{"id":8805,"date":"2013-12-04T16:11:20","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T16:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/okodigital.wpengine.com\/?p=182"},"modified":"2013-12-04T16:11:20","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T16:11:20","slug":"why-no-one-wants-read-your-press-releases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cool.co\/supply-side-platform-home\/why-no-one-wants-read-your-press-releases\/","title":{"rendered":"Why no one wants to read your press releases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike many promotional methods\u00a0within the digital marketing space, the humble press release has been around long before the internet \u2013 I even remember being taught how to create one in school 12-15 years ago. In its most basic form, it packages news into a digestible format to feed out to journalists, bloggers and anyone who could potentially echo\u00a0your message.<\/p>\n

One common trait of the press release is the \u2018mass scaling effect\u2019. Up scaling your outreach method to reach more people can be a great way to amplify news, but at the same time you risk isolating your entire audience by doing so. The value of personalisation has been proven time and time again in outreach case studies\u00a0\u2013 and I don\u2019t just mean starting your message with \u201cHello (insert name here)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Taking time to engage with your target as in individual\u00a0is much more effective. However, all too often I see press releases with endless undisclosed (sometimes even disclosed) recipients with nothing more than a generic blurb to draw the reader in.<\/p>\n

Back in March I attended LinkLove, an annual search conference hosted by Distilled. Claire Stokoe gave a great talk about her approach to infographic marketing (you can check\u00a0out the slides from that presentation here<\/a>). One point she mentioned really stuck in my mind;\u00a0make sure your content targets at least three or more different niches and spreads its reach as far as possible.<\/p>\n

Although this is clearly best practice and common sense, the hustle and bustle of marketing jargon, brand message and technical requirements can often push the most obvious requirements out of the picture. After all, if you don\u2019t appeal to your potential audience then you\u2019re only really servicing yourself.\u00a0Press releases are quick and cost effective to produce, which is why I feel they often end up shoved to the bottom of the pile. They\u2019re usually spat out as a last resort hoping that it ends up duplicated on some generic news site.<\/p>\n

What I felt was so good about Claire\u2019s advice is that it applies to practically everything; from big budget flashing-lights content, editorials and blog posts like the one you\u2019re reading now.<\/p>\n

Applying this theory to press releases is simple; produce a separate document for each niche you wish to target, tailoring the title information, quotes and any accompanying media to appeal to curiosity. By doing this you can not only expand your list of potential contacts but almost guarantee it gets better coverage.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples on how you might approach this:<\/p>\n

Technical vs general writers<\/h2>\n

\u2026OR<\/strong> tech heads who understand jargon of their niche vs general sites where people dabble.<\/em><\/h3>\n

EXAMPLE: Take a press release for a brand new phone. An electronics publication would likely be more interested in the inner workings of the device itself. Therefore you could include quotes from the engineering team alongside images of the circuit board. A consumer focused phone site would care more about what the product is capable of so you\u2019d include screenshots from the phone itself and quotes from the software team.<\/p>\n

Direct audience vs applicable<\/h2>\n

\u2026OR <\/strong>those with a direct interest vs those who cover general topics<\/em><\/h3>\n

EXAMPLE: You\u2019re sending out information regarding a new museum. History sites would want to know in more detail about the artefacts held with some expert opinion from a historian. Local newspaper reporters would be more interested in location, what it offers for the community\/tourist industry and comment from the company operating said museum.<\/p>\n

Local vs national<\/h2>\n

\u2026OR <\/strong>news that\u2019s relevant to the whole country, but has local specifics.<\/em><\/h3>\n

EXAMPLE: You\u2019re an organisation offering a national service that\u2019s soon to be going through changes. National news coverage would be more interested in how it affects everyone so include a general view with quotes from someone higher up like a\u00a0CEO. Local news sources would care more about the effect on their community, which services in their area are effected and comment from a local authority.<\/p>\n

Local vs local<\/h2>\n

\u2026OR<\/strong> leading on, if you have local news that applies to multiple areas, tailor it to appeal.<\/em><\/h3>\n

EXAMPLE: When we published some location specific survey results<\/a> earlier this year we contacted many local news sources. We\u2019d never had spoken with many of these\u00a0before due to geographic constraints. By tailoring each press release to specific locations, with information and quotes relating to familiar and relevant places we had a much higher success rate. If we\u2019d sent out one press release listing all the locations\u00a0it’s likely our message wouldn’t have travelled as far.<\/p>\n

Site types vs audiences<\/h2>\n

\u2026OR<\/strong> what do you want out of the press release? Is the site home to potential customers \u2013 does it need tailoring to encourage a call to action?<\/em><\/h3>\n

EXAMPLE: Are your target market hanging around, reading and contributing to the website you’re contacting? Include prices, how to purchase and tell the writer why their audience need to hear about your news. Or perhaps your press release is solely about brand building, therefore is it worth including your social links rather than your website?<\/p>\n

These scenarios are just a snippet of potential ways to think outside of the box when it comes to press releases.\u00a0Here at OKO Digital we can help your business find that essential \u201chuman interest\u201d angle to capture and embrace all your target audiences by asking three simple questions\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Who would this appeal to?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0How can we make it appeal to more people?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0What websites are these people reading and interacting with online?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Putting that extra few yards of effort into crafting your press releases is a great and cost effective way to make your message travel a few miles further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike many promotional methods\u00a0within the digital marketing space, the humble press release has been around long before the internet \u2013 I even remember being<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy no one wants to read your press releases | Supply-Side Platform | COOL Media (formerly OKO Digital)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cool.co\/supply-side-platform-home\/why-no-one-wants-read-your-press-releases\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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