Mickie Kennedy | eReleases
In my experience, there are few marketing topics that inspire strong opinions as press releases do. It seems most companies treat them as a given when they make a new hire, release a new product, etc. But ask any marketer whether the bang is really worth the buck and you’re bound to get an earful on why press releases don’t work.
At the same time, there are plenty of examples of companies that have seen great success from press releases. How do they do it? And when should you invest in sending a press release?
On this week’s episode, eReleases founder Mickie Kennedy shares straight talk on when marketers should - and should not - invest in sending out press releases. He also dives into best practices around how to write a high impact release that will actually get you noticed by the press.
Get the details on all of this, and more, in this week’s episode.
Resources from this episode:
Connect with Mickie on LinkedIn
Check out the eReleases website
Take Mickie’s free master class on How to Build a PR Campaign Designed to Get Massive Media Coverage
Mickie and Kathleen recording this episode
Kathleen (00:14):
Welcome back to the inbound success podcast. I'm your host Kathleen Booth. And this week I am delighted to welcome as my guest Mickie Kennedy, who is the founder of eReleases nice to have you here, Mickie.
Mickie (00:28):
Oh, nice to be here.
Kathleen (00:29):
Yeah. I, I am really excited about our topic today, which is gonna be what is really working these days with press releases. And I have emphasis on really, because there's a lot of conversation in the marketing community about press releases. Um, and we'll jump into that in a minute, but first, can you please just, uh, tell my audience a little bit about your background, what you do and what eReleases is?
Mickie (00:53):
Right. So, um, long story short, about 25 years ago, I was finishing up a, uh, master's of fine arts degree in creative writing with an emphasis of poetry. And I assumed I would just wait tables the rest of my life. And I did that for the summer following graduation, with my, uh, MFA and realized that, uh, I, I do not have a body for standing 10 to 12 hours on concrete. It it's, it's ex it's physically, uh, torturous
Kathleen (01:21):
It's brutal.
Mickie (01:23):
And, and mentally at the end of the day, working a 10 or 12 hour shift, I was just so drained. I wasn't reading or writing. And so I knew I needed to get a, a cushy office job. So I started at a telecom startup. Uh, they did telecom research in DC as employee number three, and they all looked at me and said, you're the writer you're gonna do press releases for us. So I got schooled in, uh, PR and press releases. I'd done a little bit in technical writing, um, in my undergraduate degree. And so, um, I just did that. We were doing broadcast faxing, uh, at the time. And, uh, a lot of the journalists that we were sending numbers and statistics to were calling and saying, could I email the release over to 'em? And I mentioned to my boss that seemed like email seemed as a natural progression of contacting journalists.
(02:10):
And he said, ah, there might be a business there. Um, so I spent about a year putting together a database of journalists, just asking them if I could send press releases on their beat and their topic that they wrote about. And almost all of 'em said yes, I think when I launched, um, it'll be 24 years in October. Wow. Um, there was, uh, about 10,000 journalists in my database. And so I just, uh, was a matchmaker. Uh, a, a client would have a press release and I'd send it out to the journalist. And it did really well. Um, but over the years, uh, PR Newswire reached out to us and said they really liked what I was doing and servicing entrepreneur entrepreneurs and small business owners. And was there a way we could work together? And I kind of rebuffed them saying, I didn't think there would be because I knew they were charging over a thousand dollars to move a press release nationally of 500 or 600 words.
(02:58):
And my clients were just paying a couple hundred dollars. So, um, we were able to work something out. Um, the, the big problem was workflow. And, uh, so we schedule our releases for next day by default. And they have editorial overnight that doesn't do very much, but they have to be there in case there's breaking news or something like that. So, um, it allowed us to, to have thoseReleases processed by them without any additional labor. So we were able to work something out and I, I find it a really great value that, you know, clients who use me get the email distribution, but they also get that national news wire distribution over the wire without having to spend a thousand plus dollars.
Kathleen (03:37):
Yeah, it is so interesting. Kind of the landscape of providers in the press releases world because you're right. I mean, it's, it's, it can be prohibitively expensive if you go to some of those larger providers, which isn't a big deal. If you're talking about a venture backed company that has deep pockets, but if you're a small business that thinks they have something newsworthy, um, you know, it's tough. Maybe you don't have the money to do the press release or to do multiple. So I love that you are targeting that audience. Um, what I find so interesting is that you, over the course of 24 years have seen a ton of press releases go out. And obviously you've got relationships with journalists you've spoken to them. You understand what they're looking for? When I, I, I kind of, my, my let's say perspective on the world of press releases is this I'm in a lot of communities with other marketing leaders.
