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The Underrated Power of the Press Release
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The Underrated Power of the Press Release
by Paul McCord
Open any newspaper and you'll find mention of thousands of
companies and products. Most typically, the same names are
mentioned over and over–Sears, Old Navy, GM, Microsoft, Wal-Mart,
and the list goes on.
Many, if not most, of these stories relate some event or product these
companies want to expose to a broad audience–earnings reports, new
product releases, record sales for a particular product line, promotions,
and a myriad other items, all reported as hard news.
And within the same newspaper, on the same page, you'll find some
small companies you've probably never heard of. Of course, there is
probably little in common between Wal-Mart and Joe's Handy
Cleaners, except most all of the stories on the page were planted by
the companies themselves.
Most midsize-to-large companies have long learned the value of the
press release, but the vast majority of small companies haven't. The
notion seems to be that, to make it into the newspaper, companies
must have some momentous news to break.
But, by forfeiting the newspaper coverage to the "big boys," small
companies are missing out on possibly the most dynamic form of
promotion and lead generation there is–and it's free. And, after all, if
it's in the newspaper, it must be important, right?
Press releases can help level the playing field for companies with
limited budgets and resources. Various online distribution sites will
release your press release for virtually nothing. A company called
PRWeb will send out your press release to tens of thousands of
potential prospects and thousands of media sites for as little as $80
(and as little as $10 if you're willing to take fewer perks)–and provide
you will a full array of statistics to give you a good feel for the
effectiveness of your press release.
If you supplement that with a faxed copy to your local media and a
follow-up call, you can likely gain significant exposure for less than a
nice meal. In addition, if your company operates on a local level only,
you can direct your press release to only local distribution.Of course, that still leaves the issue of what a small company can
possibly say that is newsworthy. Actually, there's much that can be
newsworthy. Have you taken on a new line of merchandise? Maybe
you've just had an expansion? Possibly, you've just developed a new
product or added a new service? Your company is about to have an
anniversary? You're sponsoring an event, scholarship, or some other
community-related promotion? All of these are newsworthy.
Still can't think of anything you would consider being significant
enough to be picked up by the news? Possibly, you can create
something.
Here's an example of a short press release I sent out:
Author Deconstructs Referral Selling Methodology
Houston, Texas (PRWEB) November 27, 2006: Leading prospecting
and referral selling trainer and authority, Paul McCord, tears apart the
traditional referral selling methods taught to salespeople by companies
and sales trainers for decades and has reconstructed them into a
systematic referral generation program that promises to change the
way companies and salespeople relate to customers and clients in his
newly released book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income:
Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007).
According to Stu Taylor, the award-winning host of the nationally
syndicated radio program Equity Strategies, the book "is the most
significant sales book I've read in quite sometime. It is simply the best
book on client relationship selling I've ever read."
"What McCord has done is identify the most powerful way of gaining
sales leads, taken it apart and re-built it into a powerfully more
effective process," says David Straker, business methodology
consultant, in his review of the book at ChangingMinds.org. "The joy
that earns this book a rare five stars is the practical, thorough and
innovative treatment of referrals that can have literally massive benefit
to anyone, not just in sales, who wants to connect with valued other
people."
According to leading sales trainer and New York Times bestselling
author Frank Rumbauskas, the book will become "the authoritative
work on referral selling and developing the client relationship because
it is the most original, innovative, researched and detailed treatmentof the subject. It really is a must read book for anyone in sales who is
serious about their career."
"It has been obvious for decades that the traditional method of
training salespeople to generate referrals, the 'do a good job and ask
for referrals' method, is not effective," McCord claims. "I decided to
find out how the true million dollars a year sales superstars generate
their tremendous volume of referred business and how that differs
from what the average salesperson, business owner and professional is
doing. The differences in how each group relates to their clients and
the way the mega-producers prepare their clients to give a large
number of high quality referrals is amazing. I've simply taken the
various techniques and strategies these big producers use and
developed them into a systematic program so that any salesperson,
professional or business owner can slip them into their own sales
process."
"Companies and salespeople spend billions of dollars every year trying
to generate sales leads when their single biggest lead generation
resource is free and sitting in their computers–their current and past
client database. The problem is there hasn't been an effective, proven,
reliable process for mining that database for new business," McCord
adds. "This is a highly detailed, personal and relationship driven
process that turns those names in the computer into dollars in the
sales pipeline at a fraction of the cost of other lead generation
methods. The super producers do it and there is no reason everyone
can't emulate their success."
The book is available in all fine bookstores and on-line at Amazon,
Barnes and Noble, Powell's, Wal-Mart and most other on-line
booksellers. Additional information on referral selling can also be found
at McCord's referral selling website
http://www.powerreferralselling.com.
