Press Releases Strategies in the Web 3.0 Era
Public relations professionals design media blitzes to seduce journalists and journalists into writing and reporting on a client’s product or story. The weapon of choice has always been the press release. Originally, press releases were precisely worded previews focused on presenting cold, hard facts so that media officials could then follow up and write a journalistic-style story. However, in the last decade, the Internet has changed the face of public relations and news publishing theory as a whole. With the advent of web-based PR distributors such as PRWeb, Marketwire, and Vocus, prospective clients and consumers can read press releases directly. This not only removes media professionals from the equation, but it changes the way a press release should be written.
Back when a press release was, well, just a press release, there were certain criteria involved. For one thing, the only people who actually read the press release were a handful of reporters and editors. When this happened, it was necessary for the client to have important news to write a press release. Quotes from clients, analysts, and experts were often par for the course in making the story relevant. And finally, the success of a press release can only be measured if the media picked it up and wrote an article based on it. This is far from the case in today’s Internet-rich culture.
In the Web 3.0 era, marketers are using a new strategy when it comes to press releases. Throwing away the PR rules of the past, PR professionals now write pseudo-articles aimed at the client and web experts that pass for what used to be a press release. It’s more or less as if the web has allowed companies to publish their own articles directly, without having to hassle journalists and other media officials. As such, basic press release writing has been replaced by customer-focused language. Keyword-rich articles from SEO, RSS, and blogging are now as influential as the old-school who, what, when, where, and why of PR writing.
When writing today’s press releases, marketers use new strategies. For example, they don’t just generate press releases when a client has “big news.” Instead, marketing teams generate consistent content all the time, regardless of size. Press releases are reaching the limit on everything from product features to new customer acquisition, from white papers to CEO public speaking engagements. Also, the content tends to be keyword-rich and can be linked to a website to further its proliferation in search engines. And finally, press releases are now written with the sales pitch already built in instead of being a medium that might eventually lead to a sale. In this new web-based PR, immediacy is king.
The Internet has made life more immediate for everyone. Most of our daily information needs are derived from Internet searches. Businesses no longer have to work hard to generate traffic. The traffic is already there, in large numbers. The key is to walk in the middle of traffic and get results, and savvy web press releases are crosswalks.