(04:32):
And there, there are interesting discussions around the topic of press releases <laugh> so they usually go something like this, um, are they start with, is it worth it to even send them out question mark and you know, then the answer is range. Of course. And, and I think the general consensus is that yes, there is some news that it is worth it to send, press releases out for sometimes it's like, you almost wanna check the box, like we've got a new hire, or we got a funding round or, you know, things along those lines. But then there's like the times when you are really looking for kind of editorial coverage of something of substance, like we did some research, um, and opinions vary on the effectiveness of it. Like, I think there's a lot of marketing leaders that wonder, does anybody really look into press release anymore? Does anybody ever really gotten great results from press releases? And, and so I wanna dig in with you on what you are seeing and what's really working and like, what is your advice for, for marketers in terms of, I guess we should start with like, where should press releases fit within the marketing mix and what is it worth covering and paying for a press release to cover,
Mickie (05:40):
Right. So I always tell people, if you have a major announcement, that's something that's really important to your business. That is something that you want to communicate. Most of the new hire type press releases that we get. They're not really that newsworthy. And so you'd be better off just reaching out directly to a trade publication and maybe your local newspaper and business magazine, um, yourself, and, uh, uh, you know, try to just let them know about it. You don't even need a press release. Um, but I, I do think that when you're doing these important announcements where you have a new product or something like that, sort of set back after you've written the release and realize that the journalist is a gatekeeper, and they're trying to decide, is this important enough to share with my audience, I have to protect them as an asset, and I don't wanna just expose anything to them.
(06:30):
That's just blatantly sales. And so knowing that, is there a way you can reverse engineer a little bit more of the press release in a way that frames it, where it is something that's more irresistible to the media, something that they would find, oh, that's really cool. And sometimes the things that I think that the journalists respond to are, uh, case studies or use studies, um, if you have a new product or a service, it's, it's very easy to talk up the features, but a journalist may not find that as very intriguing as say, uh, a beta tester was able to reduce a certain expense 15% as a result of that. That's much more interesting for them and they can frame a story around that. So anything that you can build into that press release that makes it a more compelling or interesting story is going to, uh, make your likelihood of getting an article written about you, uh, more likely, um, and, and, you know, the big thing about press releases is, is that so many people focus on the regular standard types of releases, and there are opportunities where you can be more strategic and sort of make your own news manufacture your own newsworthiness.
(07:38):
Um, you had mentioned, uh, I think numbers or research and things like that, uh, doing a survey or study within your industry is probably the number one way to get media pickup, um, clients that have, uh, followed my advice, the least they've ever gotten is for original articles written from doing a survey or study, and then doing a press release about it. And I know the, the, the thought of doing a surveyor study is daunting, but, you know, there's a service like survey monkey, which makes it very easy to do a multi page survey. I like four questions per page and maybe 16 questions overall. Um, maybe put a couple left field questions towards the end, but when you're coming up with the questions really put a lot of time and energy into it, like what is relevant right now in, you know, looking at the marketplace, we have supply chain issues.
(08:28):
We have staffing and labor issues. You know, employment is, is really big. And also, you know, uh, there are some concerns about the economy. Is things all looking great or are they looking negative and are people, um, spending more over the next few months in their advertising and marketing budgets, or do they plan on spending less? Because you know, all of those responses would make a journalist say that these are topics that I, you know, my audience would wanna know what the answers are right now. And so a survey could do extremely well there. Um, you know, you, you, you, you look at the results of the questions and you try to determine what's the biggest surprise here or the most intriguing thing, and build the press release around two or three of the responses and include some quotes in there by yourself as to why you think it's skewed a certain way there, you know, put some analysis into why you think, uh, the results turned out the way they did, and, you know, nobody's expecting you to be perfect, but what they are expecting is why, uh, this appeared a certain way or skewed a certain way.
