Press releases as viral marketing fodder

One of the most elusive goals of a press release is that the release itself becomes a topic of online conversation. Of course, those of us who write and send releases would love to have mainstream media write about us. But what might be even more difficult is to have bloggers start a conversation about the contents of a press release. Press release as viral marketing fodder is great but elusive.

David McInnis and his team at the PRWeb news release wire have understood this and helped the process along by creating a facility for trackbacks in press releases. Now they are experimenting with these ideas by offering a $1000 prize to the first blogger who successfully identifies enhancements in the PRWeb service and responds by blogging about it and sending a trackback.

Cool idea. I gotta run (I'm speaking at a conference today). But for those of you who want to win the prize, one enhancement is PRWeb's pioneering of trackbacks in press releases. How do I know? I was quoted in the press release!

Comments

[Lauren Vargas]

Need some clarification -- isn't it the job of the pr person to follow-up on the release posting and contact msm directly and give a personal pitch?

I remember one of my very first assignments in general pr class: write a release on a stapler. Then, I had to find several angles to pitch the release. This became second-nature. If you can't start a conversation on the topic, is it even worthy?

Why not write suggested angles as part of the release document?

Am I missing the point?

[David McInnis]

David,

Trackbacks don't count for this experiment because they were released early this year. We are only looking for enhancements released since June 10th, 2006.

Thanks for the comments. I am excited to see how this turns out. We have already had two successful hits. That leaves up to 8 more to be identified.

-- See you at the top,

David McInnis

[David Meerman Scott]

Lauren,

You are absolutely right that the best way to gain media interest is through personal contact such as pitching a story about staplers. It is virtually impossible these days (unless you are in a huge company with big news or a public company annoucing corporate earnings or represent Britney Spears) to get media coverage on a press release.

But the power of press releases to reach audiences directly through search and RSS feeds means that they are valuable as a form of viral PR. Bloggers comment on press releases and start conversations.

Well written releases tell a story and stand alone as a piece of content. Sadly, the vast majority of corporate releases that I see are just product announcements.

So a release about the enhancement to stapler version 8 with new easy-load will likely fall flat while a release about the new stapler saving time with elementry school teachers because kids can load it themselves would possibly gain interest.

David

[colbert]

This must be one of the most talked about Press Release I've seen. Simply genius. No wonder the guys at PRWeb are my favorites

[Lauren Vargas]

David,

You are so right! What stands the release apart? The end-user has a different perspective of how he/she will search for the information. We need to think of all "experience" angles. Thank you for your response.

[Wildfire Marketing Group]

Interesting...I'll have to look more into this. It also puts a few other ideas in my head...of to see the programers.