No matter what how much you SEO your website at some point or other you may want to include some press release services into your branding campaign. It just makes sense. It makes even more sense when you consider that Google’s latest changes have made it so that SEO has less of an impact.
Getting a little press can only enhance your branding efforts and sending out a press release or two is a smart move.
So what should you look for in press release services?
1. First of all try to find someone who has some experience as a reporter
Ideally, you want a former reporter. Not all public relations professionals have reporting experience. That’s an important distinction because learning how to format a press release is a whole lot different than knowing why a press release gets noticed.
2. Make sure the person offering press release services knows the difference between an article and a press release
Again, there is a huge difference here. Most business owners and entrepreneurs want to see a fluffy piece that not only places their product or service in a postively glowing light they also want to sell all the features. That is an advertisement, my friend, or at the least, an article. When articles come across my desk more often than not I toss it aside and don’t give it another thought. I don’t have the time, to read a 1,000 word piece on how great your company is at doing what it does. And if I get a salesy-pitch vibe I bristle and stop reading immediately.
What a reporter wants is information. Plain and simple. If you need fluffy words in your press release then you need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a newsworthy angle.
3. Make sure the person providing press release services knows what constitutes newsworthiness
The fact that you exist is not news. The fact that your product helps people with a certain problem isn’t news. That doesn’t mean you don’t have something newsworthy to share however. You just need to know how to work it baby.
If you have a new employee, that’s news, but it’s news that would probably get attention in the business section. If you have a new product line–that’s newsworthy too but it would probably go over better with a niche media outlet. Knowing who to pitch a press release to is just as important as knowing what to pitch. The two go hand in hand to help give your press release a better shot at getting media attention.
4. Stay away from press release services that promise publicity
The fact of the matter is, no one can guarantee press coverage. I laugh when prospective clients say they want someone with media connections. It doesn’t make one ounce of difference. My journalist friends aren’t very good journalists if they would publish a press release for me just because I am their friend. Likewise, as a journalist I would never publish something that wasn’t newsworthy just because my friend gave me the press release.
What they should promise is to work their ass off to get your press release in front of the eyes of as many targeted reporters as possible. No random lists of hundreds of reporters, (because guess what, the religion reporter doesn’t want your quarterly earnings report) no guarantees of publicity, and no fluffy press releases. Just hard work, focused on the right publications and the right reporters.
Get serious about the press release services you want. Keep the fluff on your website and the facts in your press release.