PR Fuel: Press Release News, Resources & Public Relations Tips

Is hiring a press release writer worth every cent?

There are a lot of online guides that can help you write a press release yourself. However, there’s no guarantee that it will produce the marketing results you want.
Getting your message across is not enough.

There are a lot of cogs underneath that ensure a successful press release. It has unique writing conventions when presenting facts. When done right, it gives good exposure to your brand and can lead to more potential revenue.

Still not sure what actual benefits you’ll get when you hire a professional? Let’s delve deeper into the specific advantages that your brand will receive.

Identify Press Release Goals

A press release is not only for introducing a new product or service. It’s a way to communicate important news about your brand. This has the possibility of reaching both your existing and potential customers.

Hiring a press release writer can help you identify your specific marketing goals.

Are you introducing a new product or service? Do you want additional exposure for a particular non-profit event that you’ve hosted?

Professional press release writers go beyond pinning down on these goals. Their journalistic approach will make a press release newsworthy. They will also ensure that you get the following advantages:

• Increase SEO and content marketing with backlinks coming from news sites
• Maintain connection with journalists and other newswires
• Gives additional support to other marketing campaigns

Press release writing services will not only improve your brand’s image. It will also help your website receive more potential customers.

Cost-Effective Approach

Paying for a press release service may seem to be more expensive than writing the piece yourself. However, a failed press release will cost you more. The most devastating effect will be losing out on potential revenue.

Do you have a strict marketing budget? Most press release services offer different packages to fit your budget. The prices depend on the quality of writing you want and the additional features in the package.

A press release can promote your business with quicker results. Compared to other forms of online advertising, it is more cost-effective.

Other forms of advertising, like PPC (Pay-Per-Click), are more expensive in the long run. If you’re in a competitive market, you’ll need to outbid your competitors. It’s crucial to achieve better ad placement.

Plus, you’re not sure if your PPC ad’s conversion rate will yield excellent results.

Expansive Media Coverage

Writing and publishing the press release yourself requires you to contact media companies. It’s not as easy as shooting them an email, though. If your brand is new and still unknown by the public, there’s a slim chance that they’ll open your email.

On the other hand, press release services already have partnerships with media outlets. This is one of the additional features included when you have them write it for you.

Press release writers create masterful pieces with eye-catching words. This makes their write-up irresistible to journalists and media agencies. You can expect to see the article appear on online media publications like Business Week.

Better Time Management

Press release drafts are usually done in a few hours to as quick as 30 minutes if written by an industry expert. However, drafts go through several revisions to make sure it follows the standard. Writing your own press release can end up to be time-consuming.

Delegating the task to a professional writer helps free up your time. This allows you to focus more on other integral parts of your business.

Since a press release is a news item, its distribution must be timely. It needs to stay relevant to its content.

You will want to publish your press release at the time of the product launch. Otherwise, it may harm your marketing strategy.

Press release services are flexible enough to accommodate your deadline. If you need the news article produced in a day or two, their writers can meet this for you. Even if it incurs an additional fee for rushing the job, it’s a better option than losing out on timely delivery.

Premium Newsworthy Content

There are a lot of guidelines and rules unique to writing press releases.
One of these rules is the AP style formatting. This is the style used in writing news articles, including press releases. It is not as simple as writing a blog post.

Journalists can pick out poorly-written press release write-ups by scanning. What may seem to be a small mistake can separate a professional piece from an amateur one. An example would be a wrong comma placement.

Hire a press release writer who will create short and on-point content for you. This will ensure that newswires will accept the piece. He will place your most important information on the top and your contact information at the end.

Crafting effective headlines is quite challenging. However, professionals are experts in this as well. They can write high-quality, journalistic headlines that grab the attention of potential customers.

Search Engine Optimized

Media coverage is a crucial factor for a successful press release. However, to gain success, the content must also rank well in search engines. An article that’s optimized for SEO can save you a lot of potential marketing expenses.

