Press releases are a really useful part of the B2B marketing mix, a cost effective way to get valuable exposure online and offline.
Distributing a well written, exciting, properly constructed press release once a month will make your business visible to a wide range of useful and influential people via your industry’s trade press, national and local press to consumer publications and online seaches. Getting press releases seen and used by online and offline media is a matter of getting a few key things right. Here are eight tips to help you hit the mark.
Tips for press release success
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content: There’s a trick to writing press releases. The first thing to do is get a decent copywriter on the case, someone with experience writing for the press
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layout: Your copywriter should lay the release out properly for you in paragraphs, with a heading and sub-heads as necessary. A press release needs to market itself effectively to editors as well as to your ultimate audience. The easier you can make it for editors to scan, the more likely they’ll be to read your story
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business and contact details: Add a short paragraph describing your business at the foot of your release under the header Information for editors, to save them time researching. Include your contact details here; telephone, mobile, email, website and snail mail adresses. If an editor wants to ask you a question they’ll be able to get in
touch instantly -
images: the press often want to move fast and their deadlines are tight. Have some good quality images handy so that if an editor needs pictures in a hurry you’re ready to move
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automatic online distribution: Use a good paid-for online press release distribution service. It is worth paying for one really good distributor rather than using loads of free ones. Pick a distributor that suits your geographical reach – UK if you’re UK only etcetera. They’ll make sure your release is put in front of online media owners of all shapes and sizes as well as traditional newspaper and magazine editors
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tailored contact database: This is pure gold dust! Spend the time getting together a contact database of the names and email addresses for editors of relevant local press, national press, trade press, consumer magazines and anywhere else useful. Email them each release with a short personalised message (Dear Dave, here’s our release
about blah, any questions, give me a call…) Properly personalised emails from an individuals work much better than bulk-emailed unpersonalised ones -
forums: most forums let you post relevant press releases. If you’re not a member of any forums, join five and post your regular press release to each. Because they’re packed with people directly involved and interested in your industry, they’re great places to pick up exposure
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persistence: keep at it! Drip-feed strong press releases into your target media as regularly as clockwork and you’ll soon begin to make an impression
