A ‘Press Release’ is a publicity medium. It is a way using which a business lets the world know about the latest developments concerning maybe the business, and also the market sometimes. Sometimes the business published a press release to announce the coming out of a new product or even a new line of business. A press release is also published to announce changes in its board. May be there is a new Marketing Head. May be the company has got an award – all this can be effectively publicized through a press release.
A press release is referred to by many other terms such as a ‘Press Statement’ or a ‘News Release’, but they are basically all the same. In the traditional world a company would distribute press releases to the media houses (both print and audio visual). Sometimes a company would also call a press conference where the press release would be distributed. But in the Internet world a press release is also relevant.
Press Release and the Internet
There are online news agencies that publish such releases. Then there are directories and PR (public relations) websites that also publish a press release.
But for best results, a company needs to publish a press release often so that it can stay in news again and again. It also gives the reader a feeling that the business is a happening place. But the main advantage of a press release is that it comes with a link back to the website of the business. A link back enhances the PR (Page Rank) of the website which in turn has a positive impact on the search engine ranks. And since the websites that publish such releases enjoy high rankings too, a link back is always desirable. It has been seen that publishing a press release on the Internet can lead to a sudden boost in web traffic. So if this is done as often as possible (of course the actual news has to be newsworthy), then there would be surely a constant inflow of qualified leads.
But more importantly, a press release gives the reader an opportunity to immediately visit the website of the business by clicking on the provided link. This is never possible in the offline world, and this is where the online press release scores over its offline competitor. Traditional media houses are also browsing the Internet for information and they often end up publishing or braoadcasting material taken out from an online press release.
There are many services that are now even pod casting press releases too for a fee.
However sadly, most businesses fail to realize the potential of online press releases. In an effort to boost traffic and attracting customers they go in search engine optimization, PPC management, and even newsletters and email campaigns, but online press release marketing has not been given its due importance.
But the fact is that, a press release can be an extremely powerful tool for the business to reach out to its customer base and the society at large. It is a good way of motivating people to take the desired action.