Did you know that 75% of people who search the internet seldom go beyond page one of the results? When your customers search for a particular product or service, your content must appear on the first page.

A press release that ranks well on search results can spare you to cut your ad expenses.

If your content follows SEO standards, you might even get it to rank on the first page for a short duration. Press releases are also news, so they’re volatile. Maximizing the exposure with SEO makes it even more important.

A Press Release Writer Can Improve Your Marketing Results

A good press release can help you stay ahead of the competition. It’s a cheap and effective marketing technique that helps you attract more customers. Hiring a press release writer can help make this happen.

Not sure how to start hiring? You can get the same benefits we listed above and more with our press release writing service. Contact us today to start now and give your brand the proper exposure it needs.

Why should you try writing press releases and do press releases work for SEO?

A press release is a great way to communicate and promote your company’s events and news. As of now, more than half of the population search for news reports online. 

Press releases for SEO is a strategy to raise your visibility and traffic. Before you decide to write a press release, here are some things you need to know. Read on nine things that you have to keep in mind when writing press releases for SEO.  

1. Find An Interesting Topic

There are many topics you can take for a press release, but are they newsworthy? You need to keep your target audience and their interests in mind when finalizing a topic. Readers won’t interact with content that’s not interesting or relevant to them. 

You need a topic that can generate plenty of engagement through likes, tweets, or comments. Try promoting new products or services to boost visibility for your brand-new offering. You can also share your awards and acknowledgments or upcoming events. 

A press release for SEO can act as your advertisement for sales or giveaways. While you pick a topic, keep these three in mind: recognition, immediacy, and impact. Make sure that the news you have to share is urgent, well-known, and informative. 

2. Make An Attention-Grabbing Title and Intro

When writing press releases for SEO, you need to grab the attention of users scrolling through the internet. Start by thinking of a keyword-driven headline that piques curiosity. Make sure you keep your headline under 80 words, and it gets straight to the point. 

Not only should you keep your intro in mind, but also your short description and title. Keep your press release in the third person and between 400 to 500 words. Try to speak straight to the readers and cut off all the jargon. 

Your intro is what keeps your readers from leaving the page. Write a relevant 250-words intro for search engines to understand your press release. Make sure to add your main message and keep the reader’s interest through the entire release. 

3. Don’t Forget Your Keywords

You need a careful selection of keywords when using press releases for SEO. Search engines rank website pages by crawling them for specific key terms. To ensure that you have the best keywords, you need to conduct keyword research. 

Keyword research is the strategic phase of press releases for SEO. It will act as your foundation when looking for your target market’s needs. Think about your niche and avoid keywords with many competitors. 

Note that most slogans and jargon words are not search terms. You need to find keyword categories addressing your customer’s and the journalist’s needs. Do some research on the keyword’s competition and traffic potential. 

4. Insert Relevant Links 

Links are one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website when you give your press release to a reliable new source. It’s also a strategy to get journalists and bloggers to link to your post. When you link to other posts, you also raise your chance of getting backlinks. 

Rather than leading your readers to your home page or recent blog post, link to a specific product related to your keyword. Try not to go over two links to avoid overwhelming your reader. It may also seem spammy to search engines, leading them to ignore your press release. 

5. Go Beyond Your Website

Yahoo! News and Google News find articles by crawling online news sources with press releases and editorial content. It all gets collected by the news search engine, synthesize, and ranked. After posting your release on your website, you also need to send it to outside news sources. 

You need a way to let search engine crawls find your releases. Sending it to a news website will alert not only your local target audience, but also globally. 

6. Think About the Format

Press releases typically follow a single format:

• Headline
• Subhead
• Intro
• News description
• Quote from a company executive

It’s best to go for this format since most search engines prefer a standardized format. Search engines also find it easier to crawl content and find keywords with scannable content. This means the use of subheads, bullets, lists, and numbers to break up your content. 

