The age of marketing witnessed a lot of changes over the last two decades, but the art of press release is still alive and kicking. It got even better. Instead of becoming a legend of disappearing like Orkut or Hike, Press Release evolved itself with time and trends.
Right now, when the world is stuck between lockdowns and COVID-19 crises, it’s a great time to deploy an Online PR strategy to give your business a boost. Social media has reshaped how we communicate with each other. As a business owner, you have to figure out how to utilize the social media power to target a new audience. A press release can give you a fresh purpose here.
Why Press Release?
In the current age of digitalization, a press release has become a vital tool in successfully promoting a business or a company. It’s one of the digital marketing strategies that hasn’t lost its grace, even if it’s way too old. For small or medium scale businesses, it’s a necessary mechanism if they desire to grow their audience. Ever since the businesses begin to realize the importance of online marketing, many changes occurred in the press releases structure. Following are some of the reasons “why press releases are important” for your business:
- New product or service announcement: When announcing a new service or product, draft a press release and use a press release distribution service to get it found on major search engines and social media networks.
- Drive the reader’s interest with images: By including the images, videos, or other multimedia content, you can covey your message more effectively to the audience. It will increase the interest of readers in your press release.
- Public knowledge improvement: When you add links to other web pages within your press release, you can direct the readers to detailed information about what your business is about.
- Brand image improvement: Right now, there are plenty of platforms to publish press releases. You can publish as many press releases as you want. It will help you to improve your brand’s image.
- Search Engine Optimization: One of the biggest reasons to try press releases is to improve the search engine presence of your business. Use specific keywords related to your business to optimize the press release content. It will help people easily find your business information via search engines.
Online PR: A Perfect Public Relations & Marketing Tool
A carefully crafted and published online press release is reliable and cost-effective marketing and public relations tool. For a startup or entrepreneur, who wants to grow their small business, it’s a beneficial deal.
Before you start writing a PR, have a clear goal in mind. Clear your facts clear, why you are writing, and what’s your target audience. It will guarantee that information about your company, policies, products, or events gets illustrated perfectly in a few paragraphs.
Plan your story
According to historical sources, Ivy Lee, a Publicist for Pennsylvania Railroad was the first person to create a press release, after witnessing a devastating train wreck in Atlantic City in 1906. He released a statement to journalists, inviting them to the scene for open communication. After that, media outlets got so impressed with Lee’s version of the story that they printed it verbatim.
Although our relationship with media changed dramatically over the last few decades, a press release is still a jack of all trades. It grants you control over your news. Plan your story accordingly that’s going to publish in a press release, share your intentions, explain the unique value of your products or services, and respond to any query related to your services, or your company.
Utilize Social Media channels
Use #PRNewswire on Twitter or Facebook to check the popularity of press release content. You will notice that someone is always posting an online PR within the past few minutes. Share your press release on your social media channels to gain popularity and viewers. It will also help in driving traffic to your release content, generate buzz, and provide additional backlinks, content, and depth.
Promote your expertise
If you are an entrepreneur that deals in the robotics industry, then don’t think about yourself like an engineer who only makes robots. Instead, promote your expertise as an individual, who’s expert in AI, machine learning, or coding, etc. that desire to make this world a better place with robotics. A press release can help you in doing so.
What not to include in online press releases?
- A press release doesn’t include advertisements. Readers view the information in the PR as credible.
- Avoid using strong word expressions and don’t make it emotional. It will increase the credibility of your press release.
- Don’t create a storyline and avoid stretching. The optimal length of a press release is 400-450 words. So make it simple and short. Readers are there to look for information, not for a fairy tale.
You need to understand exactly when, how, and where media is interacting with your release content. There are plenty of press release distribution services that can help you to share your newsworthy updates across channels, including traditional news blogs and outlets. PR might be 100+ years old, but it’s still effective. It can boost your company’s visibility, establish you as an industry expert, help you to gain more customers and investors, etc. All you have to do is understand its magic.
To know more about how a press release can help in brand building for small businesses, click the link: Brand Building for Small Business
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