It’s All in the Story

When was the last time you read a press release?

Let’s face it. The majority of press releases issued by companies are totally boring and uninteresting.

Why is that? Certainly Company X is excited about their new product and they can’t wait to tell the world about it.

But why should a blogger or media outlet care about Company X’s new product or service? Unless your company’s name is Apple, odds are you will have a difficult time getting anyone to care or pay attention.

Does that mean press releases are a waste of time and money?

On the contrary. A press release done properly can have a massive impact on your business. Which, of course, begs the question “How do you do a press release properly?”

It’s all in the story.

Here’s the thing to remember. Editors at all media outlets are people. They are inundated with news from more places than you can possibly imagine.

In order for them to care about your company, you had better give them something worth caring about.

For example, when I wanted to promote DealofDay.com during the holiday season, I didn’t write a press release touting all the great deals on the site. Instead, I put together a story titled “The Twelve Tips for Holiday Shopping Online.”

These useful tips were cited by several media sources. As a result, DealofDay.com was referenced in these articles.

When I wanted to make a stink about my new iPhone application, iFart, I didn’t just announce the app. Instead, I looked for an angle that would be interesting to the tech community.

At that time, no one had released data on sales-to-rank for the iTunes appstore. So that’s precisely what I did on my blog. I then turned this into a press release and sent it off to the tech blogs. It got picked up here, here, here and here for starters.

When Apple rejected my KaChing Button app, I knew just whining and complaining would have no effect. So I shot this video and turned it into a news story which was picked up by a number of sites.

And back to iFart one more time.

I decided it was time to sell the iFart property. How could I get some attention? Put it on eBay and set the Buy-It-Now price to $1,000,000!

As of this writing, the auction is taking place. But did the media pay attention?

If you can get the attention of TechCrunch and Mashable, you’ve had a good PR day. 🙂

I hope you see the importance of telling a good story.

But there is one more KEY to getting your story picked up. And this is a big one…

It’s essential to distribute your release properly.

I am a huge fan of Dan Janal’s PR Leads press release distribution service. When I want a story to hit the most important news wires, I go direct to Dan. He’s very knowledgable of the industry and always helps me tweak my headlines and copy to make sure I am getting the most bang for the buck.

There are a number of “cheap” press release services out there. I’ve tried them. They don’t get me anywhere near the results that PR Leads does.

Distributing a press release this way gets you instant visibility and credibility. Dan guarantees posting to more than forty media web sites or you get your money back. For my last news release, the story was picked up by both TechCrunch and Mashable within two hours of the news hitting the wire! That’s fast!

You can do it yourself for $297, which is a great deal. But if you are serious about your product or service, have Dan do it all for you for only $795. This is a much better option for those wanting to get the most bang for the buck.

Dan uses PR Newswire as one of the key hubs for distribution, but you end up paying about half of PR Newswire’s posted rates because they buy in bulk and pass the savings along to you.

You’ve got a story to tell. Tell it and distribute your story properly. I wholeheartedly recommend PR Leads.

Press Release Distribution Service