Seven Tips to Get Online Mileage Out of Your PR

Public relations is primarily about making contact with members of the press, freelance writers, and anyone else who influences your target audience. A good PR strategy will attract attention to your company, create a buzz with a viral effect, and ultimately drive more traffic to your site or store. Since the nature of PR is often the written word, it's easy to incorporate public relations into an e-mail marketing strategy. To help you get started, here are some tips to help you leverage the power of the web as an extensive, interactive, cost-effective distribution engine for your messages.

So, you've written your press release to highlight an important advancement. How do you get it to your targeted constituencies? Don't be confined by traditional channels – consider electronic means of getting your news out.

Reporters and editors are Internet savvy. They go online when they want to research their stories or simply communicate with their sources. It makes sense that they welcome online press releases and e-mailed news into their offices and homes. Understanding this can serve you well as you develop relationships with your favorite media contacts.

Seven simple tips to expand your press release distribution through the Internet:

1. E-mail your release to your media contacts

E-mailing your release is the cheapest and quickest way to deliver your news. You also benefit by not having to worry about missing fax pages, or whether the media contact even received your release.

When putting together a media database, ask the media contact their preferred method of receiving press releases. Based on our research, a substantial number of reporters prefer to receive press releases via e-mail. Creating a good relationship with the media by communicating with them via their preferred method may mean they'll have an open mind when they do receive your release.

The vast majority of media contacts also ask that the release be sent, not as an attachment, but in the body of the e-mail itself. There are many reasons for this:

>E-mail attachments often carry viruses, >Cutting and pasting the release from the e-mail itself is easier than opening an attachment, and >You can never be sure what programs each media contact has available to them.

2. Include your release in an e-mail newsletter

E-mail newsletters (like ATX Dialogue) have become a fast, inexpensive alternative to direct mail pieces. Press releases are appropriate content for a newsletter. Your employees, shareholders, and customers will appreciate hearing your news. The same goes for media contacts who have opted into your e-mail newsletter. Be sure that your newsletter allows anyone to subscribe or unsubscribe at any time.

3. Post to e-mail newsgroups

Sometimes, you have a press release so timely and provocative that it seems a great match for your favorite online newsgroups. Before posting, match your company and the release topic with the special needs and interests of the newsgroup. If it fits, type a short introductory paragraph about the news topic and why you thought the members would find it of interest. Paste the text of the release into your message, or insert its URL. Most importantly, keep track of any resulting online discussion. You can help moderate by answering questions or responding to negative comments.

Newsgroups -- whether they're special interest groups, associations or even alumni organizations -- have specific rules about spamming. You may honestly want to share information, but always avoid a sales pitch. The newsgroup moderator just might block your message or, worse, boot you off the group.

4. Post your release to an online press room

Make it easy for anyone to find your press release online. An online press room will organize releases and press kit materials by date and subject, making the material easy for the media to find. Journalists may even bookmark the site for future use.

5. Make your release ready for robots and spiders

No, this is not science fiction. Several search engines use small pieces of code called "robots" or "spiders" to periodically scour the Internet. They electronically review sites to collect information such as keywords, metatags and commonly used words. This information gets catalogued for the online searchers' use. When posting the press release, don't forget to include in your HTML code:

>A page title, >Metatags, and >Relevant keywords.

6. Submit your release to top search engines and web site directories

Some search engines don't incorporate robots or spiders but require you to manually submit URLs to them. They'll ask you to categorize the release according to topic and provide a short description. For example, Yahoo! reviews the site and compares the information you supplied with the site's actual content. This approval process can take time but is well worth the investment.

Once your site or release has been added to their database, online surfers can regularly search these top search engines and web site directories using specific keywords and bring up your press release in their results. Since surfers only use a handful of search engines you want to make sure to submit your site and press releases to them first. Among the top search engines are: Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Google, and Terra Lycos. For more information about search engines, please visit The Search Engine Watch.

7. Use an online distributor of press releases

Sometimes you just don't have the time to distribute press releases yourself. Online distributors of press releases work fast and cost-effectively to distribute news. There are many providers of this service, including eNR, and their services and prices can vary. If you choose to outsource your news distribution, choose a provider with experience, references, technical capabilities, and constantly updated media contacts.

This tip is a special feature contributed by Renee Shallis, Director of Communications for eNR of Norwalk, CT.

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