Colleen Pizarev, Vice President, Communication Strategies, PR Newswire discusses the growing trend of mobile media consumption around the globe and how to format your press releases to accommodate these formats
2. Walking the “fine line”
• Maximum reach, maximum results. Minimum budget.
• Multiple messaging in one communication.
• Multiple quotes.
• Many links.
• No translations.
• ROI required.
6. When it needs to be seen…
• Headline no more than 110 characters
– Most important keyword in first 65 characters
– Use subheads for additional important data and keywords
• Think „key phrase‟ not key word. 3-5 words most used in search.
• Use bold type for important key phrases and executive names
• Bullet points with keyword next to bullet – and bolded.
• No more than 3 anchor-text hyperlinks
– Be aware outside US, hyperlinks can be stripped. Best to use
full URL to be safe.
• NEWS HOOK. Write a headline that begs to be opened.
7. OK, the release is opened. Now give the reader
a reason to keep reading.
(don‟t waste the real estate!)
February 11, 2014/Any town/ -- XYZ Corporation, a
leading global provider of world-class, end-to-end
cross-platform scalable enterprise cloud solutions
designed to deliver comprehensive process-
improvement outcomes for customers in various
vertical sectors including manufacturing, mining and
procurement today announced …
8. Employ multimedia elements.
• Visuals have their
own distribution
networks
• Visuals draw eyeballs
• Algorithms value
visuals
• People like pictures.
• Better results accrue
• Infographics tell a
story
9. This is what a journalist sees. Which
releases drew YOUR eyes?
11. Video is not
just for B2C
anymore. Any
of your clients
can benefit
from the
enhanced
messaging
12. You‟re going to be
competing with
visual 3rd party
content on websites
all over the world.
Use visuals or you‟ll
be invisible.
13. What release?
• When is your audience looking for news?
• Simultaneous worldwide NEVER works, unless it‟s an
entertainment event. Stagger announcements to
coincide with viewer interest.
• Don‟t issue releases on the hour or half hour. Be a
rebel. Send a release at 9:17 am.
• Global holidays. Every other country has more than we
do…. Knowing when they are is key.
• Remember – embargoes are not
commonly honored worldwide.
14. 此页有误吗?
What‟s wrong with this slide?
• 这里您能否看懂?
• Can you read this?
• 如您是记者,能否先将此内容译成英文,然后参考此内容撰稿,以上
均需按时交付。
• If you were a journalist would you take the information here,
mentally translate it into English, and then write a story on it, all
while making Deadline?
• 如您无法做到,能否了解您为何考虑在中国发布中文通讯稿。
• If not, why would you send an English release to China?
This goes for all other countries too…
15. Communicate Effectively
• It‟s not only journalists that need releases in language.
• If your client insists on sending in English to countries where it‟s not
an official language, their results may not be what they anticipated.
Be sure to set expectations.
• Customers and bloggers/influencers rely on search for information.
– And they‟re not searching in English unless it‟s their native
language.
• Make sure your key phrases are approved in all languages by the
client BEFORE you start working on the release. Saves time in the
approval process.
• Take advantage of free sites for key phrase research. I like Google
Trends.
16. Content marketing doesn‟t stop at the US border
• Good content is needed and used worldwide.
• While working on content for your client in English, see if you can
get them to consider other target markets.
– Focus on major languages if that‟s all the client will approve.
• Blog posts are only one part of a global content strategy.
– eNewsletters work well in the developed world. Showcases multimedia assets
and they‟re relatively easy to update once the templates are done.
– Don‟t focus on features and benefits. Focus on the MEANING of the technology
or service. If you are good at telling the client story, they will stay with you
longer. This strategy works worldwide.
– Article placement works beautifully in Russia, Asia and Latin America. Be sure
to research the publication first – there are a lot of scams out there.
– Visual images and video aimed at the consumer market must have local faces to
be truly effective.
• If China is important, remember they have different social media and
video sharing sites, and visiting .com sites can time out or be
blocked for most users.