Writing and distributing press releases are an important time investment and should be incorporated into your advertising and marketing program. Press releases are basically a way to alert the media to information that is sufficiently interesting or important. The recipient can then decide if the information is newsworthy and warrants an editorial article or mention. So what''s considered newsworthy? Something that is out of the ordinary or significant, such as an announcement of an event, special performance, survey results, technological breakthrough, merger/acquisition, significant award, etc. Press releases should not be used to announce a site update or a minor product change. Frequent or frivolous releases will often not be considered so choose your subjects carefully.
Press releases must follow a standardized format so that they can be recognized quickly. They begin with the term "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" and include a header, headline, city, date, body and closing. Contact information is an absolute necessity and URL links can be included wherever they are relevant.
You can write your own releases and distribute them or have a public relations/distribution service do it for you. If you opt to write and distribute the release on your own, it will be free but time-consuming. Build a list of journalists by collecting names from pertinent websites and magazines -- your release will get more attention when it is personalized and addressed to the right individual. Have e-mail and fax versions available so they can be sent out quickly.
If you choose to use an outside firm to handle your press releases, be aware that it can get costly. Using a good public relations company does have advantages: if they are reputable, the release may be taken more seriously; it will be written in a way that reflects the importance of the content; it is more likely to be targeted to the right recipients.
Analyze your budget and your need for press releases before deciding if you want to outsource that function or if you have the expertise to do it yourself.
Once your company utilizes press releases, include a "media center" on your site so visitors can access the information too.
Here are a few places to learn about press releases. They include guides for writing effective releases and getting them distributed.
Press Release Writing
eReleases.com
GoPressRelease.com
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