PR – the new rules!

PR – the new rules!

Gone are the days – finally – when the success of a press release you’ve written is solely determined by how many journalists deem the release worthy of their time and attention.

Joan Stewart – The Publicity Hound, Wisconsin, USA, explains why “How to write a press release” rules have changed…

“In the old days, we wrote press releases only for journalists. Today, smart PR people write press releases to attract buyers, not only journalists, and post them online.

Buyers who find your press release online can click on the link within the release that leads them to your website. And they can buy products and services you offer, even if a newspaper hasn’t published the press release.”

And what if the media eventually does cover the story? Well, that is an added bonus!

There are two billion of us connected to the Internet across the globe. By 2020, there will be five billion people accessing the Internet on over 50 billion devices – phones, tablets, TVs,… Leverage this opportunity to reach buyers.

New rules for writing press releases:

–We no longer write press releases only when we have news that we think is worthy of media attention.

–We don’t have to use the “who, what, when, where and why” formula in the press release.

–Press releases don’t have to be short.

–The press release is not a failure if it gets no media attention. If it brings people into our sales funnel, it is a success.

–We don’t measure the success of our releases by the number of clippings it has generated but by whether it has been able to change people’s behaviour.”

Are you still playing by the old rules?