Okay, you've created your logo and business cards. You've gone out networking and gotten some customers and more are being referred. You've had time to work out the kinks in your business model and things are running pretty smoothly. It's time to turn it up a notch.
Because of the way that most businesses inundate the media with press releases, a lot of people say that they are viewed the way spam is in the email world, and few even get seriously looked at. That is not necessarily true. The media has evolved. The press release needs to also evolve to deliver key messages to multiple audiences in the digital age.
But, let's be honest. Press releases are hard to learn how to do effectively, so don't spend a lot of money on them until you learn how to write them properly and track the results. They should not be a primary way of advertising your business, but as extra advertising channel once you've mastered the rest. The information here is provided to give you the basics should you want to give them a try.
The Digital Age
In the pre-Internet days, press releases were usually given to trade and consumer media outlets. The media acted like the gatekeepers, viewing your information and then deciding how, or if, to use it. Businesses today are able to bypass the media filter in a number of ways, thanks to the Internet.
Today, both journalists and consumers use the Internet for doing research. In fact, more that 550 million web searches are done each day! Every month, U.S. Internet users conduct 27 million searches on news search engines. And a recent survey done by Middleberg/Ross and the Pew Internet Project found that:
- 98 percent of journalists go online daily
- 92 percent do it for article research
- 76 percent to find new sources and experts
- 73 percent to find press releases
- 68 million Americans go online daily
- 30 percent will use a search engine
- 27 percent go online to get their news
So, when writing press releases, they need to be written with both readers and search engines in mind. Since your press release will also be posted online, they become a long-lasting, searchable database about your organization, not just a specific event that people may forget about in a few months.