Kick it up a notch
Sorry Emeril, but you were the last person I heard before falling asleep last night. Back to my favorite topic, the future of the press release! Yesterday confirmed for me how powerful a release can still be depending on how it is presented and in what industry.
**I am using a story from client work done at my firm. I try to remain impartial at all times and not make this blog commercial, but I also want to use real-world anecdotes. Tell me how you think I can better walk this line.**
This company is in the security space, obviously a huge industry that is changing every day and is flooded with news (some would say a bit sensationalism). So how do you get attention and generate a lot of coverage, particularly when your two biggest rivals are synonymous with internet security? LISTS!!
Top Ten lists still work (check out John Soat’s column about Top Ten’s in this week’s InformationWeek). And today as I scanned through the coverage for the client it was a huge success…but more so than usual, and here is why in my opinion.
We (internal and external PR team) took this list and decided to curtail it for our press individually, removing nuggets that would interest writers concentrating on the Canadian market, the consumer impact, or an international flavor. Sure it went over the wire and was sent to people who signed up for our blast, but the truly great stories were the ones we secured interviews for, based on personalization and relationships.
I know, I know…d’uh. But my point is that if you can do that with a proven commodity like a Top Ten List in the security industry, shouldn’t you be engaging folks with all of your press releases?
Better yet, shouldn’t you be throwing out press releases and moving towards the dual approach of ‘Press Information Advisory’ and ‘Market Information Release’? I’m still working on the names, but they have changed since this posting.
IN OTHER NEWS:
–Gartner reports that companies are still stingy on IT spending;
–The military now sees the benefit of MySpace;
–VC Funding is up in New England, a good sign for this area and a follow up to my last post;
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:32 am
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