March 28, 2021

Press releases have always been a valuable vehicle for a company to broadcast its news and promote its achievements to its customers and market. Technology vendors typically leverage press releases to announce the availability of new products and services, the signing of agreements with customers and partners, and the completion of similar company achievements and milestones. 

Press releases from technology vendors should always broadcast business growth, even in product-related announcements, and should focus on the benefits rather than technical details. 

Press releases are much more than just the page and half or so of text describing a company announcement. Yes, of course, attractive content correctly written in the language and framework of a press release is essential. In our previous update on The Anatomy of a Press Release, we covered this topic in detail. However, finalizing the text of an announcement is in fact just a middle point of what can be considered the overall press release project. 

—

Good press release distribution can lead to influential news coverage and follow up interviews, attractive marketing and social media campaigns and – most importantly – valuable business development and sales promotion. This last area of business development and sales promotion is often overlooked by the marketing staff responsible for press releases. From our experience, a well written press release that is distributed correctly can help close pending deals and trigger new leads and sales opportunities.  The alternative is somewhere between a missed opportunity and unfulfilled potential. 

—

News Distribution Service

The first step for distributing a press release is sending out the announcement through the service of a news distribution provider. For many, this step is considered necessary in order for a press release to be recognized as an official company announcement, especially in the eyes of sale channel and business partners promoting technology solutions to end user organizations in local markets. 

Our recommendation is to use the service of an established news distribution provider. We consider PR Newswire to be one of the better available options. From our experience, the office here in Israel offers excellent service and its team always provides high end support.

—

Journalists Outreach

Pitches should be sent to relevant journalists ahead of the press release distribution date. A well-written pitch sent to the correct set of journalists can lead to numerous interviews and extensive news coverage. 

Logically, the topic of the announcement will dictate the initial set of journalists and media outlets to target. With some creativity, unique angles on the topic of a press release can build connections with additional journalists and lead to wider news coverage. 

Obviously, not all journalists will respond to a pitch and of those that do respond, not all will want to schedule an interview. Some may request to see the press release under embargo, while others may ask a few questions by email or ask for an exclusive quote.

On the day a press release is distributed, the press release can be sent directly to a wider set of journalists. Including an attractive photograph or image will always increase the likelihood that the announcement will be covered in some capacity.

A similar outreach can also be conducted for industry analysts. 

—

Social Media Campaign

Press releases are always a good opportunity to conduct a social media campaign. Posts to a company’s social media accounts with links to a press release and relevant news coverage are definitely worthwhile.

Actively pursuing Likes from third parties connected to the topic of the announcements, such as the customers or partners referenced in the press release, will add value. We generally aim to get at least twenty plus Likes for each of our posts on our LinkedIn page. To be honest, we do this just to give a good impression.

—

Email Campaign

A press release can also be sent directly the relevant contacts in a company’s contact database, such as employees, customers, technology partners, investors and so on. 

For this, there are many GDPR regulations and antispam mandates that must be taken into consideration.

—

Sales Channel Partners Outreach

A press release also presents an excellent opportunity for a technology vendor to interact with its sales channel partners. As part of the overall press release distribution activities, a technology vendor’s business development staff should always share a press release directly with the sales channel partners who are promoting and selling the company’s products and solutions in local markets around the world. 

Formal briefing calls or casual conversations as part of ongoing account management activities should be scheduled with each sales channel partner to go over the topic of a press release. For example, for a press release announcing a new product or technological capability, a demonstration can be given to sales channel partners as part of business discussions about the new sales opportunities that can be pursued as a result of the newly available products and features.

For existing sales channel partners, a press release can be used to support sales activities with an end customer that is currently in process. Many times, a press release can also wake up sales processes that have gone dormant.

A press release can also be used by a technology vendor’s business development team to attract the attention of potential sales channel partners.

—

This is the process we have been following for many years for the press releases that we distribute on behalf of our clients. For each client press release, we endeavor to build on the distribution of previous announcements, especially in terms of reaching new coverage in additional media outlets and expanding the overall engagement with a client’s market.

We of course will be happy to schedule a time to discuss how we can help your company improve the distribution of its press release. 

Please be in contact with us through the short form below.