5 Reasons to send a news release

Experienced pros make it seem easy to get your news into a magazine or on a web site. We look at a number of items before deciding what would make a good story for publication.

Here's a look at five topics that can help build a strong case for coverage:

1.Solving a problem

Editors love hearing about how one of your end users found a solution to a problem. It may be specific to their operation, or it may be a systemic issue plaguing their industry. Either way its a win for the end user by eliminating a roadblock in their operation, a win for you as the supplier helping them overcome a hurdle and a win for the publication (or web site) who gets to help thier readership with the solution.

2. Significant sales accomplishment

This is not your typical 1 or 2 unit sale to the same end user regardless of your ASP (that's average selling price for the uninitiated). Look more towards 3 to 5 units or a significant dollar amount that's over 4 times your normal sale volume for a single order.

3. Staffing Changes

Everyone loves to see their name in print. As a matter of fact, people like to keep track of their colleagues as they move up the corporate ladder. Executive, senior and field staff along with key personnel appointments help keep your name in front of your public and promote the health of your company.

4. Educational Seminars and Conference Participation

Offering a free or low cost webinar or face-to-face seminar on a key technology or process issue? Telling your customers and prospects is a good start, but getting the word out to the rest of the industry helps position your company as a technology/process leader. It can serve to add potential prospects to the sales funnel with a lower lead acquisition cost over more traditional methods . . . and they are more qualified leads to boot!

5. Good Corporate Citizenship

Many companies overlook the opportunity to publish the good work they are doing for charities, scholarships and general donations. While this may yield a lower publication rate that the other topics, it can yield a request for a focus article on your company that allows you to promote the way your business gives back to the community.

We have 2 Clients that participate in corporate giving in one form or another. One contributes to AMURT (Ananda Marga Relief Team), an organization that provides humanitarian aid across the globe. They donate a percentage of their revenue each year to help with clinics in Kenya. The second contributes a portion of their annual revenue to UNICEF.

My company, NAMCo - Not Another Marketing Company, provides more direct support in the local community by providing free or discounted marketing/PR services for the Belmar Arts Council, Belmar Chamber of Commerce and Belmar First Aid Squad. I also volunteer on the Belmar First Aid Squad answering calls during the workday when many of the squad members are at their day jobs out of town.

Are you a 90% marketer?

We've been taught since our formidable years to give a 110% effort in order to succeed in life. Athletes do it every game. Successful Type A personalities do it without thinking. Yet we as marketers sometimes settle for less.

My latest reminder of this phenomenon was delivered in the mail last week. Here was a beautifully designed direct mail piece that had it all, almost. The major elements were right in front of my face. It used an offer - in this case for a portable optical mouse which would be a great addition to my laptop kit. It had a 'call to action' - giving a link to the survey that acted as the qualification phase of offer. So what made this a less than 110% marketing piece? The web link to the survey!

Although the mailer was personally addressed, there was an error in the individualized link printed on the outside and inside of the promotion. The end result? There was NO way to capture the prospect's information since following the link yielded a generic, yes generic error page in my browser.

The end result was a total waste of money for the advertiser. I don't know where the error occurred. It could have been the agency that failed to verify/vet the printing automation used in the customization phase. It might have been the source data that was unchecked. Or it may have been a costly oversight in the entire process.

The moral of this story? Check your information over an over again to ensure that it's correct. Test, Test and test again until you are confident customization works for your mailer. And always make one person fully responsible for verifying and validating the data, process and end product.

I'll see you later with another Marketing and more . . . tip shortly.