Understanding PR’s Many Moving Parts
Media Relations
While outreach to the media is still essential, it is just one component of PR. Reaching bloggers should now be a major part of your PR outreach. Use tools like Wordtracker’s Link Builder and Technorati to find top blogs. Then don’t just call them or email them, connect with them via social media. Some bloggers are journalists at “traditional” media outlets.
News Releases
Submitting press releases to online distribution services like PRWeb.com can cause your releases to be picked up “as is” and/or elaborated on by news sites and blogs. These syndications and news stories about you can be found in the search engines and generate links/traffic to your site. While some free sites for submissions are okay, you get what you pay for. Spend $150 to $300 on a local release of significance on top sites like businesswire.com, marketwire.com, and PRWeb.com to get the most out of it.
Company Blog
Use your company blog to share routine news and more personal versions of the news you have submitted to wire services. That way, long after sites like Google News have buried your release, it will still live via keyword search online that takes people to your blog post.
Newsroom
Create a news page on your site. Clearly list your contact information for journalists and key information about your company, and include something that gives your company some personality—perhaps an overview video or links to award pages or a calendar of speaking engagements. Include social media contact points like your Twitter handle. Also make sure there are links from the news page to biographies of key team members. Having images and video on your news page just might make the difference between getting a story or not.
Which moving parts are you capitalizing on?
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