Using Public Relations and Writing Press Releases

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 15: Public Relations & the Killer Press Release with Susan Payton of Egg Marketing & PR which is included in The Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own.



If you are following along with the Free Marketing Made Easy course overview, we are now moving into Part 4: Get More Customers! Why do we call it this? Because the entire course (so far) has been teaching you how to build a message and a marketing foundation. This next section explains how you can use new parts of the platform to engage prospects in unique ways while generating new revenue streams. Let’s get right into it by learning about a good old fashioned resource that has been entirely reborn.

Public Relations (PR) intersects very closely with marketing and social media, and tends to focus on opportunities that will help you expand your message and reach a wider audience. A key tool in the PR toolkit is the press release.

Have you ever written a press release for your business? If not, you should. Here’s why:

• Press releases can be widely distributed on relevant websites. These may drive traffic to your website.
• Having your press release listed on multiple websites can increase your search engine ranking.
• A compelling, well-written press release improves the chances that a journalist will pick up your story and write an article (or conduct an interview) about your company.

So how would you write a press release, and what should you do with it? Our contributor Susan Payton covers this topic extensively in the Free Marketing Made Easy program and also through her “how to create killer press releases” e-course. Here’s an overview of some of the tips she shares:

1. Writing a press release is a pretty standard and straightforward process because each one is based on a template.
2. The most important thing is relevancy. Think of writing (or reading) a press release like being at a party; you would be turned off by someone who just talks about herself. We like to be asked about ourselves too, so your press release should be about a benefit to your reader(s).
3. Your press release should immediately answer the question: “Why should I care about your press release or your company?”
4. Good press releases lead to engagement, and provide you the opportunity to integrate your reader’s feedback into your marketing message, product and/or service offering.
5. You can distribute your press releases for free through some services, or pay nominal fees to reach more specific demographic segments.
6. If you want the benefits of a good PR practice without the interruption of developing your own PR system, then you can always consider hiring a consultant (like Egg Marketing & PR) to manage the process for you.

You can find more tips and ‘how-to’ information about PR and press release through the Free Marketing Made Easy course, or on Susan’s blog. Now that you’ve got all of this great stuff to say about your company, why not include it in your Email Marketing campaign? We’ll cover that topic in our next post.