Mickie Kennedy: How to Use Press Releases in Your Marketing?

Have you been considering using press releases in your marketing? Press releases can be a valuable tool for getting your business out there and for helping get your message across. In today’s episode, Mickie Kennedy, Founder of eReleases, discusses best practices for writing and using press releases.

Working with PR can be an amazing opportunity for growing your business, but you have to stick with it. Just doing one press release will not be enough to see a major return. Commit to really trying with your PR campaign and do at least six press releases in order to see what works best. By taking what you do that is unique to your business and putting a creative flair on it, you can get your message across and really stand out in your industry.

Tune into this week’s episode of Powerful Marketing Tips for a conversation about how to use press releases for marketing your business. Learn how to hook an editor well enough that your story will not end up on the chopping block.

Quotes:

“A quote is a really great way to survive a managing editor’s pen. And what happens is when you inspire a story, and your quote is put into the story, if the journalist says, ‘Why did you mention the small company I've never heard of?’ The managing editor says that it's hard for them to defend it, why they included you. Now the answer is you inspired the story. But that doesn't mean that they have to have you actually be in there. So if there's a really amazing quote that synthesizes the actual story, and you put some real thought and eloquence in it, a managing editor is going to go, ‘I've never heard of this small company. But man, it's an amazing quote.’ And that's a great way for you to really stand out in an article and survive.” (13:00-13:52)
“If you're going to consider PR, you know, don't do one release, because you really don't know from one release, whether PR is going to work for you or not. But commit to a PR campaign—six to eight press releases—and test different ideas for each to figure out what the the media responds to, and then determine if it's repeatable.” (16:16-16:35)
“I think that so many press releases look like they've been written through a committee. Where so many people give input and what you end up with is watered down, and it really doesn't have a strong position on anything and it's just safe. I think that PR is one of those places where you can take risks—you can take chances. You don't have to do it in a way that's irrational, you don't have to do it in a way that's not creative. But you can do it in a way that's responsible and creative, and stands out.” (19:58-20:13)
“The things to keep in mind is, what may be trending in your market in one country may not be trending in another. So you want to have some sort of an understanding of the market that you're pitching in and how they feel on a particular topic.” (24:19-24:37)
“Take what you do that's different, own it, elevate it, and get the messaging out, and you can really have an amazing opportunity with PR. Share that with social media, share it with your customers, share it with your leads, and then you will see a possible influx of new leads and customers from the media pickup that you receive.” (29:53-30:01)