(09:29):
And, and you're, you're the person who authored the study. And so that's, uh, a, a really great way to get media pick up with press releases. On average, most of my clients are getting between eight and 14 original articles. Every time they do a press release about a survey they have done. And, you know, some of my clients have also, you know, pushed back and said, well, I don't have an audience to send the survey to. And there are lots of independent and small trade associations, uh, associations in every industry. And I would say pick one and ask, uh, if, if they'll send it to their members, if you include them in the press release that you'll be issuing over the wire. Most of the small and independent trade associations see that as a win-win, they don't get the love that the large trade associations get, but yet they usually have a, you know, a few thousand members. And so if they send it out through email or social media, or sometimes you can get them to do both, you can get a really good response to a survey and be able to pull that together. And again, this isn't a lot of work. It seems like it's a lot of work, but it doesn't have to be
Kathleen (10:31):
So surveys and research obviously is a really good one because that's information you have that nobody else has. So I feel like that's, that one makes a ton of sense. Um, we, you mentioned potentially like new hires, maybe not doing a press release and instead, you know, reaching out directly to, to the most relevant outlets, what would be other newsworthy items that you think would be worth spending the money on a press release for?
Mickie (11:00):
Right. So I think that anytime you have, um, a new product or service, it's beneficial to get out there, I would just try to, uh, see if there's opportunities to sort of backend some things that might make it more compelling from the standpoint of a journalist and want, you know, make it more likely that they'd wanna share, because it's really important to you and your company that this product is launched and you wanna sell a lot of it, but, uh, you know, what could you frame in that press release to make it a really cool story or something that a, a journalist could build a story around? Um, so it's not just a, a, you know, a product, a review or anything like that. Yeah. Um, there are opportunities where, um, newsjacking, uh, if, if you're not familiar with it, it's like you're writing the coat tells of something that's trending.
(11:46):
Um, it's something that worked maybe 10 years ago, it doesn't work anymore. Um, but, uh, I do have clients who still come and say, Hey, I, I, everybody's talking about this target credit card breach, and I just wanna join the conversation. And I tell 'em that if you are ever going to newsjack, what you want do is pick a niche and niche down within it, or try to, um, elevate the conversation, make it more nuanced. And so, um, I had a client that was, uh, doing a release and I, I, I told 'em to go back to the drawing board and try to niche down. And they pointed out that, well, most of their customers are not large, um, businesses or franchises. They're mostly individual stores. And so we wrote a press release that was basically talking about, um, you know, if you're a dry cleaners or a pizza shop, uh, and you have a credit card terminal on your counter, could you be at risk of the same problems that happened with target?
(12:40):
And, uh, that ended up getting, I, I think around four or five media pickups articles written about it. And I'm convinced that if they had sent the original article as it was nothing would've happened to it. So anytime that you can join a conversation, but elevate it by, uh, you know, picking a niche or elevating the conversation, and sometimes elevating the conversation is being a contrarian. So if everybody's talking about a topic in a positive light, um, like electric cars, everybody seems to think that they're the future. And everything's great, but if you're come in and you're reasonable and say, well, not so fast, you know, the mining of the minerals is very, uh, environmentally hazardous, uh, there's labor issues with the people who are doing it. And not to mention, we haven't solved what we're gonna do with these batteries at the end of their life. Are we creating an even worse problem for landfills down the road? So that's a way in which you can enter the conversation so that everybody who talks about electric cars going forward are likely to plug in your opinion because they wanna be fair and balanced. And currently they don't have anyone out there that's raising their hand and saying, Hey, not so fast, but if you're that person, every time they write about it, you stay in the likelihood that you could be plugged into that story.
Kathleen (13:52):
That's really interesting. I think that that's, that's a good one. Um, alright. So one thing is like, when should you even put the effort in, right? Which is what I think we're talking about. Like, these are topics that are worth putting the effort and potentially money into doing a press release for, um, the next is like the actual release itself, writing a good press release. And I wanna dig in a little bit to this because I do, I also think this is another topic where people think it's just like opening paragraph quote from CEO about us paragraph. Like what constitutes a well written press release?
Mickie (14:34):
Well, it's a lot more relaxed now than when I started 20 years ago. So, um, uh, it used to be that if you made a stumble and your AP style, wasn't perfect, the assumption was journalists. Weren't going to read it. I think things have gotten a lot more relaxed and a lot more comfortable that being said, um, you want to sort of look at the headline as like the most important thing, because on the wire, it streams by headline and they drill down from there. So you want the headline to be really compelling, but you don't want to be cute or puny like a New York post style headline, because you want to be able to contextually understand is this story relevant to me as a particular journalist? And so if it's not got the contextual industry and things like that in it, then they may feel that it's not worth clicking through it, that it doesn't apply to them.
