When Press Releases Do (and Don't) Help Your Marketing

当营销人员着手制定公共关系策略时，第一步通常是开始发布新闻稿。那将是传达您的信息并获得新闻界的最有效方法。但是，现在还有其他策略需要与新闻稿相结合，以使其有效。

As a marketer, it's important to know when press releases will benefit your public relations strategy, and when another tool or tactic should be used. There are many cases when press releases are still valuable to use, but there are even more misconceptions about them. We're going to debunk all of those right now, and lay out exactly when press releases rock -- and exactly when they don't.

使用新闻稿的好处

1）其他出版物将接收它。

The purpose of a press release is to get your news in front of as many people as possible. Many companies see success by posting a press release to the wire, where it will be sent out to thousands of publications and ultimately reposted other places online.

But how do you really get some attention with this tactic? First, we've found that when companies include data in their press releases, it's even more likely that it will be picked up by other publications. But even more important than presenting your story with interesting soundbites -- yes, there's more to success here than just quality content (gasp!) -- you need to get your timing right.

According to our ownDan Zarrella's research, press releases are viewed on average about一周中275次:

And the media views it about an average of一周中的70次:

观看您的新闻稿的人，尤其是记者越多，您就越有可能被其他出版物收集。因此，如果您的目标是获得新闻稿的大量观点和重新发布，那么在您的策略中包括在内，只要您正确地将其包括在策略中可能是有价值的;-)

2) You build links.

One of the greatest benefits to including PR in your marketing strategy is link building. Even though an actual press releases does not necessarily help with SEO (stay tuned for more information about that later on), the editorial coverage you get from a press releaseswillbring great benefits to your SEO. Make sure to include keywords that you want to rank for in your press releases so that when journalists see the release, they may include some of those keywords, themselves -- particularly if they pull quotable snippets from you to include in their own coverage.

According to anarticle by Search Engine Watch, there is tremendous synergy between SEO and PR -- and hey, we believe it, too. The press that stems from a press release is a boon for SEO managers everywhere, because remarkable actions spur people to create (read: activity that warrants press coverage) tends to spur content coverage. And coverage of your brand often also comes with inbound links back to your website. That means you shouldn't depend on your press release to do all the work; it might simply be the means for communicating to the rest of the world that more coverage of a story is warranted. You can, however, use press release real estate to sprinkle in important keywords, and include helpful links for readers and media alike.

3) They help journalists check information.

When you create a press release, all of the information you want journalists to know about your company is in one place. Even external documents, including presentations and research documents, are available in a press release, making it really easy for journalists to find and accurately reference all of the information they need to write their story (about you!).

Even when you're connecting with a journalist by e-mail, and not just putting a press release on the wire in the hopes it will be picked up, include an attachment to a press release to help the journalists out. It makes writing about your company insanely easy, and establishes a good relationship that will help you get future press coverage.

4) They refine your messaging.

As you're putting your press release together, you need to make sure you've nailed your messaging for the announcement to get maximum exposure. It's the place everyone will go -- both within your company, and externally -- to get "the story" and cite important data points. When you've refined the messaging of your press release, you're providing the right messaging for all other content creators to draw upon. From bloggers, to sales reps, to external content creators, everyone will be speaking about your brand with a unified message that's set forth during the drafting of your press release.

5)最好的新闻稿提供content for other marketing channels.

The content you should include in press releases is pretty standard from release to release: an opening paragraph giving more information on the story; background information on the company; quotes from employees; and, of course, your boiler plate at the end. But then there's the extra stuff that takes a press release from typical to rock-star status. For instance, the previously cited research from Dan Zarrella shower that if you can provide links to videos and embed pictures in the press release, that将照片的参与度增加约18％，视频增加了55％。

您的新闻发布性能不仅可以提高，而且还可以在营销的其他领域（例如电子邮件，登陆页面，社交媒体和博客文章）重新利用其中的一些视觉内容。

使用新闻发布的缺点

1）单独的新闻稿无助于您的SEO。

如前所述，新闻稿可以帮助SEO如果您的新闻稿还发表了其他编辑内容。但是，尽管人们普遍认为新闻稿对您的SEO有所帮助，但实际上它们并没有您想象的那么多。最近文章引用Google的Matt Cuttsverifying that your SEO ranking in Google will not increase after a press release is posted.

Why is that? Because press releases are syndicated for a certain amount of time ... but are actually taken down at some point. Even though they are full of keywords and your company's name, their temporary status online does not lead to any progress in the SERPs.

As mentioned before, press releases can help your SEO in an indirect way -- by leading to other beneficial press. However, your PR strategy should not depend on them for SEO success. Use them as a means to an end that will get you higher rankings, instead.

2) Press releases don't improve your communication with consumers.

即使新闻稿可能会引起记者的注意，但它不太可能吸引您的目标受众（或者足以改变您的营销）。消费者喜欢以易于消化的方式阅读信息，并且感觉更自然 - 例如新闻报道和博客文章。raybetapp新闻稿格式需要更长的时间才能阅读，并且在不阅读几次的情况下通常很难理解。在每个小时都会发布成千上万个故事的世界中，读者希望能够通过博客文章或另一种写作形式来快速理解故事。

So marketers, that means in addition to posting your press release, you should make sure the content is somewhere else in a better format so that your audience gets access to it. Instead of promoting your press release through social channels or email, promote your blog post to achieve the same effect of the press release and get your audience the information in the announcement.

3）新闻稿很难衡量。

数据的主要方法是marketrs t可以证明成功o the rest of their department and company. Unlike other parts of your marketing strategy, however, press releases are extremely difficult to measure, and therefore it's hard to prove whether or not they are successful. I mean, it's pretty hard to say "X amount of people viewed our release, and X amount of journalists decided to write about it/not write about it as a result."

不要依靠新闻稿作为您向老板证明公共关系是您营销策略所必需的一部分的方式。可以在some方式，例如您的新闻稿被重新发布了多少次或发行版的转介流量（如果您在版本的链接中使用了跟踪令牌），但是很难获得准确的数量，因为结果是生成多少线索或客户的数量你的工作。

4）新闻稿不具有成本效益。

发布一个新闻稿可能会花费数百美元，即使不是一千美元。很多时候，他们没有被记者接听，只是在其他网站上重新发布。由于公共关系更多地依赖于与媒体建立关系，而不是向您可能不知道的记者发送数百封新闻稿。

Marketers, instead of spending your dollars on posting press releases to the wire, spend time meeting with journalists, figuring out what they look for before writing a story, and finding out what beat they write about. Building these relationships with the media will end up paying off much more than having a strategy where you simply post press releases onto the wire.

What other things are press releases great for -- and not so great for -- in your marketing?

图片来源：离子学