Editor’s note: The press release is the least loved document in the media universe. We get way too many here at TechCrunch, and some bloggers equate them to spam. But they do have their uses. In this guest post, Brian Solis explains how the press release has evolved, and sheds some light on why it may be so difficult to kill off. Solis writes this from the perspective of a PR professional. He is Principal of FutureWorks, a PR and New Media agency in Silicon Valley and also blogs at PR 2.0.
Press releases come in different flavors and serve different purposes. Well-written press releases are far from dead. In fact, when developed strategically, their opportunities, appeal and benefits are only expanding in conjunction with the groups of various influencers and consumers who rely on them for relevant information.
The disruption of the Web has splintered press releases into a variety of formats to serve different audiences and different purposes: Traditional releases for media, SEO (search engine optimized) releases for customers, and Social Media Releases for press, bloggers, and also customers.
Customer-Focused News Releases
Companies and marketers can use distribution services to complement releases written for journalists and bloggers to reach customers directly through traditional search engines as well as news aggregation services such as Techmeme.
Over the course of the last several months, BusinessWire and PRNewswire have consistently ranked in the top 100 sources for news in Techmeme’s Leaderboard.
And, according to a recent Outsell study, over 51% of IT professionals reported that they get their news from press releases in Yahoo and Google news over trade journals.
And it’s not just tech. When implemented with calls and links to action, and if they read in a way that’s compelling to people aka customers, you’ll find that they’re usually compelled to act.
The trick for this new breed of press releases is to write it as the article you want to read. Keep it clean, clear, pseudo impartial, but definitely focused on benefits for specific customers. Basically, humanize the story.
Here’s a rundown of the different formats of press releases:
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
译文:
新闻稿的演变
编辑寄语：在媒体的世界里，新闻稿是最不受人欢迎的文体。我们在TechCrunch上经历太多了，有些博客作家把它们等同于垃圾邮件。但实际上新闻稿有它们的作用。在这次的投稿中，Brian Solis解释了新闻稿是怎样演变的，阐明了新闻稿难以被消灭的原因。Solis是从一个PR专家的角度来写这篇文章的。他是FutureWorks公司的负责人，并且在PR2.0上写博客。他所在的FutureWorks公司是硅谷的一家PR和新媒体机构。
新闻稿的种类因目的不同而异。写得好的新闻稿是很有生命力的。事实上，如果有策略地进行开发，并与各种有影响力的组织和依赖这些组织来得到信息的消费者结合，新闻稿的机遇、吸引力和利益是会不断扩大的。
网络的破坏使得新闻稿孳生出了多种形式，为不同的目的服务于不同的读者：对媒体仍然使用传统形式的新闻稿；为了得到客户使用搜索引擎优化；而新闻机构、博客作家和客户则使用社会媒体发布形式。
新闻发布以客户为中心
就像Techmeme提供的新闻聚合服务一样，公司和商业人士可以使用发行服务来辅助新闻记者和博客作家写的新闻，使新闻利用传统的搜索引擎直接到达客户。
在Techmeme过去几个月的新闻领袖排行榜中，BusinessWire和PRNewswire一直都排在前100名里。
另外，根据Outsell公司最近做的一项研究，超过51%的IT专家称他们通过Yahoo和Google新闻频道的新闻发布来得到信息，而不是商业杂志。
这不仅仅只是技术。如果可以用电话和链接来实现并采取行动，当潜在客户在引人注目的方式下看新闻时，你会发现他们通常会被诱使采取行动。
写这种新形式的新闻稿的窍门就是设身处地，假设你想读到的内容，按照你想读到的来写。尽量简洁、清楚、似乎不偏不倚，但是注意力一定要专注于特定客户的利益。基本上来说，就是使所讲的故事通人情。
下面的网站提供了不同格式的新闻稿的纲要：
Crunch网络：MobileCrunch，关于手机配件和应用程序，每天发行。