By Ashley Burgess Gall, VP of Marketing, Laura Burgess Marketing
In the day and age of quick social media hits and viral posts, it’s easy to forget about, or even dismiss, the importance of the press release. When those flashy numbers and instant comments begin to come in, it can be a dopamine rush of instant gratification. And yes, while social media plays an important role in your marketing efforts, it is still just a part of your marketing pie.
Press releases play an important and still vital role in your current marketing plan. Here are eight reasons you should consider including press releases in your communications plan:
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Spread your News Through Credible Sources:
When you distribute a press release, it should be sent to targeted journalists, bloggers, vloggers, and influencers who would take an interest in the benefits your product would provide to them or their audience. When they pick up your news and share it on their sites, it lends credibility to your brand and helps spread your message to potential new consumers.
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Instant Access to Large Audiences:
In today’s digital age, when a press release is distributed it is instantly in mailboxes, on websites, and social media platforms across the country and even the globe. Its potential to reach millions of eyeballs can happen almost instantaneously with the mere push of the “send” button.
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Increases Web Traffic:
I often like to compare marketing to a spider web. At the center of your web should be your website or storefront (wherever you are trying to drive your customer) and all the pieces of your web are your different marketing efforts that bring your customer to the next step in your marketing funnel. With a press release, you should always link to your website and the product or service you are highlighting. When a reader clicks on the link within the press release, it will bring them to your website where they can gain further information, or even make that coveted purchase.
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Improve SEO:
Press releases can improve your SEO by making it possible for search engines to find your company as they are indexed by search engines like Google. SEO can be improved by the creation of backlinks, increasing keyword usage, and creating industry-specific tags within your press release. The better your SEO is, the higher up your company and news will appear in those Google searches.
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Cost Effective:
Compared to advertising, whether in traditional print, digital, social, or other methods of marketing, the cost of an effective press release is minimal. A bit of time invested in writing, sourcing contacts, and then distribution, plus a potential small charge depending on the platforms you choose to release your news through, is all it costs to get your news in front of the people who matter.
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Shareable:
When a press release is distributed online, it becomes shareable. That news link can now be posted on other social media platforms amongst friends and linked in other news stories, or blogs. This shareability of the press release gets your news in front of a wider audience, increasing exposure, and has the potential to go viral.
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Brand Reputation:
Many assume press releases are only for new product or service announcements, but that just simply is not the case. Although new product announcements are the bulk of press releases, they can be used to highlight any new development within your company and help to develop and maintain your brand reputation and awareness within the marketplace. Things such as new hires, donations, promotions, relocations, mergers, awards won, community projects, etc. can all be featured in press releases. Focus on at least one, but preferably at minimum two, press releases per month to maintain a presence within your audience’s mind.
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Support Overall Marketing Efforts:
As we said in point number three, marketing is like a spiderweb, and each piece of the web should be driving the customer to your desired end location. Marketing is most effective when each piece of the web is working in tandem together, pushing the same message in different vehicles. Such as an ad campaign or social media posts echoing the sentiments found in a press release. This is why press releases matter. They help to support the other efforts in your marketing campaign and should be used in parallel with them.
When used effectively, press releases can help deliver your message in a meaningful, affordable way to the end users you desire and beyond. A pivotal part of a marketing campaign, press releases have not gone the way of the dinosaur, but instead, are here to stay and support your other marketing efforts.
If you have not considered a press release campaign before, now is the time to get started. With minimal investment, you can begin to spread your news further than you thought before.
Don’t have time or the know-how to begin a press release campaign? Reach out to the team at Laura Burgess Marketing for guidance. For twenty years we’ve been serving small to medium-sized businesses within the law enforcement, military, hunting, shooting sports, fishing, boating, and outdoor markets helping them to get the attention they deserve. Contact us today at ashley@lauraburgess.com to get started.
