Great news for PR practitioners: Despite rumors to the contrary, the trusty old press release is not dead.
Text 100 surveyed 72 journalists and found that the press release is still the preferred format for receiving corporate news.
While you are celebrating this news, there is one caveat: text only releases don’t do much for you.
PR Newswire reports that a study of releases on their wire service shows that::
- Adding a photo or an image increases views of the release by 14%
- Adding a video gives you a 28% increase in views
- Make that an image and a video and you’ll get a 48% boost in views
- Go all the way and put in a photo, a video, a graphic and a download and you’ll see a 78% jump in the number of views
Watch this video of how to craft a Social Media News Release with multimedia
The Power of a Good Online Newsroom
Nipping right at the heels of the press release is the corporate website. This highlights the importance of having a comprehensive online press centre. It should give journalists access to
- Press releases
- Press contacts
- Photos
- Images
- Video
- Graphics
- Downloads
- Slide shows
- Embed Codes
Your online newsroom should also display your social content, such as your corporate blog posts and your Twitter feed. Did you see that the number three source for journalists is the company blog and number six is the Twitter feed?
Make this content easily visible in your newsroom. A well-designed online newsroom should provide a one-stop source for journalists and bloggers.
