Press releases are a great way to highlight your company’s best features at little expense.
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Press releases can announce anything that you feel is newsworthy. It could be anything from new products to new services like valet parking or free shipping to new staff hires or company anniversaries or your efforts to go green.
If you think about your business from a newsworthy perspective, you could write a press release practically every day, or at least, once a month. News releases are a great way to drum up publicity for your company and they are terribly underused by most small businesses.
What’s so great about them?
I like to think of them as makeup for your business. It’s cheap. It makes you look good and unless you’re overdoing it, it appeals to everyone.
Expense
Press releases are cheap. They take time, yes, but you do not have to hire anyone to do them for you. You really can do them yourself. Remember though, when you are writing them, you have to focus on the newsworthiness of whatever it is you are announcing. If your facility has just received accreditation, it’s not enough to announce it; you must also say why it’s so important that your business be accredited. If you’re stuck and don’t know how to start, look at other releases online. It won’t take you long to figure out which ones are good and well written and which ones are not.
Highlight
Press releases intend to make you look good. You shouldn’t be announcing anything that makes you look bad. Your goal, just like with makeup, is to highlight your best features.
Have you just been nominated to win a small business award? You don’t have to actually win it to write a release. You can write a release just because you’ve been nominated. Highlight your best features. Have you or your employees just returned from a trade show or course? Write a release. Highlight the fact that you are committed to continuing education and staying on top of the latest products and technology. You don’t have to invent the latest products; you just have to highlight the fact that you know how to use them.
Appeal
Press releases appeal to everyone. Let’s face it; the target market for people who could potentially use an orthosis or prosthesis is everyone. A press release has the potential to be read by anyone. If they read about you, even though they may not need your services at this particular time, they might know someone who does. They might remember you in the future. They may become so interested in your company that they apply for a job. You never know who might be out there reading about you and what affect that might have on your company down the road.
In this economy, it’s important to take advantage of the tools that are the most cost-effective. A press release can be the single most important piece of paper, or e-mail, in your company.
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