Press releases are a great way to publicize your business, but frankly, not all press releases are created equal.
Some press releases are pretty dull to read and have nothing new or exciting to tell the reader. The fact that a company just hired a new CEO or entered a partnership with a new distributor...yes, that's news, but is it interesting news? Not to anyone outside of the company.
So what is a company to do when they have no exciting news to announce? Create their own news, that's what? And how do they do that?
One of the best ways to do that is to feature original research in your press release - by hiring an outside company to do a poll (study, survey) for you. And here's 5 big reasons why:
1.) New & Newsworthy: When you commission a poll, you are finding out something new and unique, which is the perfect kind of news to report. What are the five most popular dog breeds for families with children in the year 2009? What are the five most popular diets - AND - what are the five diets with the highest success rates? Who gets more Brazilian waxes - men or women?
2.) Adds Importance: You can use a poll to show the importance of your product or service. For example Prell hair Products commissioned a poll that showed that people who were having a bad hair day suffered low self esteem on those days.
3.) More Magnetic: Polls are widely picked up by the media. The aforementioned poll on bad hair days was picked up by mainstream news outlets all over the country. So polls are a way to greatly increase the odds that your press release is picked up by the media.
4.) Competition Beaters: Polls are a way to stand out from your competition. When your competitors are announcing dull, boring company earnings reports or the latest industry award that they won, and you have a fun, exciting poll about, say, five things that are major first date turnoffs for men, guess which press release people are going to read. Polls make your press release read more like an exciting news story.
5.) Big Buzz Possibilities: Polls make your press release much more likely to go viral."Going viral" is what happens when your news, press release, video or whatever, is so interesting that people send it on in an email to their friends, or tweet links to it, or post it on facebook...and believe me, nobody is going to get excited about a press release saying that a company just received a second place award at the annul Blue Widget Convention. However, a funny, interesting or provocative poll may very well get passed around and generate huge buzz for your company.
Margaret Ross is president and CEO of the Kamaron Institute & Foundation, a leading business and educational consulting, marketing research , and staff development firm. Ross is a frequently featured guest on America's top radio shows.
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Margaret Ross on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kamaron_org
Blog: http://kamaron.org/blog
