Are Press Releases Valuable?

There are many business people who believe that no business can be a success without having press releases as part of their marketing strategy. However, the other side of the coin is the opinion (of a growing number of professional people) that press releases serve no purpose and eliminating them is sensible.

The existence of press releases in business

Press releases have been in existence for a very long time and it is certainly not surprising to learn that many business owners are compelled to want to use them to heighten the success of their own business. That is not to say that press releases are not useful in certain contexts. They most certainly are useful. However, as a business owner, it is also important to understand when they serve an important purpose and when they may not be necessary. It is also important to remember that there are a large number of other tools in the technology repository that will enable today’s business owner to achieve an equal amount of success. Of course, it is of the utmost importance that the business owner makes sure to educate him- or herself before making any decisions whatsoever regarding whether or not to use press releases as part of the overall marketing strategy for the business. There are many different ways in which the business owner can achieve positive results for the business.

Your approach to press releases

There are many different types of press releases that can be shared with other people and it is very important to understand your motivation behind using them as well as ensuring that the most appropriate one is  used, depending on your particular business. The thinking behind the press release is extremely important for your business and understanding the power that it has or doesn’t have is essential for your business and will be a big contributing factor when it comes to whether you go one way or the other in the decision-making process.

Answer one question first

The first question that you need to answer for your business is whether your business actually needs to use press releases. As you are answering that question, part of the information that you will want to factor into the decision is knowing exactly what is available to you. As was stated earlier, there are many different tools that you may wish to take advantage of that will get your target audience to notice you and to want to interact with you. If you ask yourself exactly what a press release is, it is an approach to telling your story on a universal basis. Another important matter to take into consideration is the appropriateness of the press release. There are times when a press release is perfectly appropriate and there are  times when it is not appropriate at all. For example, if you happen to own a business that is involved with financial matters or you own a large corporation and you have some truly important news to share, it is extremely appropriate to share the information with a press release. If your motivation for issuing a press release is simply to share information, there are several different ways that you can do that. You don’t necessarily have to do it with a press release. As you are in the process of making the decision about whether you feel that a press release is the most effective tool for your business, you may wish to consider the following as alternatives to a traditional press release.

• Take your press release and convert it into a blog post (either on your website or someone else’s): The main objective of a press release (any press release) is to use it to tell your story to other people to whom it will make a difference. If you can convert your press release into a blog article, you will be able to expand on what you would have written in the press release simply because you will have more space in which to accomplish that. Additionally, the concept of having to run after members of the press to get them to agree to release your press release will be eliminated if you post the information as a blog article. It will give you more control over your own content than you would have otherwise. You will be able to post that blog where you choose to post it and as many times as you choose to do so.

• Present your story in a different format: In general, a press release is one document, whereas technology nowadays allows you to present your story in many different ways online. You can take major components of your story and share them on the social media channels that work most effectively for you and your business. You can also post updates as frequently as you feel is appropriate. If you break it up enough, in fact, you can get a great deal of mileage out of your story and hopefully, your target audience will hang on your every word and will be very excited about what you will share next with them.

• Make a video: As you have probably figured out by now, videos are an extremely effective way to tell your story. It is important to bear in mind that you must always connect with other people on an emotional level and a video is an excellent way of doing that. If you make an effective, powerful, compelling video, other people will be touched by it. If they are touched by your video, they will want to share it with other people. Before you know it, your video will go viral!

• Use effective graphics: When it comes to social media, in many cases, graphics are very effective. In fact, if you can successfully marry the right graphics with the right words, you will be golden. Many, many people react extremely positively to graphics and they are often compelled to share those graphics with other people.

• Attempt to reach people one at a time: With a traditional press release,  you get one shot and you have to hope that enough people read your press release and are moved by it. However, with social media, you can tell you story to one person at a time and you will then have the opportunity to make a truly lasting impression. What is most important is using the means to tell your story  that will create the biggest buzz. Of course, that big buzz can happen with one person at a time or many people at once.

Conclusion

Press releases serve a purpose without any question. However, it is also important to remember that you may need to let other possibilities make their way into your thinking and into your overall marketing strategy. There are many different ways to say the same thing and to positively influence other people. The more ways you know, the more interesting you and your business will be and the more other people will have a desire to interact with you regularly. Although  it is true that social media has completely altered the way that people communicate, only you  can determine if using press releases is important for your business. If you feel that using press releases will benefit your business in some way, by all means, use them. However, if you feel that they don’t actually contribute anything positive to your business, you may wish to consider not using them anymore.