That relatively short press release was created when I didn't have
anything "newsworthy" to publish. However, I had book reviews and
endorsements of the book and could convert them into a news story. I
simply took things people had said about the book and formed them
into a short story about the book.
And what was the "newsworthy" message of the press release? The
introduction of a "new," endorsed process for converting current and
past clients into lead generators that replaces an old, ineffective
process, and could save companies millions of dollars whilesubstantially increasing their sales. A weak premise for a press
release? Certainly not the strongest I've ever had.
Nevertheless, I found more than 30 newspapers that needed filler–
literally filler–and they decided that mine was the best at their
disposal. And from my perspective, I couldn't care less about their
reasoning; all I cared was that they picked up the release and ran it.
From this simple 545-word press release, the story was carried in 31
newspapers, mostly small regional and small city newspapers, but also
one major daily; the coverage extended from New York to California–
and India and the UK, to boot. Moreover, those are only the ones I
know about. Numerous online news outlets also picked it up. In
addition, I booked two radio and one print interview. And the cost? I'm
cheap; it cost $10 to send this press release. What would advertising
have cost to get the same exposure? I don't know, but I know I
couldn't afford it.
Using all of the tools at your disposal can help you generate the
business you've always wanted. Most of us are caught in the everyday
drudgery of running our companies, and we forget to look at other
possibilities to promote our businesses. Take a close look at your
company and begin to send out regular press releases. Just keep them
"newsworthy," short (under 500-600 words if possible), and regular–
because it may take a few tries before you get bites from the media.
You don't have to have a PR agency or be a wiz at writing press
releases–although, if you can afford an agency, it can substantially
increase the value of the content and the reach of your press release. I
wrote the abovementioned press release myself, and probably many of
the professionals here are cringing at the very idea of sending out that
release as it was written. Nevertheless, it was, from my perspective,
effective–and dirt-cheap. The return on investment can really be out
of this world.
MarketingProfs.com
Want access to all Premium Articles? Become a Premium Member
Paul McCord is the author of Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales
Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons) and the upcoming Planning
Your Success: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Personal Marketing Plan. He ispresident of McCord and Associates, a sales-training and management-consulting firm.
Reach him at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com or via www.powerreferralselling.com.
Copyright 2007, Paul McCord
Reproduction with full and proper attribution and notification only. Please notify
pmccord@mccordandassociates.com when reproducing in any form
by Paul McCord
Open any newspaper and you'll find mention of thousands of
companies and products. Most typically, the same names are
mentioned over and over–Sears, Old Navy, GM, Microsoft, Wal-Mart,
and the list goes on.
Many, if not most, of these stories relate some event or product these
companies want to expose to a broad audience–earnings reports, new
product releases, record sales for a particular product line, promotions,
and a myriad other items, all reported as hard news.
And within the same newspaper, on the same page, you'll find some
small companies you've probably never heard of. Of course, there is
probably little in common between Wal-Mart and Joe's Handy
Cleaners, except most all of the stories on the page were planted by
the companies themselves.
Most midsize-to-large companies have long learned the value of the
press release, but the vast majority of small companies haven't. The
notion seems to be that, to make it into the newspaper, companies
must have some momentous news to break.
But, by forfeiting the newspaper coverage to the "big boys," small
companies are missing out on possibly the most dynamic form of
promotion and lead generation there is–and it's free. And, after all, if
it's in the newspaper, it must be important, right?
Press releases can help level the playing field for companies with
limited budgets and resources. Various online distribution sites will
release your press release for virtually nothing. A company called
PRWeb will send out your press release to tens of thousands of
potential prospects and thousands of media sites for as little as $80
(and as little as $10 if you're willing to take fewer perks)–and provide
you will a full array of statistics to give you a good feel for the
effectiveness of your press release.
If you supplement that with a faxed copy to your local media and a
follow-up call, you can likely gain significant exposure for less than a
nice meal. In addition, if your company operates on a local level only,
you can direct your press release to only local distribution.Of course, that still leaves the issue of what a small company can
possibly say that is newsworthy. Actually, there's much that can be
newsworthy. Have you taken on a new line of merchandise? Maybe
you've just had an expansion? Possibly, you've just developed a new
product or added a new service? Your company is about to have an
anniversary? You're sponsoring an event, scholarship, or some other
community-related promotion? All of these are newsworthy.
Still can't think of anything you would consider being significant
enough to be picked up by the news? Possibly, you can create
something.
Here's an example of a short press release I sent out:
Author Deconstructs Referral Selling Methodology
Houston, Texas (PRWEB) November 27, 2006: Leading prospecting
and referral selling trainer and authority, Paul McCord, tears apart the
traditional referral selling methods taught to salespeople by companies
and sales trainers for decades and has reconstructed them into a
systematic referral generation program that promises to change the
way companies and salespeople relate to customers and clients in his
newly released book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income:
Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007).