(15:24):
So I would say, you know, being concise and putting your most important thing up front, um, if you're going the survey, what was the question that everybody in that survey is going to one, know the answer to get that into the headline of the release? Um, maybe with some numbers of how the percentages, um, turned out. Um, and so the, the next most important part of the press release is the opening paragraph because it's job is to take you when you click through the head, the headline, uh, or the title to read the message. And so you really want to not bury the leads, so to speak. You wanna really go in with what, you know, firing in all cylinders and, and you know, what the most, uh, shocking or interesting thing is that you're announcing. And, uh, you know, they, they are pretty standard, but one of the areas that I find most people mess up on is the company quote.
(16:19):
So a company quote can really save your press release and have it turned into an article, even if it's a, a medium newsworthiness scale. So you, you did a press release and, uh, it's okay, but it's not gonna, you know, uh, excite the industry. A journalist looks at it and you have a really compelling quote where your CEO or somebody is just saying something so succinctly and beautifully, you know, that's where you can put a little creativity, make it shine. And a journalist is like, I could build a whole story around that quote. And, uh, I've actually had clients who've inspired stories based on their press release. An article gets written and it gets published. And the company's not mentioned in it at all. And when we go back to the journalist, it's like they were mentioned in there, but it was a weak quote and my managing editor crossed it off.
(17:10):
And so that, that was their only mentioned in the article and they lost it. So if it was a really compelling quote, you would've stayed in that, uh, article and you would still been a part of it rather than just be the inspiration and journalists don't do that, you know, to, to create enemies. But it does happen in, in, in a, a workplace where the managing editor doesn't always know where a story came from. And sometimes they're just like, I've never heard of this company. And that quote, is it really amazing? So let's just take 'em out of it.
Kathleen (17:40):
That's interesting. All right. So I wanna back up, cuz I have a bunch of questions. So you talked about the headline being the most important and, and so I've never, never obviously been on the other end. I haven't been a journalist, but so they, so they come in through the wire and they stream in, and what they're seeing is just the headline, correct?
Mickie (17:57):
Correct. Yeah. They usually view them by industry, but uh, with a journalist log in, they can actually customize that feed to be exactly what they want. They can do keyword inclusions or exclusions of press releases. So if I cover the fashion industry, but if it mentions ready to wear or other things, uh, you know, certain retailers, I don't want to cover that. Maybe I'm doing high end, so you can really customize it. But what you see is the headline. And then from there, they, they click through to the story to determine, you know, that they wanted to read more.
Kathleen (18:29):
Okay. So with headlines, this reminds me of email marketing, right? Like you write the best email in the world, but if nobody opens it, like if your subject line isn't good, then nobody's gonna see your awesome email. So is there a character limitation on titles? Like how long is too long and how short is too short?
Mickie (18:49):
I can't recall what it was, but I think basically like, uh, you, you know, you a good sentence and that might be like two lines in, uh, uh, a press release is probably the most I would do. And I would try to see, is there a way I could get it to one or just a little bit over one sentence, um, you know, one line in, in a average press release, um, you know, there are also opportunities where some people like to use subheads. Um,
Kathleen (19:16):
I was gonna ask about subheads. So because I've, I've done that a few times, but then I wonder like why, why like when, why would you include it? What, what difference does it make?
Mickie (19:27):
I think that a subhead is really good when you have a very complicated message or a very nuanced message, like the survey, uh, let's say the study had, uh, one shocking result, but, uh, there was actually two or three, the subhead might be an opportunity to go with the second thing that was, uh, most intriguing so that you are getting both of those above the fold and being able to sort of explain that, uh, before they read the whole story. So,
Kathleen (19:54):
So do subheads show up in that stream of, of headlines or
Mickie (19:58):
They, they do, they do show up. Um, and, uh, what happens though is, uh, sometimes people will put a subhead just to have one saying it's better than nothing, but if it waters down the headline, it could turn them off to say, ah, I don't want to. So you wanna make sure that it it's another plug, a strong plug because if it isn't, I don't recommend using them.
