When you hear the words “press release” what do you think of? Many of us probably still think of the old school kind of press releases that involved writing up an announcement for your company, sending it out via newswire, and calling up your journalist friends to give them the pitch aka beg them to give you prime newspaper real estate. It doesn’t work that way anymore; at least not in the realm of internet marketing. The online press release in today’s world is just the tip of the iceberg for getting your business noticed online. The key is knowing how to write a press release for an event and what qualifies as an event in the online world.
Before we set sail to discuss what to write about, it’s important for you to have a little bit of context about how an online press release works.
The Purpose of an Online Press Release
When you write a well-crafted press release, following the standard online press release template, you will help your business get publicity across the web in search engine results, websites, blogs, and ultimately attract new business. In most cases your press release is stored online forever, which means, like a lighthouse it will reach out into the deep depths of cyberspace to lead customers to your company.
How an Online Press Release Works
It’s a simple process. You write an announcement about your business, optimize it, and submit it to a press release distribution service. The service then distributes your announcement to every major news site and search engine on the web to get you in front of journalists and consumers. We’re talking major distribution – to 30,000 or more journalists and bloggers and 250,000 subscribers. If it’s optimized using good keywords, links, images and video, it will show up in the search results for people looking for your services too. That kind of reach will make waves online for your business!
Here's a great video from PR Web showing how their service works:
The Online Press Release Template
Just like the old school kind of press releases had a certain format to use, so do online press releases. The first step in learning how to write a press release for an event and submit it online is to make sure your format is correct. It should have these parts:
HEADLINE
SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
BODY
CONTACT INFORMATION
It’s also important to include links to your site, a quote from a trustworthy source, or a direct quote from your company, images, and even video. It’s worth repeating that you should also always optimize your press releases using common SEO practices to increase your visibility on the web.
The great thing about online distribution services is that they will edit and review your release to make sure it has all the components necessary to get you noticed online. Some different services to check out for your business are:
What to Write About
Knowing how to write a press release for an event usually isn’t the hard part. It’s deciding what to write about. While it’s never a good idea to make up or invent news, there are probably things happening in your company that you didn’t know could qualify as news. An “event” doesn’t have to be a physical gathering of people. It could be anything new and exciting happening in your company. Coming up with topics for a press release is easier than you think.
Here are some common ideas:
- New product release
- New employee hire
- Milestone anniversary
- Receiving an award
- Reaching a company goal
- Adding a new client
- New services
- Major company changes
- New partnership
A few somewhat more creative ideas:
- Free downloadable offer available
- Offering Tips and tricks
- Announcing and increase in website traffic
- Survey results
- Sponsoring a fundraiser
- Special offer
Anything that you consider important to your company and that you want people to know about is probably a good idea for a press release.
So whether you have a business that is just trying to stay afloat or you’ve been weathering the storms for years, online press releases should be a part of your internet marketing strategy. If you want to get found online by people who will talk about you and potential customers that will find you, learning how to write a press release for an event is essential.