According to Stu Taylor, the award-winning host of the nationally
syndicated radio program Equity Strategies, the book "is the most
significant sales book I've read in quite sometime. It is simply the best
book on client relationship selling I've ever read."
"What McCord has done is identify the most powerful way of gaining
sales leads, taken it apart and re-built it into a powerfully more
effective process," says David Straker, business methodology
consultant, in his review of the book at ChangingMinds.org. "The joy
that earns this book a rare five stars is the practical, thorough and
innovative treatment of referrals that can have literally massive benefit
to anyone, not just in sales, who wants to connect with valued other
people."
According to leading sales trainer and New York Times bestselling
author Frank Rumbauskas, the book will become "the authoritative
work on referral selling and developing the client relationship because
it is the most original, innovative, researched and detailed treatmentof the subject. It really is a must read book for anyone in sales who is
serious about their career."
"It has been obvious for decades that the traditional method of
training salespeople to generate referrals, the 'do a good job and ask
for referrals' method, is not effective," McCord claims. "I decided to
find out how the true million dollars a year sales superstars generate
their tremendous volume of referred business and how that differs
from what the average salesperson, business owner and professional is
doing. The differences in how each group relates to their clients and
the way the mega-producers prepare their clients to give a large
number of high quality referrals is amazing. I've simply taken the
various techniques and strategies these big producers use and
developed them into a systematic program so that any salesperson,
professional or business owner can slip them into their own sales
process."
"Companies and salespeople spend billions of dollars every year trying
to generate sales leads when their single biggest lead generation
resource is free and sitting in their computers–their current and past
client database. The problem is there hasn't been an effective, proven,
reliable process for mining that database for new business," McCord
adds. "This is a highly detailed, personal and relationship driven
process that turns those names in the computer into dollars in the
sales pipeline at a fraction of the cost of other lead generation
methods. The super producers do it and there is no reason everyone
can't emulate their success."
The book is available in all fine bookstores and on-line at Amazon,
Barnes and Noble, Powell's, Wal-Mart and most other on-line
booksellers. Additional information on referral selling can also be found
at McCord's referral selling website
http://www.powerreferralselling.com.
That relatively short press release was created when I didn't have
anything "newsworthy" to publish. However, I had book reviews and
endorsements of the book and could convert them into a news story. I
simply took things people had said about the book and formed them
into a short story about the book.
And what was the "newsworthy" message of the press release? The
introduction of a "new," endorsed process for converting current and
past clients into lead generators that replaces an old, ineffective
process, and could save companies millions of dollars whilesubstantially increasing their sales. A weak premise for a press
release? Certainly not the strongest I've ever had.
Nevertheless, I found more than 30 newspapers that needed filler–
literally filler–and they decided that mine was the best at their
disposal. And from my perspective, I couldn't care less about their
reasoning; all I cared was that they picked up the release and ran it.
From this simple 545-word press release, the story was carried in 31
newspapers, mostly small regional and small city newspapers, but also
one major daily; the coverage extended from New York to California–
and India and the UK, to boot. Moreover, those are only the ones I
know about. Numerous online news outlets also picked it up. In
addition, I booked two radio and one print interview. And the cost? I'm
cheap; it cost $10 to send this press release. What would advertising
have cost to get the same exposure? I don't know, but I know I
couldn't afford it.
Using all of the tools at your disposal can help you generate the
business you've always wanted. Most of us are caught in the everyday
drudgery of running our companies, and we forget to look at other
possibilities to promote our businesses. Take a close look at your
company and begin to send out regular press releases. Just keep them
"newsworthy," short (under 500-600 words if possible), and regular–
because it may take a few tries before you get bites from the media.
You don't have to have a PR agency or be a wiz at writing press
releases–although, if you can afford an agency, it can substantially
increase the value of the content and the reach of your press release. I
wrote the abovementioned press release myself, and probably many of
the professionals here are cringing at the very idea of sending out that
release as it was written. Nevertheless, it was, from my perspective,
effective–and dirt-cheap. The return on investment can really be out
of this world.
MarketingProfs.com
Want access to all Premium Articles? Become a Premium Member
Paul McCord is the author of Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales
Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons) and the upcoming Planning
Your Success: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Personal Marketing Plan. He ispresident of McCord and Associates, a sales-training and management-consulting firm.
Reach him at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com or via www.powerreferralselling.com.
Copyright 2007, Paul McCord
Reproduction with full and proper attribution and notification only. Please notify
pmccord@mccordandassociates.com when reproducing in any form
