PR doesn’t mean press releases. This is actually Rule # 27 in my book “42 Rules of Marketing”. PR usually stands for “public relations” or “press relations.” And it is an unfortunate coincidence that it also stands for one of the more visible elements of many marketing campaigns—a press release. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who instinctively think that PR means “press release.” They couldn’t be more wrong. Press releases are great but they aren’t the only kind of publicity you can get. Publicity means getting public visibility for your name, company or cause.
Here are three ways to get publicity:
1. Get quoted in the media: The media – journalists, bloggers – are constantly looking for experts to comment on their stories. It can hard for them to find sources. Enter a few entrepreneurs who have stepped in to help them out. There are two publicity tools I recommend for getting quoted: First, is HARO, which stands for Help A Report Out. This is a free service run by a guy named Peter Shankman – really smart guy. He compiles media inquiries and sends them out to his opt-in email list of people who want to respond to media requests. It is a direct connection between the media and the source. And it’s free. Second, is PRLeads – this one isn’t free, but is a great option similar to HARO, but with more filtering capabilities so you can have emails that fit your interests sent directly to you each day. Guess what, I’ll send you these links as well.
2. Pitch ideas to the media: If you have a unique story idea, let the media know about it. Identify your Top 10 media outlets (magazines, newspapers, blogs, whatever) and research to find a journalist or editor. Write up your story idea and send it to them. You will have to do this several times, but if the idea is creative and timely you are very likely to get a positive response.
3. Last, but not least, you can issue a press release. PR has not been left out of the Internet revolution. In fact, the number of press releases has increased exponentially with the advent of online news distribution services like PRWeb. The combination of online news distribution and search engine optimization has expanded the role of traditional PR. Press releases used to be the way to get your news to journalists. Today, press releases are delivered via RSS feeds to your customers’ desktops. If you want to get a message out to customers and the market – press releases are a great tool. However, be aware…they are general purpose tools that work well if you’re trying to make people aware that you exist. Press releases aren’t particularly helpful if you need to generate leads. They can drive some traffic, and they will definitely increase awareness of who you are. But by themselves, they are not the most effective marketing tools. As I’ve said over and over – the most effective approach is a combination of a variety of marketing activities to deliver your message to your target audience.