Kathleen (20:19):
Okay. That's really good advice. Um, alright, so you, you get your strong headline, you're potentially strong subhead, and if you don't have a strong subhead, leave it out. Right. Um, and, and then in terms of press release length, I know like by default, if you're using, what is it, pure news wire, or Cision kind of their, their basic package, you have to keep your press release to 400 words. I think it is, which is incredibly limiting. And so I wanna hear your thoughts on length and, and well, I'll leave it at that. I wanna hear your thoughts on length.
Mickie (20:54):
<laugh> I think that 80% of releases are good up to 500 words. Um, I, I think that most of them can be solved there. That being said, I do encounter releases where they're just a lot of information has to be put in front of the journalist. Uh, it might be, you know, when you're dealing with a product and you want to include some use studies, but you also wanna include features and things like that. Uh, it might drift to 600 words, but, you know, for most releases, uh, unless there's financial stuff that you're, you know, have to get out, if you're publicly traded or something that you just have to get certain things in there with earnings announcements and things like that. I think that most releases 500 words or less is pretty safe.
Kathleen (21:35):
Okay. And then, um, what about targeting? So there's a million options. Well, actually, yeah. What about targeting? There's so many options like national or regional, um, right. Topic areas like how, what are the best practices around that?
Mickie (21:55):
Right. So at, at eReleases, what we do is all of our releases go out nationally over the wire. So it's a national release. Um, you can do local saturation, which just means it's saturated to editors who look at, uh, they want stuff tagged as for local news. Um, and then of course you get to pick the industry specific categories, and those are the most important that being said. Uh, I, the Newswire doesn't really publish the outlets that the, uh, industries specific ones go to. Um, but we have 'em and we, and we publish 'em. And I think one of the reasons the wire doesn't publish 'em is sometimes people look at like sports golf and they see that it's very small, it's like 14 or 16 publications. And, uh, they, they, then they go to the sports general and they see a few hundred publications.
(22:44):
And so they take their product, which is for the golfing community and then send it to the sports general and it doesn't reach golf editors. And, uh, so that's, you know, uh, I, I had a client who did that once with a product and they sent it out and they chose business general, which it was a golf product. And they said, well, business people play golf. And I'm just like business editors who are writing for business magazines, aren't writing about golf products. And, uh, so their first release did nothing. And then I told them, I said, uh, it should have gone to sports golfing. And they said, but it's only 14 or 16 people. It does, you know, that's not important. And so we sent it out to them, um, uh, to sports golf got picked up in four sports magazines and they sold over $400,000 worth of product.
(23:34):
Wow. But they, they could immediately attribute to that. And so that's, you know, it's not a matter of, you know, do I want to go to several hundred sources or just 14 or 16, what's the right. 14 or 16, you know, if you can target your press release to the right small niche and write the release for that niche, it's going to, uh, have a much stronger chance of getting media pickup than if it's off target. I mean, one of the things about the sports golf, uh, industry list is those are just industry publications. There's also people at daily newspapers who write about golf as well. And if it's tagged for golf, it will also go to them as well.
Kathleen (24:12):
Okay. So it sounds like if I'm hearing you correctly, that if you can really identify a, an industry to which your release is associated, that it's pretty darn important that you elect that option in the distribution, uh, framework, is that correct? Right.
Mickie (24:30):
Right. And sometimes people sell to different industries. And so in those cases, I think it's, uh, you know, it, you wanna test it and make sure, but there's a stronger argument for doing three or four different releases, each one targeted to one industry specific because you'll be speaking to them. And if you try to write a generalized press release that speaks to everybody, you stand the chances it's gonna fall flat and not resonate with any of those groups.
Kathleen (24:54):
Okay. That's really good advice. And then it, and then it also sounds like what you're saying is that if local distribution is important, that that is also a, uh, you know, one that you should invest in.
Mickie (25:05):
Right. And, but that being said, I do challenge my clients to try to get local news themself because it's, yeah. The easiest news to get, uh, really, if you look at it, there's probably less than 10 people in your local area that would write about you find out who they are, do a little research who writes about your industry and your paper. If you're lucky to enough to have a business magazine or business newspaper who writes about your industry there, get their email address. You can just call and ask. They're not really trying to hide out. Like, you know, it's not like trying to reach the president of the us. These are people who are trying to be accessible to the community. So they will generally share that information. Uh, you can also check online some, uh, might be on Twitter and they might prefer that, uh, for communicating with them, but, you know, build your little Rolodex of your local media and just reach out to 'em on a regular basis.
