revenue-generating news releases - · pdf file• generate leads • retain existing ......

1REVENUE-GENERATING NEWS RELEASES

CHAPTER 1Achieve Better Results

with Targeted News Release Distribution

HOW TO OPTIMIZE STRATEGY AND IMPROVE ROI

REVENUE-GENERATINGNEWS RELEASES


GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR NEWS RELEASE

Public relations can be incredibly effective for small and medium-sized businesses.

It’s typically less expensive than advertising, and third-party coverage of your products and services lends credibility to your message and builds trust in your brand. One of the powerful tools in the PR toolkit is the news release. When you optimize your news release program, it can have a big impact—helping you keep existing customers, reach new audiences, build valuable relationships with the media and other influencers, create brand advocates, and ultimately grow your business.

The following are three steps to help you get the most out of news releases.

INTRODUCTION


COMMON PR OBJECTIVES• Raise awareness of your

company, brand, products and services

• Attract customers, investors, advertisers and high-quality employees

• Generate leads

• Retain existing customers

• Build credibility and trust

• Boost SEO rankings and increase website traffic

• Prevent and manage crises

• Inform and become a thought leader

Your news releases are just like every other aspect of your business: to get the best results, you need to be clear about what you’re trying to achieve.

Analyze your business needs and prioritize which are the most important. Then set PR objectives that address those needs. To make sure you’re setting manageable objectives, follow the SMART approach:

SPECIFICClearly define exactly what you want to accomplish.

MEASURABLEDetermine how you’ll track progress.

ATTAINABLEChoose objectives that are achievable within a reasonable amount of time with the resources you have.

REALISTICBe honest about what you can really do.

TIME-BOUNDSet a deadline.

STEP #1

SET CLEAROBJECTIVES


No company has resources to waste, and that’s particularly true for a small or medium-sized business.

You need to know how effective your news releases are, so you can fine-tune your efforts and improve results in the future. The next step after you’ve chosen your objectives is to decide what metric to match with each. Here are some helpful metrics that you may want to consider:

EARNED MEDIALook at how many times your news release was picked up as well as where it appeared to understand how much impact your story had.

LEADSCheck to see how many potential customers you can attribute to your news release. How many of those leads were you able to convert?

AUDIENCE GROWTHTrack the number of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, sign-ups to receive e-mail updates—anything that reflects how many people recognize and engage with your business.

SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGA successful news release generates interest in your business and makes it more likely that third parties will link back to your site. These outside links help improve search engine ranking.

WEBSITE TRAFFICHigher visibility and improved search engine rankings typically result in higher volumes of website traffic.

WEBSITE ENGAGEMENTLinks within your news releases can be used to drive traffic to specific content you want to share. You can track downloads of articles, video views, subscriptions, etc.

REVENUEIt’s the ultimate metric! When your campaign is successful, you’ll see the impact on your bottom line.

STEP #2

DECIDE WHAT AND HOW TO MEASURE


Drive results with relevant content. We all know it’s a crowded media landscape out there.

So what’s the best way to cut through the noise and get your message across? Make sure you’re targeting the right audience—reaching the people who will be the most interested in what you have to say. By offering the relevant information that people are looking for, you become a trusted, go-to source. This in turn helps to create brand advocates whose recommendations will further promote your business.

LET YOUR OBJECTIVES BE YOUR GUIDE You’ll want to further refine your targeting to match up against your objectives. For example, if you own a local business and want to bring in new customers by promoting a new product, target local consumers through your local media. On the

other hand, if you’re a national business looking to establish credibility and trust, target large, well-recognized media outlets for big-name endorsement power.

CONSIDER ALL YOUR AUDIENCESIt’s easy to think of news releases as only for the media, but a good strategy looks beyond that. When deciding where to distribute your releases, consider all the audiences who have an interest or stake in your business’s news and activities. This could include other professionals in the industry, existing customers, or potential investors, just to name a few. Then figure out how you can best reach these audiences, whether it’s through print publications, TV or radio, blogs, or social media.

STEP #3

TARGET THE RIGHT AUDIENCES


CUSTOMERS Current Customers

Former Customers

Prospects

EMPLOYEES Current Employees

Former Employees

Prospective Employees

MEDIA Analysts

Local Media

Trade Media

National Media

Bloggers

PUBLIC General Public

Local Community

OTHERS Government Agencies/Regulators

Potential Advertisers

Potential Investors

Vendors/Suppliers

MULTIPLY AND DEEPEN YOUR REACH WITH MORE CHANNELS AND DIFFERENT PLATFORMSThe stories that drive the biggest results—those that increase sales and engagement—rarely appear in just one place. When multiple media outlets pick up your story, the collective impact creates real benefits for your business. So while targeting is an effective part of your strategy, you’ll also want to distribute your news to a wide range of channels.

PUT THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO WORKSocial media brings a whole new dimension to your public relations efforts. It gives you the opportunity to take part in conversations and create even deeper engagement. By listening to your customers, you get valuable input that can help you improve both your communications and your business offerings. What do customers like and dislike? What are they looking for, and how can you help? You can follow journalists and bloggers, learn more about their interests and how to appeal to them, and start to build relationships that will improve your chances of getting your stories picked up.

WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE? IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS

“Step 3” continued


4REMEMBER,

IT’S A CONVERSATION

71% of social media users purchase from businesses they follow on social media 5

Read what other people have to say. Comment on interesting posts. Retweet things that reflect your business's values. Building relationships pays off.

3MAKE IT

PERSONAL

78% of small businesses attract new customers through social media.4

Give your content a personal touch.What sets your business apart should come through loud and clear.

