One of the best tools small businesses can use to even the marketing and public relations' playing field with large competitors is the press release. Utilizing a press release (PR) to garner media attention can be done for next to nothing with almost immediate results, but there is more to the press release than meets the eye.
Virtually all businesses want to be on the front page of a major national magazine, newspaper or trade journal (so long as it's for something good they have done and not the opposite). The truth of the matter is the chances of your company's indoor air quality related press release making the front page of a major publication is extremely low, some might say your odds of winning the lottery are better.
Some readers of what I have just written may be discouraged, but you shouldn't be and here is why. The true reason for regularly writing and properly releasing press releases is threefold.
FIRST - The number one reason for writing press releases is to increase your website's organic search engine optimization (SEO). It is true that years ago Meta Tags were a powerful way to increase your organic SEO (organic SEO is unpaid rankings). That has all changed with the advent of Google and other modern search engines. Today one of the most powerful ways to increase your SEO is to have as many links on the World Wide Web to your website as possible and utilizing PRs with your embedded hyperlink to your website is a great way to accomplish this crucial task.
Whenever you release a PR on one of the many online PR distribution services you have in essence created another internet presence with links to your company. If you used the proper keywords in your PR then your new web presence (through the press release) could quite possibly even show up ahead of your main website when people conduct internet searches. Best of all this can be done and released on some PR distribution websites for FREE (if you want the names of some please email us at info@cochraneassoc.com).
SECOND - When a company sends out a PR through an online PR distribution service that PR can now be picked up by not only publications (which could get you on the front page of a journal or newspaper if you are very lucky), but it will also be picked up by such free online services as Google Alerts. If you don't currently subscribe to Google Alerts I suggest you do inorder to track important industry news and events, simply visit http://www.google.com/alerts. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Thousands of people get daily email alerts for such key terms as IAQ, Mold, Indoor Air Quality, etc.
If your PR incorporated the correct keywords your PR will get picked up and emailed to the thousands (or tens of thousands) of people that currently get alerts based on specific keywords. So your press release which you wrote (and distributed for free perhaps) has now appeared in thousands of people's inboxes. So long as your company name is in the title or summary you have gained exposure to an infinite number of people interested in your topic due to your use of specific keywords. You may have your company name in front of 10,000 people and 500 may click and actually read the PR, not bad, and since it can be done for free it's a whole lot cheaper than direct mail or virtually any other marketing technique.
Comparison - direct mail to 10,000 might cost the following: graphic design $500, printing $1000, collating/folding/processing $300, actual postage $4000 = total of $5,800 and total time from start to finish of 2 weeks. Compare this to reaching 10,000 via a press release: cost $0, time involved - couple hours, ability to reach clients/prospects the same day.
THIRD - The press release may actually get picked up by a publication. Perhaps in their next printed version or it may shows up on their online version (or even their own electronically distributed e-newsletter). Sometimes PRs may even show up 6 months later in a publication, long after you even recall writing it. Chances are you won't be the lead story unless you are lucky or have real groundbreaking news, but again it's more free exposure and its more opportunities to get links to your website and increase SEO.
Next month we will continue to discuss press releases with an article about how to actually write one (topics, style, headlines, etc.) to maximize returns on your press release efforts.
Cochrane & Associates, LLC, the environmental, mold and indoor air quality industries' only dedicated marketing, public relations and business development consulting firm works with clients to develop ways to create and utilize press releases. We hope you consider making press releases a prominent part of your company's business development strategy. We also invite you to visit our newest venture, the IAQ Video Network www.IAQTV.com. Companies can post their videos or links to videos from our industry at no charge on the website.