(25:52):
I, I say, try to do it, you know, once a quarter, uh, you know, what's trending in your industry or, um, you know, sometimes if you are looking in, uh, uh, industry publications and you see some, a story about something that you could apply to, maybe you pitched that scenario to them. Don't say, I read an article elsewhere. You know, that you're, you're, you're pitching a story that was already out there, but say, I've noticed this trend in my industry. And I feel like being a local company that does that. I could be a really great case study to talk more about it and explain it to you. And so, um, you don't do the press release. You just need a pitch, you're put together a, a few sentences. If you have a really compelling quote that's related. I think, I think that's really good.
(26:36):
Cuz I've mentioned that journalists can build a story around the great quote. And so if you put that ready made in front of 'em, it might be just even more attractive for them to consider using you for a story. But once you're on a journalist radar and you're regularly communicating with them over a couple of years, whether they've written about you or not, I guarantee you that when they're writing a story and they're thinking of a company to plug in, you are gonna come to front of mind for them, uh, that all I remember this company in the past reaching out to me, let me go, try to find them and see if I could, uh, get some quotes for the story.
Kathleen (27:09):
Yeah. That's great advice. And I think it is, it's all about building relationships and it's an, it's a longer term investment, but it's an important one. So love that. Um, alright. Back to the actually creating press releases. The question I forgot to ask you was how important is it to have an image attached?
Mickie (27:29):
I think it's becoming more and more important because I think that a lot of people that are looking at stories, part of the equation is there's going, uh, these stories are gonna end up online and some of the publications will have their, you know, clip, clip art, or, uh, you know, the, the stuff that's out there that they can use. But if you have something that's ready, made for them, uh, to include it makes it stronger. It's a more compelling argument to them to go with your story over someone else's um, and the types of, uh, images that work very well, I think are the ones that don't look like, you know, they've been, you know, bought online they're, you know, stock. I think that, yeah, the candid ones I think work so much better than stock photos, because if someone's there using your product in their office or their home or wherever your product is utilized, I think that that just, it, it resonates.
(28:23):
And I think that readers, uh, who are looking at images will, will get, oh, that, that looks like that could be me or something like that rather than a professional stock photo or something like that. So I think that just being, uh, open and providing more collateral is becoming more useful. And I think that images are way more important than having a logo. You have the ability to upload two images with us. And I would, you know, argue that I would prefer two candid shots or, uh, maybe if, you know, nice, uh, product shot and maybe someone using it over one and the other one being a logo, cuz uh, I, I think that logos don't get used very much. And I think that the, they’re really looking for something that's gonna resonate with, um, search traffic and people who stumble upon an article that it draws them in.
Kathleen (29:13):
That makes sense. All right. So, so let's actually kind of change, focus onto advice for marketers who are thinking about press releases. Like what are the biggest mistakes you see people make and, and are, is there anything that, that marketers aren't doing that you would love to see them start doing?
Mickie (29:33):
Right. So I think that the, the, the biggest thing I would say is to, to be strategic with your press release. Um, you know, I think a lot of marketers are very event driven. Like, oh, we have, uh, our software release, we have, you know, this thing happening in, uh, Q3. Uh, and, and they immediately say, let's do a press release about that. When I think that what they should be doing is, uh, we have so many opportunities to engage with the media. What has the highest likelihood of getting, uh, media pick up? And if you approach it from that, you're probably less likely going to be doing the types of press releases that everyone else is doing that usually fall flat and maybe start focusing on the types of releases that are, uh, like I mentioned, the survey and study that does really well, uh, being contrarian on a hot topic does really well.
(30:26):
Um, other things are, uh, industry blind spots, and it is so hard to get those out of people because they're blind spots. We are not thinking of them, but, but generally if you're getting ready to go to a conference, pay very close attention to what you and, and your colleagues talk about, that is never in print. Like, oh, this is just, Ugh, the bane of our existence is X, Y, and Z. And every time we get together, we just talk about, and it might just be a, a certain type of client that everybody they rants oh,
Kathleen (30:56):
Right. The things that people are ranting about
Mickie (30:59):
<laugh> exactly. And sometimes those were opportunities to bring those to light. And I've had those work extremely well in trade publications where, uh, we bring to light something that people often talk about within the industry, but no, one's put it in print and actually created an article around it. Uh, sometimes it's the David versus Goliath approach that we've had work really well, uh, where there's an enemy out there in the industry that no one's really talking about. And, uh, um, you know, so that could be an opportunity to address that and to get some media pick up there. Um, and, and so I just say being strategic, um, you know, try to use data as much as you can. It doesn't always have to be your data. If you can sort of pull together data from lots of different places and present it in one place and build a, a story around it, you've given, uh, a journalist, a ready, made story for them to work with and to pull together and make an article.
