A friend of mine once said that if I ate a Snickers bar that I should put out a press release about it.  I'm not so sure about that, but media relations is a large part of our corporate marketing strategy.

A media campaign can be designed around almost anything.  For example, we send out a press release for every large event such as auction and when we bring on new staff.  In addition our local business paper, Business First, holds a free networking breakfast about every 7-8 weeks.  These events are great for seeing the reporters in a relaxed setting as well as networking.

I am writing this post because I get the impression that some folks are possessed about new marketing venues such as blogging.  Not that blogging is bad.  Quite the opposite, but the old school ways should not be totally discounted.

It is said that being quoted in the news media is the best advertising you can get.  Someone else is proclaiming you the expert. 

To prove my point (and pat myself on the back) I point to the last 12 months in our local market.  There have been 3 articles in about projects I am involved in and 2 about market conditions where I am heavily quoted.  I also regularly receive calls from reporters to get background for things they are writing about, to check facts and (drum roll) to get referrals to other local experts in town.  There are an easy 6 articles out there in the last 12 months where I was able to direct the reporter to another expert that I do business with.  The reporters remember it and so do the people I refer them to.

Something else that is neat is that I can track web hits and incoming call volume increases back to the days following sending out a release.  It is significantly higher following an article with my name in it. 

In short, media relations is good for business.

If you have never written a release before there are a ton of places online that can give you tips, just Google "press release tips".  Who, What, When, Where, Why, How and Company Information.

The next thing to do will be to get that release out to the reporters.  I have gone two ways.  First, you can search your marketplace getting the names of the reporters in your field of choice and contact them about how to send a release.  Most will want email while some of the smaller publications will still request a fax.

The second way would be to use a service such as http://www.prweb.com/.  This is more global and has a fee associated with it. 

I use both, but my personal list gets the most results.  Part of that is due to the relationship I have developed over time.

Good luck.

R