Next Generation Press Releases with Mickie Kennedy
Aug 09, 2022
Want more exposure and press coverage? Press releases can help but they’ve changed a lot over the years. Mickie Kennedy from eReleases joins Cash In On Camera to share what’s on the horizon for press releases and how you can use them to grow your brand.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll hear…
▶️ [0:35] Right. So, the good news is that a lot of people aren't using press releases and it is one of the places that journalists go when they're hunting for an idea for a story or an article. They're also getting pitches and things like that but it makes sense with the consolidation that there are just a few places to look at press releases on the wire.
▶️ [2:33] The value of them is that it is an automated feed that's available to the media used to be that there were dedicated feeds that would go into a newsroom sort of an internet population. But now with the internet, it's mostly behind a login. You have your login credentials at the wire, you log in, you create your customized feeds and then you just stay on top of it, checking them intermittently.
▶️ [5:35] So it's not unusual for the press release to inspire an article that may be different for small businesses. Often what you're announcing and the article gets turned into, you can see they're very similar. But for example, when Microsoft announced that they were getting rid of bulletin boards, online bulletin boards, it was like, we're doing this because it's a safer environment for children and that was the language that they used. And then the articles that resulted from it are just they were scathing. They were just like, Microsoft is saying that this is to help children, but Microsoft is not getting rid of chat. It's not getting rid of Skype.
▶️ [8:52] So, I say to anybody who is considering a press release or has tried a couple and they didn't work, I always say, consider doing a survey or study in your industry always result in media attention. You want to ask captivating questions that are appropriate today. Right now we have a lot of stuff going on with the logistics, supply chain, staffing issues, and uncertainties with the economy. So if you were to take your industry's temperature right now on those subjects and more I always say throw in a couple of odd lefts, and left ball questions as well towards the end of the survey. And just collect your information, get it put together.
▶️ [11:19] That might be something that they're more interested in because you know, it's an element of your industry that they cover. So having that page on your website is a great place for the media to link to, but it's also a great place for them to go and find additional information that they could really create an interesting article or a compelling article based on your survey or study.
▶️ [15:55] I think that we are moving more towards video and multimedia. We put a lot of effort into doing some YouTube ads, remarketing to people who've already seen us, and having a video conversation with them. I think the video is very powerful. And also I think that knowing that the next generation press release is going to include multimedia. You always want to include images when you are sending your release out. Because if a journalist is looking at potentially two stories and they have a web audience, they know that if you have a really engaging photo that that's gonna make you went out over some other person who may be the similar quality of a story that they're working on.
▶️ [17:33] I think COVID has shrunk that timeframe because I think a lot of companies now, and I agree with you, I've always thought that it would be a great idea for companies to have some sort of like B roll or footage of their company kind of at the ready. And it sounds like it could play into the future of press releases, which is really exciting.