(31:53):
Um, and you know, the, the types of press releases that I see that I call, you know, not successful and what people are, are doing and should be avoiding are, you know, the cookie cutter releases the ones where it's a new hire. Now, if you've got someone who's been in the industry for 40 years and has renowned, and you've been able to get them to join your board or something like that, that's completely appropriate to send a press release about. But if you just have a new VP of HR and, you know, someone who's just moving through their industry, I know why companies like to do press releases like that because it looks good. The, the new hire likes it. It makes everybody seem warm and friendly, but I don't think that it's worth spending money to get something like that over a wire.
Kathleen (32:35):
Yeah. That's so that's such a check the box exercise. <laugh> I feel like everybody does it, but you're right. It's I don't know. It, the only place I see those things getting picked up are like the local business journal, you know, right. Where they're like key moves, who's going to a new job. Right. And it's like a blurb that's, it's
Mickie (32:52):
Usually very small,
Kathleen (32:53):
Long <laugh>. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, this is such great advice. Um, thank you so much for, for sharing what you've learned. Um, we're gonna shift gears cuz there's a couple questions I always ask my guests and I, I wanna hear what you have to say. Uh, the first is that a lot of the marketers I talk to, you know, say that digital marketing is changing so quickly and trying to keep up with everything is like drinking from the fire hose. So how do you personally stay up to date and keep yourself educated?
Mickie (33:25):
I sample everything. So I, uh, am often buying courses and things like that, that I probably am not going to adopt in my business, but I want to learn more about it. So I recently did one that was a course on, uh, creating, engaging TikTok videos for businesses because I, I think that PR is going to eventually move into incorporating video more. So I, I, I have a, a stake in the, the growth of video and how things work and engage engagement and stuff like that. And so I think just, uh, being open to lots of new ideas and being open to testing them, um, I decided I'm gonna start putting together some TikTok videos for engagement and just see what happens. Not expecting a lot because you know, I don't expect, uh, press release related tos to do extremely well, but there is a marketplace out there. And I think that what we're finding is that the, the younger people aren't really using Google search to discover these business tools and resources that they are leaning on the algorithm to put stuff in front of them.
Kathleen (34:29):
So I just wanna ask one clarifying question on this, cuz you totally intrigued me when you said you think PR is gonna start incorporating more video. So what did you mean by that?
Mickie (34:39):
So I don't think that we're at a point yet where a press release won't be written, but will be completely video. But I do think that, uh, and there's lots of companies, especially the large companies who, uh, have B roll that they'll attach to their press release. So there's a little bit of footage, uh, because that way TV and other places can use it. But I think that, uh, TV is a very small section. I think that websites, whether it's a trade publication or a newspaper are going to start, you know, transmitting through video and building video, it might be 10 years from now, before I think that we're really there, but I, I like to be on the forefront of things and look at the opportunities that exist. And I think that, uh, putting together B roll, uh, is an asset that you can use that could give you a little bit more of an edge when your competitor doesn't have it. And this media outlet is open to using it. I don't think we're there right now. Um, some of my clients will, uh, include video, but I don't see it being a huge advantage today, but in three to five years it could be.
Kathleen (35:43):
That is super interesting. And it's a great point. So thank you for sharing that insight. Um, second question I have is this podcast is all about inbound marketing, which I just define as anything that naturally attracts the right customer to you. So with that, as the definition, is there a certain individual or a company that you think is really setting the standard for what it means to be great at inbound marketing these days?
Mickie (36:07):
Well, <laugh>, I'm gonna pitch a, a, a client that uses us that I think is really good at engaging with people and that's Squatty Potty. Uh, they do a lot of viral videos and things that just really engage. They also do press releases and PR, and I think that they realize that natural content and feeding that, uh, and, and having that trickle back in keeps people, uh, excited. Uh, and they, you know, the, some people who have already know what they're about, but just seeing at the forefront again, reminds them, so the next time they're out shopping, they might go, oh, let me grab one of these and, or, you know, pick up the phone and call or, or buy online. Um, so I think that the, the virality by which that they try to build content, that's very shareable and makes people, you know, smile. And so they want to share it with other people because it makes them smile is really smart on their part because it's taking something that is generally something you do in private and maybe not, you know, looked at favorably and just sort of turning it on its heads and saying, let's have some fun and celebrate this.
