Over the past three blogs, I have mused over the expanding role of the news release since the very first one was issued about a century ago by the Pennsylvania RR at the urging of one of the very first PR practitioners, Ivy Lee. While the news release continues to fulfill its original role as a factual, succinct summary of a newsworthy development, it has proved over the years to be a more powerful marketing tool than meets the eye.

Because the process of writing a news release is deadline driven, its sense of urgency naturally commands the attention of all key stakeholders (often the CEO) in the messages that the release is to impart. As I have noted in a previous blog, the process of drafting the release often unmasks a lack of consensus among the stakeholders about key messages — and in some instances, an embarrassing lack of strategic marketing and/or weak product/corporate positioning.  Thus we find the news release performing an unintended but very critical role of driving consensus around marketing issues and key messages. In the best of circumstances, this consensus is reached before the deadline, otherwise the news release is postponed until such consensus is reached.

In the Internet Age where virtually anyone can become their own publisher, the news release takes on heightened importance as a communications and marketing tool.  Not only can it be distributed worldwide instantaneously and picked up by major portals just as quickly (thanks to electronic distribution by providers such as Business Wire), but it also becomes a searchable document that will be accessible on the Internet virtually forever.  Therefore, news release craftsmanship today needs to carefully consider the key words that its target audience is likely to search as well as what is said today may read in the future, perhaps years from now.  Indeed, the news release serves as a factual milestone that could be drawn upon in the preparation of future articles many years hence.

The real beauty of of distributing news releases in the Internet Age is the third dimension afforded by using hyperlinks within the release.  In the old days of printing and snail mailing, best practices and media preference suggested the length of the release be no longer than 3 pages double space.  But not so on the Internet where releases need be no more than 1 page single spaced with embedded hyperlinks that will zoom you to a “landing page” or photos, charts, graphs and even a video to get more information about the newsworthy topic.

In closing this final chapter on news release evolution, I would be remiss if I did not cite how effective the news release can be in directly communicating with current and prospective customers.  By emailing customers advance copies of the news release about a week before its released to the media, you’re telling your customers that you want them to be the first to know.  This not only flatters customers in that you consider them important enough to tell them the news before its news, it also compels them to read the release immediately owing to its deadline nature.  I have effectively used advance copies of a product news release to invite customer prospects to an event at which the new product would be formally unveiled.

Thus Ivy Lee’s “press release” of yore, which I prefer to call a news release, has evolved into a more powerful communications and marketing tool than meets the eye. Those who do not treat it as such are sadly shortchanging themselves.

The News Release has evolved into a powerful electronic publishing tool in the Internet Age, however, many companies fail to exploit it as such. Before going into detail, let’s add some historical perspective to see how the News Release ascended to this point about a century after Ivy Lee, one of the first PR practitioners, issued the very first “press release” about a tragic accident on the Pennsylvania RR.

Up until the Internet soared to worldwide popularity in the 1990s, there was a lot of competition among technology companies to get their news published in business and trade publications. Editorial space was limited because it had to be paid for by advertising.  Publishers of print media typically aimed for a 60:40 ratio of advertising to editorial…that is 60 pages of advertising to pay for 40 pages of editorial. As the number of high-tech companies mushroomed beginning in the early 1970s, so also did the number of trade magazines grow to serve an expanding world market.  During this halcyon period of print publishing, trade magazines would receive thousands of news releases from high-tech firms either directly or via PR practitioners, whose number also grew significantly during this period.

Even with more print trade/business magazines, the competition for editorial space was still intense.  Of the thousands of news releases a magazine received each month, only a small fraction found their way beyond the trash can and into the editorial pages. Not surprisingly, those companies that were regular advertisers found that their news releases picked up more often than those companies not advertising.

Fast forward to the present where we now see print media unable to maintain the 60:40 ratio, and challenged to find ways to monetize their content on the Internet.  Effectiveness of pop-up ads remains debatable, while paid subscriptions to newsletters and sponsored webcasts/white papers are among some of the ways being pursued. Google has emerged as the great white hope with powerful search and analytic tools that enable traditional print media publishers to demonstrate how well their content attracts targeted audiences. Nonetheless, publishers of business/trade magazines are still trying to build Internet revenue models that can provide the profits they were used to getting in the old 60:40 days of print.

As print media continue to scramble for ways to monetize their content on the Internet, more and more companies are realizing that they can be their own publishers by instantaneously distributing their own news releases worldwide by using the services of a Business Wire or PR Newswire. While PR practitioners still strive to capture editorial space for their clients in trade/business media — be it print or on the Internet –they no longer rely solely on doing so. In fact, distribution and exposure via Business Wire is considered adequate for many of the releases issued by a company. Moreover, the use of a Business Wire gives the release the imprimatur of officially being published.  This along with the simultaneous posting of the release on the issuers web site serves to attract the targeted audience on a 24/7 basis.  Not to be overlooked, once published on the worldwide web in this way, the release via its key words will be “searchable” virtually forever…which should make companies consider how well their key messages in the news release will play over time.

The real beauty of the electronically published news release is that it can be immediately accessed by Internet visitors worldwide on a 24/7 basis.  Those who search on key words in the release will most likely fit within the target audience profile.  Moreover, the news release can contain a hyperlink that will take the reader to a “landing page” that provides more in-depth information than the news release imparted. In moving the release over the wire, it can also be accompanied by photographs, charts, graphs and even videos