Go for shorter and condensed paragraphs instead of blocky paragraphs. It makes it much smoother to read and easier to look at for your readers. If you want to add pullout quotes, be sure to add your keywords as well. 

7. Include A Call-to-Action

Although a press release is different from your usual blog posts, you still need a CTA. Without a call-to-action, your readers won’t have a follow-up action after reading your content. After a reader familiarizes with your news, you need to capitalize the moment with a CTA. 

Add a hyperlink to an anchor text that has your primary or relevant keywords. Try not to go over 35 words to avoid overkilling your call-to-action. CTAs are another way to boost your digital advertising and sales funnel. 

8. Add Multimedia Elements 

To get more of the reader’s interest, try utilizing multimedia for visual support. Place relevant pictures or videos to increase the reader’s attention and prolong their stay. It also increases the chances of readers sharing your videos and images on social media. 

9. Measure the Success of Your Press Release

The final thing you need to know when using press releases for SEO is to measure your success. You have to know if your press releases are working for your business and website. Use web analytics to take a look at your traffic, click-rates, and leads. 

Try out Google Analytics, Webtrends, or Adobe SiteCatalyst. Check how much referral traffic comes from your blog posts, news articles, and press releases. Knowing your number makes it easier for you to change your strategy, news website, or content. 

Nine Things to Know When Using Press Releases for SEO

Press releases for SEO are all about your content, link, keywords, and format. You need to be careful when looking for and deciding on a topic for your audience. Keep everything you put in your press release relevant, concise, and trendy. 

If you have everything set, it’s time to send your press release out in the open! Contact us for any concerns, feedback, and inquiries. We’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can.

Are you looking to promote your business in 2021? 2020 was a tough year for most of us, but it also helped birth many new businesses. 2021 looks to be a bright year ahead for getting the word out there on your business.

One of the best ways to promote your brand is by writing a press release. A press release is a short statement that has a lot to say about your brand. 

It’s a published statement that celebrates a milestone from your brand. It can discuss a product launch or a business merger. It can also defend your brand’s reputation during a crisis.

Writing a press release is an invaluable skill you’ll need for your business. This guide will show you how to write a great press release for 2021.

1. The Do’s and Don’ts of a Press Release

Let’s start with looking at what a press release should have and what it shouldn’t have. 

A press release has to be succinct, ranging between 400-500 words. It has to be newsworthy, otherwise, it’s not worth publishing. It has to celebrate a company achievement, summarize an event, or convey an urgent message.

A press release mustn’t be sensationalist. It’s not a sales pitch or a way for the brand to “pat itself on the back.” It cannot have gratuitous hype, but it also cannot be so dry that a journalist would toss it aside.

Sounds like a challenge doesn’t it? Now let’s look at crafting your press release.

2. The Introduction

The first paragraph should range from 25-35 words. This introduction is where you let the reader know what you are announcing. There is no preamble — get to the point right away.

The introduction has to address the who, what, why, when, how, and where of the press release. A publisher/journalist will scan the introduction. They’ll use the introduction to decide whether the press release is worth publishing.

3. The Body

In the next two paragraphs of the press release, you will write the key takeaways of the press release. For example, if your company has launched a new product this is where you will discuss the launch. You want to discuss the name of the product and what it offers.

You can use this section to discuss the benefits of the product. You can discuss why the product matters and why consumers should buy it. Make sure that you refrain from making this section sound like a sales pitch.

Keep your sentences short. Do not embellish details or use excessive verbiage. Avoid repetition and ensure a smooth transition between sentences.

4. Quotations

Every press release should have at least one quotation. This quotation will highlight the achievements discussed in your press release. When you include the quotation, you have to cite the speaker as well as their position within the company.

For example, let’s return to the example of a product launch. If Apple launches an iPhone 13, they can include a quote from the Head of Products from the company.

A sample quote can be, Joe Bloggs, Head of Products stated, “With the iPhone 13, Apple brings filmmakers a viable option to shoot 4K video…” 

Make sure you think carefully about whom you wish to quote in your press release. You have to first confirm with them if they are okay with getting quoted in the press release. You want to have quotations as long as possible, without them being gratuitous. 