Kathleen (37:11):
Yeah. That what a fun brand to work with. <laugh>. That's awesome. Um, alright. So before we wrap up, I do have a question for you because there is this ecosystem of press release providers. We mentioned PR Newswire, and you have a relationship with them. When would someone use eReleases versus another provider out there? Like, what is your sweet spot?
Mickie (37:37):
Right? So, uh, our sweet spot is reaching journalists and giving the opportunity to have something turned into an article. There's a lot of services out there that are cheaper than us that are syndication only. So they, they never go in front of a journalist. So a journalist never decides to, to run a story, but what happens is it gets the, the press release itself gets duplicated and replicated on a few different little websites. There are usually sections on the website that don't drive a lot of traffic, uh, even at the news wire that syndication happens, uh, with releases. But our, our sweet spot is getting in front of a journalist so that you have the opportunity for them to turn that into, uh, an article. And just to give you an example, early in the pandemic, we did a press release for the dining bond initiative, which was something that lived for a very short period, but it was designed to help your local favorite restaurant that was closed down due, due to the pandemic over 150 articles were written about it. Wall street, journal, Washington post, uh, you know, all the major publications and food trade magazines, picked it up dozens and dozens of, uh, small daily newspapers. And it generated, I think, more than 10 million in revenue, uh, just from one press release. And that, that was only one press release. That's a extreme example of what can happen when you leverage an opportunity where you put, uh, a message in front of a journalist. Uh, if that had been syndicated only none of that would've happened because nobody would've seen it and turned it into an article.
Kathleen (39:03):
And just to clarify, if somebody's think looking at eReleases versus the main PR Newswire service, like what, what would make them choose one versus the other?
Mickie (39:13):
Right. So if someone's looking at us and comparing us with PR Newswire, it it's, if they're looking for national reach, we're gonna be cheaper. Um, but, uh, you know, our, but our customer base is, is small businesses and entrepreneurs, people who are doing an average of, you know, four releases a year, if you're a really large company and you're looking at using us, we would probably steer you to pure Newswire, cuz you're a better fit for them. And that's part of our arrangement. They, they let us have their product for much less than we're, you know, normally they we'd pay. But the thing is we have to target the, the smaller businesses entrepreneurs that they have agreed to serve. And so, um, you know, that, that, that would be the difference you're looking for local only media. You might want to go directly to P wire cuz everything that we offer is national though. We also can combine local saturation on top of it.
Kathleen (40:05):
Okay, great. That's really helpful. Thank you for clarifying that. Sure. All right. So as we wrap up, if somebody has a question and wants to reach out and connect with you online, or if they wanna learn more about eReleases, what is the best way for them to do that?
Mickie (40:19):
Right? So our website's ereleases.com. We have a phone number and chat there. Uh, we have no sales people, so you'll just talk to an editor if you do, either of those and you can email as well. Uh, we try to be accessible. All of our social media is on the lower right of the page. Uh, it is my direct LinkedIn. So that's a really good way to engage with me directly if you're interested. And I do have a free masterclass of, um, strategic types of press releases, like the survey and study that we talked about, and these are, uh, press release strategies that generally result in articles. And I'm really trying to get my clients to take this masterclass. And it's at ereleases.com/plan and it's completely free. There's no upsell or anything. I'm just trying to get my customers to, to stop doing the safeReleases and start doing more strategic ones.
Kathleen (41:07):
That is so great. I love that you have that class. Um, I will share the links to the class as well as to the eReleases site and to your LinkedIn, uh, in the show notes, which as always are available at kathleen-booth.com. Uh, and so if you're listening head there to connect with Mickie to learn more about eReleases. Um, and if you're listening and you enjoy this episode, I would love it. If you would head to apple podcast and leave the show a review, so more folks can find it. Um, and finally, if you know somebody else who's doing great inbound marketing work, send me a tweet at @Kathleenlbooth on Twitter so that they can be my next guest. That's it for this week. Thanks Mickie. This is so interesting. I appreciate you coming on the show. Oh, you're very welcome. Thank you.
