How to Publish a Small Business Press Release

The small business press release can be a useful addition to your marketing mix. In this article, I'll share some of the lessons I've learned over the years. I've also provided a link to the press release distribution service I've been using for more than five years.

If you have some business news ready to go, and you're just looking for somewhere to publish it, use the link above. You can learn more about this product recommendation through the disclosure statement below. If you'd like to learn more about the techniques behind a small business press release, keep reading:

The Benefits of Online Press Releases

Press releases are still a viable method for promoting your business. In fact, they have evolved along with the Internet, instead of becoming obsolete like many people predicted. Today, the small business press release can help you reach a larger audience than ever before. It can help you generate buzz by capitalizing on what the Web is all about -- socialization.

PRWeb, for example, has a lot of press release distribution packages than allow you to tap into social networks with endless reach. This is certainly better than the days of "sit-and-wait" public relations. It puts the power of distribution into your hands, instead of the hands of some newspaper editor.

A Small Business Marketing Tool

Diversification is the key to marketing a small business effectively. If you rely too heavily on one particular strategy (such as print ads), you'll miss out on a lot of potential business. Why? Because not everyone reads print magazines and newspapers. Some people get most of their news and information from the Web. Everyone's different. So you have to use different marketing techniques if you want to reach them.

This is why I recommend the business press release as part of your marketing mix. When you use them properly, they can help you do several things at once -- increase brand awareness, generate leads, boost your search engine rankings, etc.

Here's something else you'll like, as a small business owner. Online press release distribution is relatively affordable, when compared to other marketing strategies. For example, I can publish a release through PRWeb for $80 - $120 (depending on the distribution options I select). And if I've done my job properly and written a strong release about a noteworthy development, it will generate a good deal of buzz, web traffic and inquiries for me.

You'll notice I bolded the words "strong release" in that previous paragraph. There's a good reason for this. A weak press release won't generate much in the way of results. So let's talk about some PR writing and strategy concepts.

How to Write and Publish a Strong Release

It's not enough to blast a bunch of releases across the Internet and then wait for the leads to pour in. Before you do anything else, you must develop an information campaign around a certain product or service. The press release itself is just a single part of this larger campaign.

It all starts with the significance of the thing you are promoting. If you have an exciting new product or service that's going to help your audience in some way, then you have a newsworthy item worth sharing. A business press release would be appropriate for this scenario. But if you don't have anything noteworthy to share, then all the releases in the world won't help you. Why do I stress this point? Because I've seen countless "so what" releases over the years. These are the kind that make you shrug your shoulders and say, "So what?" Distributing this kind of "news" across the Internet is a waste of time and money.

Here are some press release writing and strategy tips to help you get the most from your PR efforts.

1. It's worth repeating: The success or failure of your small business press release all starts with the product or service you are promoting. All the releases in the world can't help a boring product. If you don't have something newsworthy to share, you don't have a good reason to distribute a press release. Call it tough love, but that's just the reality of it.
2. Do not use your press release to sing your own praises. Bloggers, journalists and even your potential customers can see through this. Besides, if you have followed tip #1 above, you won't need to sing your praises. Just explain that fantastic product of yours in clear, straightforward language.
3. Headlines are vital. Rewrite your headline as many times as needed, until you get it just right. It should be easy for people to understand at a glance, and it should convey the single most significant aspect of your news release.
4. Make your release as long as needed to convey all of the vital information, but no longer than that. The ideal length for an online press release is 350 - 550 words.
5. Create a web page to support your announcement, and point to that web page at the bottom of your release. It's okay to send people to the home page of your site, but it's much better to send them to a specific page that's related to the product or service of mention. If you make people hunt for the information they want, they'll bail on you. File this one under Website Usability 101.
6. Optimize your release with keywords that are relevant to your products and services. This will improve the search engine visibility of the document, which in turn will help people find it online when researching the services you provide.
7. In addition to publishing your press release through the distribution website recommended above, you should also send it to all of the relevant industry news sources. Who puts out news for your particular industry? Find those people, and send them your news.

Other Press Release Distribution Services

I've listed my recommendation for press release distribution at the top of this page. There are some other services you might want to consider as well. Here's a short list for your continued research:

• PRWeb.com -- This is my recommendation. They understand the social nature of the web more than most of these companies, and they've built their press release service around this knowledge.
• PRLeap.com -- Another decent distribution service. Although, if you use the service above, it would be a bit redundant to use this one too.
• PRLog.org -- Good search engine visibility for releases, but ad-supported. Google AdSense ads will appear in the middle of your release. You have no control over the ads that appear, so your competitors could very well show up there. Oops!
• PR.com -- Terrible customer service in my own personal experience. I had a billing problem with them once, and it took two weeks and countless emails to get it straightened out. Maybe they've changed since then, but I'll never use them again.
• BusinessWire.com -- This is one of the oldest PR services around. They are more expensive than the ones listed above, but you can get broader distribution as well. They offers traditional PR services (print publications) in addition to online releases.
• PRNewswire.com -- See comments for BusinessWire above. The same applies here.

Caution: If you do a Google search for online press release distribution, you'll find dozens more of these services. But many of these services make bold promises and then fail to deliver. You pay the submission fee, and your business release shows up on their obscure website -- and that's it. I recommend that you stick with the distribution services I've listed above. You don't need all of them, so experiment with one or two and see how it goes.

I hope you've enjoyed this guide to small business press release distribution, and I wish you well in your marketing efforts.

Disclosure: I proudly disclose that I have an affiliate-style relationship with the press release distribution service listed at the top of this page. I'm also a long-time customer of PRWeb. I have published more than 50 press releases through their website over the years, for myself and for clients as well. So while I am compensated for the new customers I send them, my recommendation is based on actual experience (and satisfaction). Additionally, I have not been paid to say or write anything about this company. This article is my own personal recommendation, in my own words.