12 Best Practices For Getting The Most From Your Press Release Marketing
Whenever most people hear the phrase press release, they think of them as ways to communicate with public relations firms and the media. The truth is that press releases in the modern world are effective marketing tools you need to master in order to communicate with your intended audience.
Press releases can help you with all your marketing and branding goals if you understand the opportunities and optimize your press releases in order to attract the largest amount of readers, both journalists and the consumers you wish to target. Here are several best practices for getting the most from your press release marketing.
Time Sensitivity
Make sure the press release announces something time-sensitive
Why is the release going out at that time? Is it about a new product or service? Or is it a tie-in with a holiday or other event, such as a special end of season sale.
News Worthy
Make sure it is news, not an ad. Journalists are taught to write news stories that answer the following 6Ws in as few paragraphs as possible:
- Who?
- What?
- When?
- Where?
- Why?
- How?
Put this information in the sub-head and the first couple of paragraphs and your press release will be much more likely to get picked up than something that is vague and wordy.
Attention Grabbing Headline
Create a great headline that grabs the attention and stimulates curiosity or make the reader think, and therefore eager to learn more
Plan Keyword Strategy
Plan your keywords carefully. You probably have a large keyword list for your niche. Avoid throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. Instead, target no more than 3 to 5 keywords per press release and track them by seeing what kind of traffic they drive to your site.
SEO Content
Use at least 1 keyword in headlines, sub-headlines, image names, and video names.
This will help search engines, as well as readers, discover the release. It will also help to identify the topic on the distribution site, social media platform, and in other places.
Keyword Anchor Text
Include keywords in the anchor text of your links. Choose your keywords carefully and use the ones you want to score high on, in relation to SEO and links back to your site.
Link In Moderation
Don’t overdo the links. Send readers to one high-quality landing page that will help you achieve your goals.
Press Release Purpose
Be clear about your goals. Are you looking for more visibility, subscribers, or sales? Once you’ve determined the goal of each press release, you will be able to measure whether or not it has been successful more easily.
Call To Action
Give readers a clear call to action. In most cases, you will want them to click through to your site to learn more. For media professionals, invite them to contact you with any questions or help with content related to your niche.
Reasons To Click
Create a variety of reasons for readers to click. See which work best.
Offer interesting incentives that the press release readers and news story readers if you get a pick up, will be eager for. Items could include:
- Free special reports about hot topics in your niche
- A free newsletter with insider secrets and tips
- A multi-day ecourse
- White papers
- PowerPoint presentations
Unique Landing Pages
Create unique landing pages to track your return on investment more easily. Your return on investment (ROI) will be easy to track if you create a landing page for each press release. On each landing page, give them a chance to convert to a subscriber. Then you can move them along the sale funnel with more information about the product you wish to sell.
Build Media Contact List
If you are contacted directly by a media professional, put them on a special list. Contact them directly each time you have any news.
Use these tips and make the most of your press release marketing.
Call us today to speak to one of our PR specialists: 1-800-713-7278