2JOIN IN–START SMALL,

BE CONSISTANTSet aside some amount of time every day to take part in social media. Focus on one platform to begin and then expand to more, building on those successful efforts before moving forward.

58% of small businesses spend at least 10 minutes a day on social media.3

1LISTEN

Begin with basic fact-finding. Go to where your customers frequently hang out. Tune in to what they’re saying. Learn what they like, what they don’t, what they’re looking for and how you can help.

72% of adults online use social media 2

PR for Small Business: 4 Steps to Get Started with Social MediaSocial media brings a whole new dimension to your public relations efforts, giving you the opportunity to take part in conversations and create deeper engagement. Here are four steps to help you get started:

73% of small businesses use social media.1

Businesses with high social activity grow sales on average 18% a year.6

Succeed! Becoming part of the social media conversation can help you achieve a wide range of PR goals – from raising awareness to attracting new customers to generating revenue. Start today and put your business on the path to success.

1 Shea Bennett, “Social Media Is Making a Big Impact on Small Business,” www.mediabistro.com · 2 Joanna Brenner and Aaron Smith, “72% of Online Adults are Social Networking SiteUsers,” www.pewresearch.org · 3 “20 Facts about Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses,” thoughtreach.com · 4 Tom Pick, “103 Compelling Social Media And Marketing Statistics For 2013 (and 2014), www.business2community.com · 5 Sarah Mincher, “Do You Know Your Social Media Facts?” www.digitalsherpa.com · 6 John Tabita, “13 Social Media Stats You Need to Know,” www.sitepoint.com


MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE MEDIA, CUSTOMERS AND INVESTORS TO LEARN ABOUT YOU

An effective online newsroom is an especially important tool for connecting with the media. It can help level the playing field for smaller businesses who are trying to get their stories picked up. According to the 2013 Online Newsroom Survey conducted by TEKGroup International, Inc., ninety-seven percent of journalists consider it important for a company to have an active and updated online newsroom. Eighty percent of those polled visit online newsrooms for small to medium-sized companies as well as large companies.

It’s also a great way to reach new customers. According to Google, ninety-seven percent of consumers search for local businesses online. A well-done newsroom increases the chances that they’ll find you.

97% of journalists say it’s important for companies to have an online newsroom. 80% visit online newsrooms for small and medium-sized businesses.

FOLLOW THESE 8 BEST PRACTICES TO OPTIMIZE YOUR NEWSROOM:

1. Make sure your page can be found by major search engines.

2. Feature the link to your newsroom on your website’s home page.

3. Offer subscriptions to RSS feeds and/or email updates with all the latest news.

4. Give each page a unique URL for easy linking and bookmarking.

5. Add social media buttons so visitors can quickly and easily follow your social media.

6. Include tags so visitors can find more content on the same subject easily.

7. Use videos and photos to make content more compelling.

8. Consider who will be visiting your newsroom—media, customers, investors, etc.—and include content of interest to all your audiences.

ONLINE NEWSROOM CONTENT CHECKLIST:• News releases

• Image library with logos, photos of your key staff, pictures of your business, etc.

• Videos

• FAQs (who are your customers, where are you located, etc.)

• Business history/backgrounder

• Key staff bios

• Awards and recognition

• List of clients/customers (if appropriate)

• Upcoming events

• Contact information

RAISE VISIBILITY WITH AN ONLINE NEWSROOMThe aim of an online newsroom is simple: you want to create one centralized place where the media and anyone else who’s interested in your company can get the latest news.

You want to make your content accessible, easy to share and easy to view. An effective online newsroom turns your website into a trusted source that keeps people coming back, increases your search ranking, and raises your visibility with the media.


Marketwired Resonate is an integrated communications platform that puts at your fingerprints everything you need to create and distribute news releases for optimal impact.

4 WAYS MARKETWIRED RESONATE MAKES YOUR PR EFFORTS EASIER AND MORE EFFECTIVE:TARGET AND DISTRIBUTE NEWS RELEASES – THE SIMPLE WAYExpand your reach dramatically with the full breadth of traditional and new media. Target your news according to geography, topic, industry, or other criteria for better pickup and improved business results—all with point-and-click ease.

SHARE TO SOCIAL CHANNELS FROM A SINGLE PLATFORM Say goodbye to logging into all of your social media platforms to spread your news. With Marketwired Resonate, you save time and avoid mistakes by entering your news release once and simultaneously distributing it to all your social media channels as well as through the wire and to your online newsroom.

PUBLISH TO AN INTEGRATED NEWSROOM Turn your website into an always-current information resource. The integrated newsroom available with Marketwired Resonate gives you an easy way to create a destination for journalists, customers, employees, and other stakeholders interested in your business.

GET THE SERVICE YOU NEED AT THE PRICE YOU WANTControl costs with predictable, extremely competitive flat-rate pricing. Select pay-as-you-go services or package options for greater savings, and take advantage of virtually unlimited online distribution.

THE FIRST STEP TO MORE EFFECTIVE PR: FIND THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR YOUR TOOLKITFinding the right tool from the right partner can help speed you on your way to more effective public relations.


Marketwired is a social communications leader offering best-in-class news distribution and reporting, as well as state-of-the-art social media monitoring and analytics. We open up new opportunities for our clients —helping them tune into the conversations that count, find insights that matter, and influence the right people.

CONNECT WITH US:

WEBSITE marketwired.com

US 800.774.9473

BLOG blog.marketwired.com

CANADA 888.299.0338

TWITTER @marketwired

UK +44 (0) 20 7220 4500

ABOUTMARKETWIRED

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