping out release after release and having a comprehensive, integrative communications plans where releases play a critical role. This distinction is key if you plan to ensure your press release efforts, which are hardly cheap, are "working" (or not).

I have worked with a number of business owners who say "press releases don't work" or "We spent a lot of money with PRWeb or PRNewswire etc to send out a bunch of releases and got nothing back." In each instance of these tales, however, there had been no effective communications plan or content strategy in place to help define what would constitute success from any press release effort.

Press releases are not free. They take time to produce (your time or someone's time). They require expertise to produce quality, noteworthy angles (ideally factoring SEO and other integrative goals beyond the single release). They require distribution, which (depending on the service) can start at $350 - $750 PER release for the most basic of distributions. AND they require "parallel effort" in addition to the effort/quality/costs of a release. Meaning, you have to distribute that news into your other branded channels (social, blog, email, etc) and onto your website. This side/parallel/additional effort also incurs its own set of effort/quality/costs as well.

So if you plan for any release, here's some of the effort you can expect to expend to some degree (depending on the size of the organization AND budget):

BEFORE ANY RELEASE GOES OUT

1. Content, outreach, digital strategy per release before it goes out (which often results in collaboration with PR/marketing/social media teams and/or third-party agencies etc)
2. Preparing the release itself, which often requires a number of revisions (and in some cases depending on the company, legal reviews)
3. Actually publish the final/approved release on your own website before it goes out to the masses
4. Additional "spillover" effort in support of EACH release (such as updates to the page(s) the release may drive traffic to (including your online newsroom), graphics/visuals needed along with the release, etc.)
5. Measurement tracking effort per release to align your marketing/website analytics programs/platforms to capture performance, event tracking etc.
6. Preparation of talking points just in case media inquiries do result
7. Internal communications to stakeholders or team members/departments of what is being externally communicated and when

DISTRIBUTING RELEASE

1. Sending out release via distribution services like PRWeb, PRNewswire etc. (this is not a copy and paste job; often these services only allow a truncated form of your release depending on word counts allowed per package you choose; plus there are various settings that must be configured per release depending on the platform).
2. If your release is approved for distribution, great. But if not, you have to go back and fiddle around with settings and details before resubmitting.

AFTER RELEASE IS SENT OUT

1. Monitor performance and document/cross-check outcomes against specified time intervals and ideal results (that would have been defined in your initial strategy)
2. Assess what news hook(s) or content details in the release merit a continuation or additional effort as the news item being reported evolves
3. If specific hyperlocal news angles were created and distributed also (as part of your initial strategy), following up on those after X period of time is key.

Whew!

I could go on. And on :) but I think you get the point, at least I hope you do. And that is that while releases can be good to do (depending on your communications goals), they are not magic bullets and they are not as easy to produce or manage as some folks position them to be.

As with anything that requires quality, effort and budget are needed to produce and distribute releases that "will work."

Last but hardly least, remember that a press release is ALL ABOUT YOU, which kind of goes against content marketing best practices. Ideally, your content strategy PER release would be able to plug your news yet position the plug in such a way where the information being shared has some real value, interest or benefit to the audience intended.

Hope this helps anyone seriously considering incorporating press releases into their content distribution strategy.

I encourage press releases, yet they are no replacement for a strategic advertising plan and should be used, in addition to a plan, not in lieu, a regular advertising campaign can bring significant results, over time.  The press is just a bonus.