SURVIVING AND THRIVING
IT IS NOT true that the faithful old press release is dead. It has been under attack from multimedia infections, yes, but it’s back at work, fit for purpose. Social media has not made traditional channels irrelevant. The process of distributing news releases has not been replaced by tweets. Companies will not be abandoning announcements as part of their marketing store. Humble press releases, albeit in modified formats, are not only surviving, they are thriving.
They keep on going by being adapted for new technology. More than ever, they’re responding to the demands and behaviours of both newsmakers and their consumers. Today’s news devourers are everywhere and insatiable. Press releases will keep on feeding.
Structures are more flexible and diverse, integrated better with other techniques. One of many recent variations has been the shrinking of releases into brief media notes, containing a sufficiency of detail aimed at inspiring journalistic investigation. More significantly, there is recognition that the inclusion of video in the media kit is soaring in its penetrative force.
No matter what the format, everything today is distributed electronically. It is difficult to remember a time when the world was not online and the news we shared was limited to printed pages and infrequent broadcast bulletins.
The digitising and socialising of circulated materials has liberated content, allowing us to create and share richer, fuller and more interactive stories. Every business has news to impart.
Communicators are using YouTube videos, embedded product manuals, financial tables, executive interviews – and press releases – all of them ready for sharing.
MORE COMFORTABLE
As writers grow technically wiser and more comfortable with creating content that is search-engine friendly (Google includes press releases in its search results), releases will be leveraging connections, directly or indirectly, well into the future.
Integrating news-based releases as part of today’s SEO strategies can be a fulcrum of any company’s branding objectives and sales lead generation. To be valuable, though, every bulletin must provide timely, newsworthy and targeted information.
At its core, an effective press release is about telling a story. As the structure of the release continues to allow for enhanced content, it will go on evolving from a communications tool to an interactive platform for content sharing. Audience engagement will reach new heights.
A press release is a distributed marketing landing page. Prepared skilfully, it is a powerful and interactive tool, capable of being doled out and shared with countless recipients, helping businesses to build relationships with their audiences.
Consumer demand for relevant, customisable and portable content races ahead. Wherever there is demand, the good old press release will continue to supply an appreciable part of the wherewithal.
OPPORTUNITIES
Although managing volume and flow is becoming increasingly complex, there are opportunities for output that is more varied. In particular, today’s technology simplifies personalised production aimed at individual journalists, increasing the take-up markedly. A scattergun approach is no longer relevant.
With journalists as the conduit, press releases will continue to meet demand, enabled by RSS functionality, social media sharing and tagging, plus, crucially, mobile-friendliness.
They’ll also serve to direct consumers to other relevant content destinations, be they a company’s website, marketing campaign microsite, blog page, or other places where end-users can broaden their experiences.
Readers are being helped to further interact with curated content that resonates with them. There is no doubt that the future of the press release will be dictated by a cocktail of what consumers want and technology makes possible.
The best PR consultants will stay at the leading edge of what is possible, so that they not only provide what clients expect today, but anticipate changes that are in the pipeline.
Through it all, the press release can remain a mainstream source of news material, continuing to be part of the information revolution.
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