3 Key Press Release Trends For 2011
College Sports Information Directors of America
read online: 3 Key Press Release Trends For 2011, by Jolina Pettice, Senior Account Manager at TopRank Online Marketing
Press releases have always been an effective way to distribute news. However, as news content becomes more interactive and is distributed across various other channels, such as social media, PR professionals should be aware of key trends that can help increase the effectiveness of their releases.
As we charge forward into 2011, look for PR professionals to evolve their traditional releases with elements that can boost the visibility of content. Let’s consider 3 key trends that will continue to emerge in 2011 for PR professionals and the creation of press releases:
1. Increasing SEO Although some PR professionals understand the importance of creating search optimized press releases, the majority of releases continue to be distributed without key SEO considerations.
The importance of maintaining a highly visible brand within search engine result pages will continue to be important and we anticipate more PR Pros and small businesses recognizing the impact optimized press releases can have on search objectives.
To ensure optimized press releases are part of the marketing mix, more companies will focus on basic optimization training for writers, including:
a. Keyword use in key places such as headline, sub-head and first paragraph
b. Understanding anchor text hyperlinks and linking to relevant content on the company website
c. Including copy to call the reader to an action such as visiting a newsroom or requesting a demo, for example
2. Evolving beyond traditional releases Traditional press releases use standard text to convey the story and relate to the reader. As news continues to become more interactive with video, photos and audio, so will press releases. Currently some release incorporate additional elements, but the majority still rely on text-based content to tell the story.
However, if you look at any well-visited news destination that you may be trying to reach with your release, they are using images and video heavily as that’s what readers are craving.
To connect with both news outlets and consumers who find your release,, ensure press releases incorporate interactive elements.
The multimedia press release elements include: embedded video, photos relating to the news, additional documents and even links to audio interviews as the news happens.
3. Redistribution
Most PR professionals and small business owners rely on creating press releases that tell a story, submit it to a distribution service and consider the project complete.
As all businesses need to consider themselves in the business of content marketing, the idea of slicing and dicing content for or multiple channels will become increasingly important.
2011 will be the year press releases and their content will swim in different streams. By slightly updating the content for the appropriate content stream, you can connect with larger audiences in the ways they prefer to receive content whether that is through:
- Blog posts
- Social media sites
- Newsrooms/Landing Pages
As we move into a new year, look to see a larger volume of both PR pros and small businesses leveraging new ways to help their story reach larger segments of an audience. By optimizing, adding interactive elements and redistributing release content into additional channels, you will see how a news item can impact results in other areas such as SEO, brand awareness and thought leadership in 2011.
To learn more about the key press release trends going into 2011 and how they can help your business, subscribe to the PRWeb blog RSS feed or follow PRWeb on Twitter.