Covenant Media

Posts Tagged ‘Press’

A Press Release is an effective tool to get the message loud and clear to your clients and potential customers and at the same time buzz them with important updates and progress of your company. Did you know that a good press release can attract thousands of visitors to your website, while simultaneously creating a much higher search engine rank by creating inbound links to your site?

A press release is one of the primary ways you can communicate news about your company to the media. Reporters, editors, and producers are hungry for news, and they often depend on releases to tip them off to new and unusual products, company trends, tips and hints, and other developments. In fact, much of what you read in newspapers, magazines, or trade publications, hear on the radio or see on television originated in press release. To be noticed, read and talked about, you need to stand out from the crowd. The challenge is to create a press release that makes the journalist want to know more and discover that your story is one they must tell.

When journalists use your press release to write about your products, they provide an independent review that creates credibility. When consumers read press releases on your Website, it strengthens their perceptions of your brand. Included as part of a company’s integrated marketing program, the press release reinforces branding, boosts loyalty and contributes to sales results. Press releases announcing timely news about your company, products or services can spread the word about your organization and increase sales opportunities by exposing your company to a wide audience.

There are key facts to keep in mind while doing a press release- a press release should be “news” and not an “ad” for your company. Coming up with the idea of press releases is the most challenging part. Has your company or an individual recently earned an accolade? Does your company predict a future business trend that could help promote the business or one of your products? How about a company restructuring during tough economic times that will result in your business being meaner and leaner? Press releases not only give exposure to your business but if worded correctly, could position your company as a subject matter expert.

Who should you hire to write and distribute press release for your company to get the message across and help build a strong brand by creating company recognition? With numerous companies and freelancers offering press release services, it is like walking through a minefield. We help you to get connected with some of the best professional press release writing companies who help to do what a press release is supposed to do. We have an established network of press release companies who have been serving clients in “Building Brands, Building Values” by effectively using the power of press release.

Looking for a Quote on Press Release services? At WebdesignsQuote we help you evaluate multiple press release companies and get the best rates. We’ll match your needs with 5 reputable press release companies that will provide you with competitive quotes for all your press release needs .Let multiple companies compete for your press release needs.

Keep the following points in mind when writing your press release:

1. Is your news “newsworthy”? The purpose of a press release is to inform the world of your news item. Do not use your press release to try and make a sale. A good press release answers all of the “W” questions (who, what, where, when and why), providing the media with useful information about your organization, product, service or event. If your press release reads like an advertisement, rewrite it.

2. Start strong. Your headline and first paragraph should tell the story. The rest of your press release should provide the detail. You have a matter of seconds to grab your readers’ attention. Do not blow it with a weak opening.

3. Write for the media. On occasion, media outlets, especially online media, will pick up your press release and run it in their publications with little or no modification. More commonly, journalists will use your press release as a springboard for a larger feature story. In either case, try to develop a story as you would like to have it told. Even if your news is not reprinted verbatim, it may provide an acceptable amount of exposure.

4. Not everything is news. Your excitement about something does not necessarily mean that you have a newsworthy story. Think about your audience. Will someone else find your story interesting? Let’s assume that you have just spent a lot of effort to launch a new online store. Announcing your company’s opening is always an exciting time for any business, but the last thing the media wants to write about is another online store.

This is old news and uninteresting. Instead, focus on the features of your online shopping experience, unique products and services. Answer the question, “Why should anyone care?” and make sure your announcement has some news values such as timeliness, uniqueness or something truly unusual. Avoid clichés such as “customers save money” or “great customer service.” Focus on the aspects of your news item that truly set you apart from everyone else.

5. Does your press release illustrate? Use real life examples about how your company or organization solved a problem. Identify the problem and identify why your solution is the right solution. Give examples of how your service or product fulfills needs or satisfies desires. What benefits can be expected? Use real life examples to powerfully communicate the benefits of using your product or service.

If you are reporting on a corporate milestone, make sure that you attribute your success or failures to one or more events. If your company has experienced significant growth, tell the world what you did right. Show the cause and effect.

6. Stick to the facts. Tell the truth. Avoid fluff, embellishments and exaggerations. If you feel that your press release contains embellishments, perhaps it would be a good idea to set your press release aside until you have more exciting news to share. Journalists are naturally skeptical. If your story sounds too good to be true, you are probably hurting your own credibility. Even if it is true, you may want to tone it down a bit.

7. Pick an angle. Try to make your press release timely. Tie your news to current events or social issues if possible. Make sure that your story has a good news hook.

8. Use active, not passive, voice. Verbs in the active voice bring your press release to life. Rather than writing “entered into a partnership” use “partnered” instead. Do not be afraid to use strong verbs as well. For example, “The committee exhibited severe hostility over the incident.” reads better if changed to “The committee was enraged over the incident.” Writing in this manner, helps guarantee that your press release will be read.

