Press Releases: The Forgotten Marketing Tool

In the days before small and local business turned their attention to marketing their business online, the press release offered a great way to raise awareness for a brand and encourage consumers or other businesses to make contact. Paper press releases are still used in this way and can really give local businesses a boost to their performance.

Online businesses needn't be left without their own methods of press release distribution. Creating newsworthy items in a relatively concise manner allows for the addition of one or two links to your own web pages. Once distributed through news wire or distribution services this can mean a large number of relevant links from powerful websites.

Press releases need to be based on newsworthy stories. As well as news pertaining to your own business or company it is possible to link a press release with a topical story that is hitting the general headlines. Journalists, readers, and publishers particularly enjoy these pieces because they give the reader information that they are already familiar with as well as a relevant link to their own circumstance or situation.

Writing and distributing press releases is not only beneficial for SEO link building but can drive targeted traffic to your website. A range of publications collect and feature digital press releases on their own Internet publication. A lot of these sites are, in themselves, widely used and trusted by their readers and having a press release published on their pages can promote any relevant service or product.