Tag Archives: press release

Need PR for your App? Sorry, there’s NO App for that!

Posted on by
Reply

No app for that

In the last month, I’ve been approached by three different companies seeking help in generating news for their smart phone apps creations.  Currently, I’m working with a brother-sister team that developed BrainAttack App to help emergency room doctors and nurses save lives for stroke patients. Like my clients, all app creators are trying to rise above the noise being generated in an industry that’s growing at lightning speed.

Since 2008, when Apple launched its iTunes App store more than 800,000 apps have been downloaded. Google has quickly played catch up with just under 700,000 apps on Google Play as it marks its first birthday.

app-store-heart

If there’s a business problem, there’s probably an entrepreneur who’s created or working on an app solution. Unfortunately, there’s no app guaranteed to get news coverage for your new app. With the mix of traditional and social media required to generate awareness of your app, a one-size fits-all solution just won’t get you results.

There are so many target audiences that can make or break your efforts to generate awareness of your apps. With these hurdles in mind, I offer…

Top 10 tips to build media buzz for your App  Continue reading →

Press releases can STILL pack a punch

Posted on by
1

PressReleaseIf you follow me here or on my LinkedIn profile, you probably know I’m a strong believer in the effectiveness of a well-written press release.  In an earlier post, I mentioned that press releases have the potential to go viral and become an excellent lead generator.  Recently, I had a media relations experience that perfectly illustrates my point!

Continue reading →

Top 10 Reasons Why Your PR Efforts Fail

Posted on by
Reply

Does it seem like your PR efforts are wasting time and money? Do you repeatedly try and fail to get reporters’ attention? During my many years helping business, government and non-profit clients secure positive news coverage, I’ve felt the adreniline rush that comes with magnificent news coverage, and the agony and embarrassment that follows a media interview gone awry (scroll down to the graph that starts “Then another tollway spokesperson”). With those memories I present the Top Ten Reasons Why Your PR Efforts are Getting You Nowhere:

  1. You emphasized tactics over strategy so your PR campaign lacks clear business goals and objectives.
  2. You’re targeting the wrong media because you haven’t identified your key audiences.
  3. You’ve re-purposed an old media list and didn’t delete the reporters who lost their jobs when their papers folded.
  4. Your final press release required three complete rewrites because you didn’t create a content outline for your boss’s/client’s review.
  5. You e-blasted the release to reporters and editors and it was dumped in junk mailboxes, never to be viewed.
  6. You wrote a one-size-fits-all pitch letter that left reporters with two choices — trash your news now or trash your news later.
  7. You fumbled through a media interview because you didn’t bother thinking through the possible questions and answers beforehand.
  8. You wouldn’t practice for your on-camera interview and your family still jokes about how your eyes bugged whenever you talked.
  9. Your customers don’t know about your news coverage because you didn’t bother merchandising it or sharing it on social networks.
  10. Your messages are so confusing that even your mother can’t describe what you do.
Leave a comment if you have additional entries to my top 10 reasons for PR failure.
 Post happily written by Michelle Damico

 

 

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Debate on Press Release Demise Continues!

Posted on by
1

 

PR pros will be debating this topic forever; I’m convinced of it. The debate rages on between members of my LinkedIn Groups as well. In fact, many public relations professionals have commented on my post “The Press Release is NOT Dead” and it spurred a nice LinkedIn conversation that’s worth sharing. It started when Melissa Bleasdale, a member of the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) Technology Section shared her insights. See it below, and then read my reply.

Melisa BleasdaleMelisa Bleasdale • When we say the press release is dead, which it is, we are not saying that we don’t send them out, because we do – mostly out of habit and because our clients like it. However, in my 20 year career in PR, actual articles have only ever been written because of one-on-one communication with editors and journalists, which does, at some point, involve saying, “I’ll send you the press release” aka synopsis of what the news is. We use Marketwire and it’s not inexpensive and PR profs have to show ROI in the form of actual coverage and not mere pickups and regurgitation of press releases. I can’t speak for everyone of course, but this has been my personal experience as a tech PR rep in the Bay Area.

Michelle DamicoMichelle Damico • Hi Melisa, thanks for the comment. I only write/send out releases when they fit the client strategy. I mostly use well-written pitches to reach journalists. However, when appropriate, I use releases to make sure the journalists have ALL the info they need in one doc. When I pitch them & they’re interested, they often ask for a release, which I translate into, “Give me the background I need.” I contend, the release is NOT Dead, because it provides valuable info to time-stretched journalists AND it has the opportunity to go viral and become a lead generator– which it HAS for two of my clients! 

I really appreciate that you took the time to comment. Have a great weekend.

Here’s a different perspective from another member of LinkedIn’s PRSA Technology Discussion Group:

Marie-Dominique Bonardi

Marie-Dominique Bonardi • I completely agree with you Michelle. The press release gives a great structure to the message. The structure of the press release make the message clearer and stronger. It is really important, all the more when you have customers with weak messages. It is a support of the PR activity, it does not replace the relationship with the reporters, it never has. 
You can change the way you send it, the way you post it, it is still a great basis for the PR pitch and it allows the customer to keep an historical track of PR activities. To me the “press release is dead” message is a marketing way to position some agencies as “trendier” than other. This is just PR marketing. 
We all use the new tools which are great to connect to reporters. But the core of our job (messaging and relationship) remains the same.

Michelle Damico

Michelle Damico • Thank you Marie-Dominique for your excellent comment. It’s a great contribution. Have a great Friday and Mother’s Day, whether you’re a mom or not!

If you have witnessed the value of spending your time writing press releases, I’d love to hear anecdotes about how they worked to generate awareness and boost business leads. I’d also love examples of when a press release flopped. Why didn’t it create the buzz, attract the attention you thought it might? I’ll dig through my files and see what I come up with as well!
 Post happily written by Michelle Damico
Enhanced by Zemanta

The Press Release is NOT Dead!

Posted on by
5

Long Live the Press Release!

It’s a major weapon in your organization’s PR and media relations arsenal and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. They are effective (especially when search-optimized for Google and Yahoo!) in helping customers find your business, and for arming reporters with information about your product or service. I have proof, and it comes courtesy of my PR and marketing clients.

Here’s a press release that prompted executives from consumer warehouse retailers to call my client. Imagine having high-value prospective customers CALL YOU? It happened to Green Delete, which helps firms safely and responsibly delete data from electronic devices. If I hadn’t written and distributed this press release to the journalists who cover recycling, data protection and asset management, these giant companies would never have learned about Green Delete and its expertise in on-site digital asset disposal.

Or check out the release I wrote for Lloyd Bachrach, an amazing, inspiring motivational speaker who also runs Premier Showcase, an annual entertainment event to help school administrators and volunteers see the talent before they book their school assemblies. This press release provided valuable, time-saving information that helps time-crunched reporters quickly get the information they need to not only decide on covering my client, but to write a factually correct story. Reporters are so stressed with multiple deadlines and demands, and a well-written press release helps them better do their jobs.  In fact, see the TV and print coverage that I secured for Lloyd who continually reminds me how those news reports helped grow his business and boost credibility among his business partners.

I have scores of other client news stories that appeared in major market media and started with a press release. Just go to my News section here and take a look. Or contact me to learn about why a compelling, helpful, well-written press release should be a key launching pad for your business’s PR efforts.