by Mark Joyner, CEO, Aesop.Com
"The Genie is out of the bottle." That's what people keep saying about the Internet. I personally think the Genie has barely popped out his head. That is, we've only scratched the surface in terms of the potential of the net.
However, you can't deny that the generally conservative business world has finally, and officially, jumped on the bandwagon. That particular Genie is out of the bottle and dancing around on the table with a lamp shade on his head. If there is one thing I've learned from the 1999 Christmas Season advertising blitz - it's that there is a new Sheriff in the Internet town and his name is "Big Business". I could easily sit back and pine for the days when Microsoft was too wrapped up in selling software to care about the Internet. The days when the executives of major retail companies brushed off the net as a passing fad. The days when the little guy still had a chance. I say this to myself every now and then...Then I come to my senses. I have to laugh about the irony of the situation. Here I am, one who considers himself an expert in psychological warfare, falling for a simple psychological trick.
Sometimes the enemy will tell you that "resistance is futile" just to sap your will. And most of the time it works. The big companies are saying, "Fear me, little entrepreneur! I have a big advertising budget. Didn't you see my snazzy ads on TV? Didn't you hear my commercial on the radio? Where would you get the money for such an awesome media blitz? Abandon all hope!" I'm not afraid, though. Actually, I'm laughing at those companies spending millions of dollars on advertising. Why? Well, I can get close to the same level of publicity for practically nothing. All I have to do is come up with something that is news worthy, write a press release, and send it out to a targeted list of media contacts. As they say in that expensive TV commercial for Office Depot: "BaddaBing. Badda Boom". I can't even begin to calculate the dollar value of free advertising I've received for my various businesses using this technique. Various sites I've managed have appeared in countless newspapers, magazines, and TV shows. I've been invited hundreds of times to appear as a radio guest. Heck, every now and then a friend will write to me and say, "Hey Mark, I just read the write up about you guys in _____. Great work!" Then I have to some how get him to let me know exactly what it is he's talking about, so I can go see it myself. I am quite literally surprised by new media exposure all the time.The impact this has had on my overall credibility and market position is immeasurable. Now, anyone reading this who has actually submitted a press release will probably cringe at my simplification of this process. It's actually much harder than I've expressed here, and your chances of your story getting picked up are just better than zero if you don't know what you're doing.
So, how is it done? The traditional route is to send a press release to a list of appropriate media contacts. To do this, you will need three things:
1. A properly written press release.
2. A list of appropriate media contacts.
3. A means for sending your release to the list
(usually via fax, email, or postal mail)
Now I'd like to provide you with a step by step plan for writing and sending an effective release.
First, let us talk about the writing of the release. If you can manage to get your release on the desk of thousands of editors, it won't be worth anything if your release is poorly written or not in the proper format. I have seen so many press releases out there that look something like this:
Press Release There is a new website at : http://www.iownawebsite.com/ We have all kinds of cool stuff. Come check us out.
Now honestly, do you think any editor in their right mind would be interested in this? First, it doesn't promote an event. A new website is not an event and is certainly not newsworthy (unless you're Bill Gates). A press release needs to be three things:
1. NEWSWORTHY - No editor will print about your event unless they think other people will be interested in it. There are certain media that cater to new websites, most of them being web based. You should certainly let these people know, but they probably won't require a press release. The thing to remember is that what is newsworthy to one editor maybe totally bland to another. Find out who will be interested in your story.
2. TIMELY - If it is about a past event, it's probably not news unless it's something quite significant (election results, disasters etc...)
3. CONCISE - Most editors don't have time to sit around and read a novel about your event. Make it to the point. Put the bottom line up front. The release should read like a good newspaper article. That is, use the "inverted pyramid". The main meat of the story goes in the first paragraph (who, what, when, where, why). The remaining details go in the following paragraph in descending order of importance. A full page is acceptable, but a release of just a couple short paragraphs will be far more successful. OK, so what does a good release look like? You should probably go to the websites of some major companies that have something to do with your topic and look at their press release archive. Don't just look at one. Look at several. You will see some good examples and some bad. Compare them to the criteria you see above and ask yourself "if I were a busy editor, would I publish this"?
