Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I recently got the following in a marketing consultant eletter, recommending PRWEB service:

For $80 PRWeb will distribute your press release to thousands of journalists and with its Online Visibility Engine much of the task of SEO and adding social media tools is done for you. The $80 level assures that your release makes it to Google and Yahoo News.

Um. Well, okay. So, will those thousands of journalists care? And how many thousands of other people like me are sending to those thousands of journalists? Pretty soon, those “thousands” are turning into an unwieldy, unreadable, unattractive electronic pile - regardless if Google spiders find the stuff tasty or not.

Distribution of press releases has become ridiculously easy - thanks to technology. But the same old boring rules still apply.
1. You have to have something worth saying.
2. It’s got be relevant. For example, you shouldn’t send a high-tech release to a lifestyle journalist, unless it talks about something that affects people’s lifestyle. Duh.
3. The people to whom you send it have to find it interesting.
4. You have to build relationships.
5. You have to be responsive to journalists on a deadline.

And, you can’t expect one press release (or even ten) to dramatically change your business all on its/their own. Getting your “name in the paper” is just one tiny part of what should be a larger, integrated marketing strategy, with lots of related activity and personalized attention to both your target customer and media (Those targets are people too, remember. They get irritated, bored, irrational, happy, excited, etc. etc.)

I’m not saying never use PRWeb - just don’t expect - POOF! - magic…or that you don’t have to do any work. Good “Free” PR is hard work.

If you’re on a tight budget, you could well get better results (like selling something) from that $80 by taking a couple of existing customers to lunch. They already know you.

Read More: My pal (and co-conspirator) Mary Ellen Merrigan’s post, Publicity Now! I’m participating in ME’s upcoming seminar about Online Media Rooms in which I’ll be talking about all that social media stuff. Tip: “Adding social media tools” as touted above isn’t effectively doing social media.

(This is also one of those consultant eletters that make me nuts! By the time I get to any “meat” I’ve had to slog through three or four sales pitches. Okay, the guy may be making big bucks…but this just ain’t the way I want to do business.)

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, press releases, PRWeb