Article
How To Create A Modern Press Release
Use Blogs to Spread the Word
In January, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 experienced an engine failure after flying through a flock of geese. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger had to think quickly—unable to make it back to the airport, the pilot made the tough decision to attempt an emergency landing in the Hudson River. Several years ago, the news would have been broken by reporters from helicopters or news vans—but that day, a pedestrian in the area snapped a photo on his iPhone and posted it to the microblogging service, Twitter. Within just a few minutes, news had spread through the blogosphere to make its way to the mainstream media. So many reporters mentioned or linked to the picture that the TwitPic service, where the image was stored, went down temporarily.
Traditional media still exists, but your greatest coverage might come from a 16-year-old kid in a garage. In the interconnected world we live in, anyone can break a story. You don’t have to witness a crash-landing in the Hudson to attract traffic to your web site. There are private blogs with a readership as large as some major metropolitan newspapers. TechCrunch, a private blog network founded by Michael Arrington, claims on its advertising page to reach over 5,000,000 readers per month.
There are major blogs like TechCrunch in almost every industry and niche. Let’s look at how to find them and use them to your advantage.
Find Influential Blogs and Web Sites
Knowing the influential blogs and web sites in your niche is the first step in spreading the word. Using search engines and directories, you can find web sites and blogs related to your company, product, or service.
Blog-specific search engines, like Technorati and Google Blog Search, and directories like AllTop, are great for finding blogs related to your niche. Also utilize regular search engines for other web sites, as well as online publications and communities that may use an alternative label to “blogs.” Try search queries that include the name of your niche, industry, or products, as well as words like community, news, or blog.
When you find popular web sites covering your niche, it’s a great idea to subscribe to their RSS feeds where available and keep up with the topics they write about.
Comment on Influential Blogs
Commenting on influential blogs is a marketing strategy in itself. If you can provide value to the blog by commenting, you’ll be seen as an asset to the community and can establish yourself as an expert in your field. In the future, if the blogger should come across a story about you or your company, they’ll already be familiar with you and be more likely to cover the story.
When to Comment
Before commenting on blogs or online communities, ask yourself this simple question: “Can I answer a question or add value here?” If the answer is yes, consider leaving a comment. It’s a poor idea to post a comment just to place your name or web address on a blog. Make sure you’re adding value, otherwise you’re just wasting time instead of building your online reputation or helping the web site’s readers.
How to Comment
Post advice in a friendly, personal style. Address the post’s author or other commenters directly, offering your feedback or advice. Posting criticisms or negative feedback is acceptable, but be professional and articulate your point using references.
Cite third-party references and examples at least as much as linking to your own web site. It’s important that you make your point, rather than advertise your company or products.
Send Your Press Releases Directly to Influential Bloggers
Sending press releases to blogs is a great way to spread your message even further. Refer to the list of influential blogs you compiled earlier from the section called “Find Influential Blogs and Web Sites” for suitable leads.
Make It Personal
When contacting individual bloggers, start with a personalized email (see the previous section on sending press releases by email).
Look on their web site for information on how to pitch to them. Many blogs have instructions on how they wish to be pitched, and may have a dedicated email address for pitches.
Doing your research here can really pay off. Influential bloggers and journalists are often inundated with email pitches. Sending to the wrong email address or in the wrong format could mean being deleted immediately. As blogger Josh Catone says in his SitePoint article, How To Pitch a Blogger: “Bloggers are a busy bunch and we generally like to put as much of our time and effort as possible into actual research or writing. If the phone is ringing non-stop all day, it cuts into our writing time.”
If you’re unable to find a dedicated email address or contact information on the web site, consider sending an email to the general contact email address. Ask for the correct information for sending pitches and press releases.
Build a List
You’ll likely be sending press releases to the same bloggers and journalists again and again. Start building a list of media contacts, with notes about the types of press releases they’re interested in.
As you write more and more press releases, you’ll find that sending them will become easier as your list grows and requires less and less research up front.
Smaller Blogs Copy Bigger Blogs
You might think that once the big sites cover a news story, it simply fades away. You might be surprised to know that smaller blogs follow large, influential blogs and often write about interesting stories in their own blogs, creating a link back to your site. Some blogging tools use a special kind of link called a ping or trackback—an automated notification to a site to inform the owner that you linked to one of their blog entries.
With pings or trackbacks enabled on your blog, when another blogger links to a blog entry on your web site, a comment will be placed in the entry on your blog, linking back to their blog. These can provide an additional traffic source to smaller blogs.