A press release involves an entirely different style of writing than most affiliates are accustomed to. If you want to bring in new traffic to your site using a PR then there are a number of new rules for you to follow to craft engaging content. In this article, we’ll teach you how to write a release for your brand so that it has the highest chance of bringing you more value.
Be concise
When it comes to writing for SEO or for your affiliate site generally, you might be accustomed to adding in a lot of filler content or keywords. You want to reach a desired word count on your news and static pages, which can lead to you to bulk up paragraphs. This isn’t necessarily wrong and can bring you results in the right context, but a PR is the wrong place to do this.
Stick to the main points of the story and keep it simple with your press release. Remember, this is a place for others to pick up the story and create the rest of the narrative. If you want a news outlet to distribute your story then you have to make it attractive for them, one element of this is that it should be easily skimmed when read to get the gist of the information upfront.
Cut down on any repetition that occurs in the release, be brutal when it comes to editing if you want to create a press release that’s truly attractive. Writers are notoriously short on time but can spot a good story after 2 seconds flat as that’s all they give to this when they skim the article coming in.
Make it newsworthy
If you want to be picked up in news outlets, then you have to do something newsworthy. Many press releases attempt to create a headline out of nothing, but these don’t add value for news outlets. The best ways to promote your brand in this way is with a new feature, service, structure or even an award. Awards are undervalued and often under utilised by affiliates as an opportunity to get themselves seen and heard.
Forcing this kind of news is very obvious for news outlets and they won’t be likely to use your press release. Focus on the elements of the news that will make it go viral and prioritise these to give them pride of place in your release. Upsell the key points of the release and give it context, ask yourself WHY is this important, WHO will care? That often helps to give a piece perspective.
Add value with your release, this could be a quote, statistics or a link to some data you can share or even results of a customer survey. This prevents news outlets from having to do their own research, as they can use what you provide. Packing your press release with data and useful quotes will allow it to get shared further and give it a good viral punt.
Use templates and examples
This style of writing may be so different to what you are accustomed to, that you hit a block when writing. This can mean that you spend a disproportionate amount of time on preparing the release, as opposed to actually distributing it. This will hurt your return on investment, as you need to divide your time wisely.
A template or using examples can give you more insight on what’s required of a press release. This will help you to tailor your style and give you a starting point, then you can allow the story to speak for itself. Whatever you do use spaces to separate paragraphs and make sure your grammar is on point!
Distribute well
There are a lot of ways to get your press release out there, so make sure you’re getting a return on each channel that you use. These can be free, so you can use as many of these as you want without worrying about the marketing budget. Free ones can allow you to boost your quantity but they don’t always add the same quality as paid options, simply because you won’t have the relationships that PR agencies do with major media publications or industry trade press to get seen and heard.
You can also outsource this element of your marketing to a specialised PR agency. These companies have expertise in getting PR and News out into the market place (seen and heard) and will have more experience in the creation and distribution of your release copy than you do, so if it’s an integral part of your campaign then you may want to go to the experts to get objective writing and a clear perspective on pitch.
Simple things like avoiding on the hour posting will allow you to get more visibility for your release. Many agencies and companies will release their news on the hour, or other strategic times so make sure you pick slightly less popular times to avoid being buried in the noise. You can also reach out to publications directly if you think your release will be of value for them specifically. A simple introduction note and bullet points works best along with images attached for use (a great editorial time saving tool)
The value of press releases
Press releases can help a lot when it comes to brand identity and visibility. They’re not used to great effect in iGaming, but this means that you have the chance to get in there before your competitors. Within this industry, it’s good to know people and be known, especially when it comes to striking up new commercial deals and a bit of creative PR can be an inexpensive way to gain momentum for your business and a wider audience reach.
If you have a press release you’d like us to cover that is related to affiliate marketing, new sites, new programmes or industry news just send it in to : [email protected]