9. Economy of words. Use only enough words to tell your story. Avoid using unnecessary adjectives, flowery language, or redundant expressions such as “added bonus” or “first time ever”. If you can tell your story with fewer words, do it. Wordiness distracts from your story. Keep it concise. Make each word count.

10. Beware of jargon. While a limited amount of jargon will be required if your goal is to optimize your news release for online search engines, the best way to communicate your news is to speak plainly, using ordinary language. Jargon is language specific to certain professions or groups and is not appropriate for general readership. Avoid such terms as “capacity planning techniques” “extrapolate” and “prioritized evaluative procedures.”

11. Avoid the hype. The exclamation point (!) is your enemy. There is no better way to destroy your credibility than to include a bunch of hype. If you must use an exclamation point, use one. Never do this!!!!!!!!!!!!

12. Get permission. Companies are very protective about their reputation. Be sure that you have written permission before including information or quotes from employees or affiliates of other companies or organizations. Any dispute resolution will favor the other company, meaning that your press release may get pulled.

13. Write about your company. Your press release should end with a short paragraph (company boilerplate) that describes your company, products, service and a short company history. If you are filing a joint press release, include a boilerplate for both companies.

Did you know that 98% of journalists go online daily (source: white paper released by Expansion Plus Inc. Here’s the breakdown of what they’re doing while they’re on the Net:

92% article research
81% searching online for stories and information related to piece they’re currently working on
76% to find new sources and/or experts
73% to find press releases

If you’re crafting a press release to fax or email to the media – stop! This is a colossal waste of your time. Why? Because the old way of doing press releases no longer works. Press releases, the old way, are useless. And here’s another tidbit: by posting your release online you can circumvent: gatekeepers, spam filters, or your press release disappearing in the glut of emails a reporter or producer gets each day.

A recent study indicated that over 70% of Americans get their news content online, so not only are reporters online, but consumers are too. This has made online press releases very attractive to media professionals and authors. A few years ago you could almost guarantee a media person would call you if you posted your release in an online newsroom like PRWeb. It was simple and free and a posting generally took you no longer than five to ten minutes. It was time well spent. But as the flood of press releases hit these online venues, the ratio of posting vs. media attention changed and the deluge of releases only served to clutter these portals until finally a paid service was offered.

Many thought this was the salvation of the online press release posting and for a while, it was. Now, however this has changed yet again. The low cost of posting to these sites makes it fairly reasonable for anyone to get a listing and consequently, the clutter continues. But much like the clutter of sites on the Net, the solution to this is very simple: press release optimization. What is “optimization?” Let me explain.

When your press release resides online, whether it’s through a service like PRWeb or you’ve just put the release in the media room on your site you need to treat this release just like you treat a web site and optimize it using keywords and techniques that are “web friendly.”

At AME we’ve developed an entire system for optimizing releases with our Resident SEO (search engine optimization) guru, Susan Gilbert. Susan cites an example that she used to gain her a mention in a major news source: “Here’s an example from a new web site I created. The domain name was registered on February 3rd and the site was completed on Feb 10th. I created a press release (which has an official date of February 15, 2007) and submitted it to several online press release agencies. My site was indexed in Google within a week, and was considered the ‘authority’ on the topic in Google by March 15th. On April 2nd I was contacted by a journalist who found my press release online. She was researching my topic for inclusion in Home Style magazine. Home Style is published both offline and online by Content That Works, which has licensing agreements with more than 200 newspapers in the United States and Canada. Combined, these newspapers reach more than 12 million households. My website and interview will be featured in May’s issue.”

The trick here are the keywords which are often misunderstood: “The biggest mistake a novice can make,” offers Gilbert, “is thinking that your keyword is the root word of your subject matter. The competition for all root words (i.e. romance novel, scrapbooking, etc) will never achieve ranking. Keyword research is an art that takes a long time to learn and takes keyword research tools that can be costly. Additionally, keyword research changes based on the newest algorithms and search engine advances.”

Much like a web site designer, or someone who writes your press release, don’t trust your keyword searches to just anyone. Make sure they are tuned into the Net and aren’t just offering standard or “root” keywords.

Once you have your keywords defined, you’ll want to use these in the headline and the first 50 words of your release. The next piece of this is the length of your press release. Generally online releases should be no more than 600 words in length and have at least one (preferably two) hyperlinks back to your web site. The keywords can also be used as anchor text for these links too. Again, a good keyword person should come back with two or three relevant search terms that your target audience is likely to use for a news search.

By optimizing your release you’ll not only get onto the radar screen of your desired media and consumer targets, but you’ll also get some valuable incoming links and search engines love those! Anytime your story gets picked up by web sites (and in particular news web sites) it creates an inbound link which helps with your site ranking.

And finally if you’re still not sure this is the route for you to go, consider this: Yahoo! News outranks CNN and the BBC, meaning that Yahoo has more news readers than either of these two giants. So if you’re planning a campaign, or still knee deep in an ongoing one, consider optimizing your press release, it might give you the boost you need and who knows, maybe even get you noticed by that elusive media target.