Part five — Please see part four as well

There are any number of ways to conduct an online PR program for your business. When my company establishes one for a client, we look at our client’s goals and go from there. There needs to be a strategy and it needs to involve consistency. Often we will develop a press release campaign that sees a new press release developed every two months on issues that will likely resonate with our client’s customers and peers. We know that the more newsworthy the topic, the more attention the release will get, so we are always at pains to ensure the press releases are not fluffy announcements about the company baseball tournament – unless, of course that tournament raised a substantial amount of money for charity, perhaps. Working with our clients, we develop a press distribution list that targets the industry organizations and news outlets that are important to our client and their customers, or we might make use of one of the press distribution services that will look after distribution to thousands of outlets around the world.  Any queries the releases generate are funneled to one of our client’s representatives for answers.

Most traditional publications post their content to their online site and the editorial team may or may not be different for each venue. Ideally, you want the real name of a real person to whom you can address your request for attention.

Types of Online Channels for Public Relations and Press Releases

Here are some ideas for the type of online channel to which you might send your release:

• The websites of industry organizations or associations to which you belong
• Websites that specialize in that area
• Forums that are focused on your industry or topic
• The blogs of people who write a lot about your topic
• The social media accounts of people or organizations that specialize in your area
• LinkedIn groups

If that sounds like too much effort, or you don’t have time, you can also look into any one of a number of newswire services available that, for a fee, will distribute your press release for you. These organizations have extensive lists of publications in every field around the world and they claim to update the contact information for all editors and community managers regularly. If you purchase their service, they will send your release out for you, and track the response you triggered with a report back to you on how many impressions you generated.

If you’d like more information about how my team and I might be able to support your online PR efforts, please get in touch!

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