There are so many things that happen in your business – ranging from the great acts your staff do, to how you are faring financially. Your business might have just done something unique, new and inspiring, but if you don’t shout about it, people might not know to get in touch with you. Therefore, it is really important to make sure you share your business news with the wider community, whether you are interested in investors or customers. I’ve got a few tips for how to do this, and what the benefits are…
Become a thought leader:
As a business, you will be an expert in the products or services you provide. By sharing your opinion as it is required, you may well end up being a trusted source for journalists. This will give you bragging rights over your competitors, and you may even choose to include video and press clippings on your website to prove your knowledge and trust. You will often see directors of companies on BBC Breakfast for example who are able to provide certain insight into changes within an industry and how it may affect people.
Search engine optimization:
You company may be doing search engine optimisation (SEO) which means that you are trying to ensure that your website is listed for your key services and products within Google and the other major search engines. Press releases hosted on other websites could help your SEO link building if you include your URL and certain keywords with links back to your website within the copy. If a news agency picks up your press release, you may well get some quality links back from websites such as the BBC or The Guardian.
Make your business more approachable:
You might include “fluffier” news on your website in a pressroom section to give your staff the inspiration to continue doing a brilliant job for your company. This might be everything from charity fundraising to getting an award from either your company or the wider industry. And again, awards can show how trusted you are and what an impact your staff- and will continue to – make.
Create sharable news:
There isn’t just one way to share your news though, despite press release being the traditional media form. Now, companies are looking at videos, images and sound clips to share their news, as these can be easily shared through social networks. For example, a startup launching a new product might do a teaser video and host this through YouTube or Vimeo. A secondary benefit of this is that bloggers may then pick up the story and provide a link back to your website, another boost for your SEO strategy. The key to create sharable news is to make the content as engaging as possible, as people won’t spend their precious time reading, watching or listening to something that doesn’t capture their attention.
Getting started with press releases:
If you are looking to get your business involved in sharing news, there are a number of PR agencies in the UK. PR Agency One - http://www.pragencyone.co.uk/ – is one such agency based in Manchester, UK who have experience in everything from technology to travel.