The following format will almost always be acceptable:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editors: News, General Media (change as needed)
Contact: Peter North, Aesop Marketing Corporation, 323-692-2940, [email protected]
Your Headline Here.
Make it Catchy. If it's not, the editor won't read the rest.
Los Angeles, CA - 1 December, 1999
Here is the text of your release. Remember to use the inverted pyramid. Five W's here. In the following paragraphs, place other important information in descending order of importance. If it isn't necessary to tell the story or relay critical information, don't put it in. Be concise!
OK, now you know how to write a good press release. So who do you send it to? Well, that's the tricky part. It will take you a while to build a good database of release recipients.There are several options here. You can build a list yourself, or you can purchase an existing database. Now, if you want to build your own list, here are some tips and resources to help you. (If you don't have the hours and hours it will take to build this list, I recommend skipping this section and continuing below where we talk about ready made solutions.)
First, identify media that will be interested in your event. Send an email to someone there and ask who you should send your release to. If you are courteous and professional, they will probably point you in the right direction.
Send your release to as many people as possible, but don't waste your time sending it to people that won't be interested. That will just give you a bad name.
Here are some resources that you will find extremely helpful:
AJR Newslink http://ajr.newslink.org/menu.html Contains links to just about every media (newspapers, radio stations, TV) source that has a website. Follow the links to the media you think will be interested in your release and find out who to send it to. This is great for building your contact base. Also contains some great articles and many other convenient resources.
Reporter's Network http://www.reporters.net/ Among other things, contains a great searchable database of reporters. Want to find a reporter interested in silver widgets? Do a search here for "silver widgets" and a list of reporters who have reported interest in this will pop up. Very cool. Alternatively, you can pick up a copy of 1,001 Killer Internet Marketing Tactics. As a bonus, you'll receive a database of 6,000+Media Contacts including email addresses:< http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/kt.cgi?IM4718 > Now that you have a killer release and have a quality list of press contacts, you are ready to send the release.
There are three general routes you can go here:
1. Postal Mail
2. Fax
3. Email.
Fax is the most common method and will probably get your release more notice. Email is great as well, but your release may get canned as some editors do not accept releases this way. Both of these methods require some special tools. This is an important topic and requires a bit more room than we have here. Generally, for an email release, you want to find a "Mail Merge" program and for Fax, you should subscribe to a "Fax Broadcast" service.
For Mail Merge, you can simply use the Mail Merge utility included in Swiss Army App: http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/swa.cgi?IM4718 Or, if you don't need that much fire power, you can simply go to NewApps.Com and do a search for "email".
For Fax Broadcasting, there are quite a few companies out there that will do this for you. I recommend going to Jayde.Com or another good search engine and searching for the word "fax broadcast". Just be careful here. Some of these companies may be in the business of sending out unsolicited fax advertisements which is quite illegal and will give your company a very bad reputation. Using these services properly, such as for a legitimate press release, is acceptable, of course. Now, as an excellent "All in One" solution for sending out press releases via email, you may want to check out "Press Release Cannon":< http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/press.cgi?IM4718 >This genius app includes a brilliantly categorized list of over 10,000 media contacts and a built-in tool for emailing your release. Most importantly, the database only includes press contacts for editors who actually accept email based submissions.You can even purchase an optional update service which will keep your press database up to date. For the time, effort, and money this app saves you, it's well worth the price. The free publicity it will bring you if used properly is priceless.
Now, you may be asking yourself, "what if I don't have an event to publicize?" To this I say: "make one!" Use your ingenuity. Host an online event like a celebrity chat or forum. The only limits here are your imagination. If you have not yet incorporated a press campaign into your marketing plan, I highly recommend doing so right now.
There is no more cost effective way to generate publicity and credibility for your business.
Mark Joyner is CEO of Aesop Marketing Corporation and creator of Swiss Army App - the essential webmaster tool for site promotion that is really 10+ 'Killer Apps' in one. http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/kt.cgi?IM4718