5. Key Takeaways

Whenever you write your press release, you want to reflect upon what the key takeaways should be. Think about what you hope to accomplish with the press release.

For example, when will the product get launched? Where can consumers buy the product and how much does it cost?

For an event, when was the event held? What did the event accomplish? How can the reader learn more about what was discussed at the event?

These should be succinct sentences that can immediately draw the reader’s attention. 

6. The Conclusion

The conclusion of the press release has to summarize the body and end with a Call To Action. 

The goal of your press release is to get the reader to engage with your company. The example we gave of the Apple press release should convince the reader to buy the iPhone 13. 

The conclusion has to also include your website address. It should include contact information from a key person within your company. Make sure to choose someone who will regularly be able to respond to emails and phone calls. 

The conclusion can also end with a closing quote. The closing quote should include an endorsement of the company or the milestone. In our example, the closing quote can praise Apple or the iPhone 13. The speaker can include market data to show how Apple dominates the tech sector. Or it can cite a statistic that shows why the iPhone remains the preferred smartphone for most consumers.

7. Best Practices for Writing A Press Release

Let’s look at some final best practices for writing a great press release.

Your first step after writing your first draft is to cut it down. Try to aim for 400 words as much as possible. Your readers are in a rush and you should deliver your message with brevity.

Avoid jargon, adverbs, and embellished language as much as possible. Make sure you do several proofreads for syntax and grammar. Compare your press release to other press releases that you like to see if they match in quality.

Make sure your press release has hooks. There should be sentences that grab the reader’s attention. You have only a few words to work with, so you cannot waste time with too many ‘dry’ sentences.

Need Your Press Release Written?

It takes time to learn how to craft a great press release. If you follow the tips in this guide, you’ll have no problem telling your brand’s story to the public. Keep practicing and you’ll become a great press release writer in no time!

Has your company reached a milestone recently? If you have limited time for writing a press release and are eager to share your milestone, we are here to help!

We offer services for writing press releases as well as distributing them to major media outlets. Reach out to us today and let’s tell your brand’s story!

Writing a good press release isn’t just about the facts. Press releases are important. While they’re intended to release important information and updates to the world, they require more than a bulleted list of facts and figures to be effective. This is where knowing how to write good copy comes in. Not everyone is a writer, but when your business needs a solid press release, you need to sharpen your informational and persuasive writing chops to have the most success. We have a few copywriting tips and tricks to help get beginners started.

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Are you ready for a new and improved year for your business? Welcome to 2021! One of the most important things for any business to handle at the beginning of the new year is building a successful PR strategy. Even if you already have a PR strategy in place, you should consider making a new PR strategy or revamping your current one.

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Any press is good press. It’s just hard to get any press to begin with. A press release is an essential tool for any business. Yet few press releases catch the attention of journalists. It’s not enough to send your press release to everyone on your contact list. You need to write a strong release. One important skill you need to know is writing a good length of a press release. 

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A press release is a public relations strategy that involves writing a brief communication about your business activities and sharing it with the media. There are hundreds of press releases released daily. But most of them don’t get picked up by the media and very few are read by the intended audience. 

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Even though we are in the Internet age, it doesn’t mean that press releases are no longer necessary in a marketing plan. In fact, in 2019, 37,748 press releases were sent out, and 60% of them were via a wire service. 

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Writing a company boilerplate is important to consumer education, advertising, promotion, and branding. While the vast majority of the public might blow right past it without thinking twice, every word matters to how you are ultimately perceived.

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If you’re not a detail-oriented person, then wading through the tiny details of a press release can be hard. Often with a long project and multiple drafts, you don’t want to read through it again. Yet with any press release submission, it’s vital for the document to be free from errors. Use this 7-item checklist to help rid your press release of easy-to-miss problems before distribution.

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