Press Release Writers and Distributor Recommendation

Yes, I am struggling to think of something newsworthy. Tough to do nowadays, when there are thousands of sites being created everyday. Even browsing the major blogs, it seems like everyone is struggling for newsworthy material. Lots of recycling.

Rich

 

Hi,

I use to do quite a lot of writing in the technology domain, and I worked on both sides of the aisle - as a writer for most of the (then) popular computer newspapers and magazines, and as a consultant to the major computer companies.

From the marketing/PR side, I always tried to fashion the story so it would be able to be understood and picked up quickly. Why? Because, from the newspaper/magazine writer side, I learned I was always under deadline, and really didn't have that much time to delve into a technology area, understand the terrain, and figure out the story. So it was helpful, if I was spoon fed. So from the marketing/PR side, I tried to make it easy for the writers/journalists.

Rich

 

Guess I was wrong.

I've just been blessed to be educated in journalism and PR, so I can see things from both sides. Most editors and journalists will just read the headline and the lead. And that's why this release fails.

Targeting bloggers is no excuse for not presenting the information properly and without all the hyperbole.

The world is full of crappy "traditional" PR writers. That's not an excuse to become one. And I agree, a release shouldn't be a complete story. That's not the purpose.

Actually, it can be the client that wants it. I wrote a two-page release for a large medical company recently. They wanted all the findings of the study they released, full details of the conference presentation and all sorts of stuff. It would have been about a 10-15 page release.

Needless to say, that's not what went out to the media.

If you can’t find something newsworthy, one idea would be to create something that’s potentially newsworthy. For instance, giving free phone cards to American troops with each purchase or giving away a free e-book. Those are just random ideas, so don't run out and do them.

And like Jenn said, a news release isn’t a campaign. It’s just a spoke in the wheel.

 

marketjunction, you remind me of an ex-girlfriend of mine who happened to be a journalist for a small newspaper. What she failed to realize is I write for a different market...

Let's take the release you picked from my site as an example. The owner has a simple site that is nothing more than a landing page for his affiliate offers. To think that site would get any news coverage is crazy... and I told him this. He agreed. It's like that with a lot of DP members. Sure, I could recommend that he say, I don't know, donate to a charity... but when a guy only has $75 a month to spend on his site, he's not going to be donating to a charity.

People on DP want the best bang for their buck. For the most part they want 3 things...

1. To appear in news sites like Yahoo News and Google News... not because they think they are going to get any real coverage, but because it adds creditability to their site/company. When they can put an image on their site that says, "As Seen on Yahoo News"... it helps their image.

2. They want more traffic. The release you talked about has already been viewed 4,322 times in 10 days. If 50% of those people clicked on the links inside the release, he received a nice little bit of cheap traffic. If 2 people happened to fill out a credit card application on his site... it paid for the release.

3. They want backlinks. Believe it or not PRWeb does give some quality backlinks. I've seen sites get more than 5,000 backlinks within 3 months from a single release. Some of those links were on high profile sites... and the release never received any "real" media coverage.

So you see, people here know they aren't going to be featured in TIME magazine for a donation they made in the name of their affiliate site. In fact, do you know what I hear all the time after sending a draft to a client?

"Hey, can you please remove my phone number and e-mail address from the release? I don't want those made public." - Actual PM from 4 days ago and I hear it every single week. So I put my contact information down.

So anyway, it depends on the need. I've done releases for "real" companies in the past. However, when you step into the world of DP and Internet marketers, the rules are different.

 

I've been marketing on the Internet for 14 years, so I understand the difference between the needs of smaller webmasters and larger corporations. At least I think I do.

However, you're right about one thing. It's damn easy to start applying "pro-level" PR to IMers who are just looking for some links, traffic and hopefully a little credibility. And that's something that I go back and forth with all the damn time--trust me.

I'll gladly apologize, because that post wasn't complete. That's what I get for writing at 2:30 a.m.

I've done some "cheap" PR writing for IM-based releases. Just don't tell anyone.