Publicity is a Contact Sport! 
 

So Who Needs Publicity Anyway? 

Corporations. Small businesses. Individuals. Kids With Lemonade Stands. Non-Profit Organizations. Schools. Civic Organizations. Cities. States. Government Agencies.  In other words, just about everybody!

 Why Would You Need It? 

  • Gain exposure for your company or organization
  • Build your brand
  • Promote a new product
  • Sell more lemonade
  • Announce a new service
  • Drive traffic to your website
  • Make sales
  • Increase revenue
  • Introduce a new employee
  • Announce mergers & acquisitions
  • Promote your latest book
  • Create buzz about an upcoming event
  • Get people to register for a contest
  • Announce the results of a contest
  • Describe (and explain) survey results
  • Live happily ever after

This list could go on for pages but you get the idea.  Everyone (other than hermits and the exceptionally shy) needs publicity.

So how can you get the exposure you and your business or organization must have to survive?  Traditionally, people have turned to advertising to get the word out.

Here’s the rub.  Anyone who has recently priced even a simple classified ad in a local newspaper knows how expensive advertising has become. Multiply that expense times thousands and you’ll get an idea of what it costs to advertise on a national basis.  (A 30 second TV spot during the Super Bowl this year will cost you a cool $3 million, up from $2.7 million in 2008, and four times as much as an ad in 1989).

If you can afford that, I definitely want to be your publicist!

I have good news however.  For a very modest fee (a whole lot less than the cost of the cheapest seat at the Super Bowl), you can get a carefully researched news release professionally written and  distributed on a local, regional, or national basis.

Why Do We Call it a News Release?

We call it a news release rather than a press release because of who it is aimed at and how it is distributed.

In the past, press releases were sent strictly to various media outlets to make an announcement of some sort.  The general public (consumers) got the message in the form of traditional advertising, and in reading articles written by journalists who received the press release and ran with the story.

All of that has changed.  With the Internet, the lines between the media and consumers, between advertising and the news haven’t just become blurred…they have been obliterated!

Today’s news release is written today to appeal to both the consumer and to the intrepid journalist looking for the next story.  It can’t be a blatant sales message or it will turn off the editors and reporters (who are profoundly averse to hawking products).  It also can’t be just a press release if it is being made available to consumers and end users, because there needs to be a sales message, a call to action, that a press release does not have.

Our goal at News Release Pro is to write compelling copy that tells your story in a way that editors and journalists find newsworthy while appealing to the end user.   We carefully weave your sales message into the story while still giving journalists the who, what, where, and when facts that they need.

For example, go to the Samples page and check out the release for my wife’s Kindermusik program.  It is designed to get young parents interested in the music program for their child.  It’s call to action for consumers is the statement that the studio “is now accepting applications for fall classes…”  A creative reporter, however, could quickly come up with several interesting approaches to a news  article:

  • Success story of a small business that defied the odds
  • The time and money parents are willing to spend to help their
    children become all that they can be
  • The state of music education for children in the U.S.

Another interesting release in the Samples area describes the Wine Pod, a clever invention for home winemakers with a love of wine and a healthy pocketbook.  I love the concept, and if my pocketbook was ‘healthier’, I’d have already placed an order.  This news release should generate considerable interest for the Wine Pod among well-heeled wine lovers, yet what journalist covering the beats for new products or wine-related issues could resist crafting a story about the Wine Pod?  It’s sexy, it’s apparently one-of-a-kind, it’s for people whose level of disposable income most of us aspire to, yet it’s not completely out of reach.

News releases are very useful for getting the word out about a new business or service.  Check out the one for News Release Pro.  It is targeted directly at small and home-based businesses, because they have the greatest need and smallest budget to get their message out.  Media outlets, on the other hand, might read this release and be inclined to roll out articles on:

  • The agility and speed to market of home-based businesses
  • How the Internet has leveled the playing field for small operators
  • The blurring of the line between news and advertising in the digital age
  • The challenge of obtaining visibility for new products and services
    in a global economy

The next step is yours.  I hope you will evaluate your business or organization, and determine if you have a need for getting inexpensive publicity, potentially within hours of the news release hitting the wires.  If you need to increase revenue, grow your brand, announce a new product, drive traffic to your website, tell the public about an upcoming contest or fund-raiser, or any of a hundred other reasons to get publicity, then take the next step and go to the Services Page to select which services and level of distribution you would like to achieve.  You’ll be glad you did.

                              I’m interested.  Take me to the Services Page.

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