One of the primary goals of new businesses and startups is to generate buzz about their new company. Online branding is very important to generate attention, leads, sales and trust.
With full press release distribution, you can acquire and establish your branding when done the right way. It’s not an overnight work. You need to concentrate on distributing newsworthy and relevant releases for you to do that.
Let’s first look at the definition of brand to understand completely how we can improve your online branding.
What is a brand ?
A brand is a “trademark” that one company represents and distinguishes them over the other. It can be a symbol, design, feature or name.
Your brand stands for what you are. When people hear your brand, they should have one thing in their mind, and it’s you.
In a recent study done, 75 percent of business respondents believe that releases are important in promoting public awareness of their brand. Distributing releases via newswires places releases across different channels at different times.
For instance, local media publications search for releases that are relevant to their area. Online sites syndicate it in different platforms.
Business owners or marketers can publish it on their own website. They can share it on their blogs and other social media profiles that give it a social boost.
Not only that, when optimized, it reaches the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). It promotes a brand’s visibility which means that more people can access the news.
“Your brand is your customer’s perception about your business.”
What Releases Can Do Now ?
In the past years, it is used to generate press attention for a brand’s new offering or announcement. Today, it is used to promote conversations across different channels.
It makes it possible for brands to communicate with their target audience directly. It’s something that facilitates conversations between companies, the media and audience.
Since releases are now designed to be shared across different platforms, it is easy for people to see it. With keywords and links, it becomes visible in the SERPs. When distributed, newswires offer a feature of social media sharing that lets the audience share it in their social media.
However, not all marketers and webmasters believe that releases are capable of producing these benefits. In fact, they think that it is not useless and “dying.”
With modernization, it has evolved to be more visible and useful for online marketers. Using distribution services, it can circulate around the internet and reach more people.
It has become easier for business owners to promote their business. Millions of people prefer to consume their news online. Getting news has never been easier for them.
Marketers are able to promote their business far and wide. Using their own voice and message, they can reach consumers who are impossible to reach without releases.
With the help of online distribution sites, businesses can now be seen by a lot of people, even they are just starting. It is especially beneficial for startups to gain media coverage and exposure for their new business.
New companies looking to gain exposure can acquire it through distribution. It is a quick way to boost brand awareness and sales, something that not all businesses realize.
How to use Release as Branding Tools
You can get your message in front of the audience who matters to you through releases. Journalists and consumers are able to know you and your offer straight from you.
Here are ways how you can use it to promote your brand:
1. Identify your target audience
The first step to build your brand is to know who you want to focus on. Who are the people who are going to receive your news?
You need to know them in order for you to tailor your goal. Identify your buyer’s personas. Are you eyeing to reach single mom, working mom, bachelors or elderly?
You should know their interests, pain points and buying behavior and style. By knowing these elements, you’ll be able to use your release in promoting your brand.
When you become specific with whom you want to target, you can customize your message effectively. Your message becomes crystal clear. By knowing your target, you can ensure that all your content and marketing efforts are built around them.
2. Be clear with your brand mission
You want to be exact with your brand mission in order to build your brand. This will guide how you are going to write your releases.
What is it that you want to accomplish? Determine the value that your brand can provide.
You need to identify the purpose of your business. It should be the basis for all your content marketing strategies.
When you know your mission, you can foster it in all your content. People will identify you for it. It can easily build your branding and position in the industry.
3. Be unique
When we say unique, you should never imitate what other brands are doing. You should create your own identity.
Knowing how other brands stand from the competition is important. You should always be competitive.
It is useful in creating releases because you can highlight how your brand and offer are different from others. By highlighting your strong points and how you stand in the market, you can promote your branding.
4. Know the qualities and benefits of your offer
How can you boost your branding if you don’t know what you can offer? When you know the qualities and benefits of your offer, you can incorporate it in your content to promote how unique your brand is.
Your audience can differentiate how your brand differ from others. And from there, it is easy for them to make purchasing decisions.
Ensure that you don’t list only features that your product or service can provide. Let your audience know how they can benefit from it.
5. Use your brand voice
Your releases should always manifest your brand voice. How do you want your audience to perceive you?
Do you want to be seen as authoritative, professional, thought leader, service-oriented, informative or promotional? You need to use a voice that resonates with your target audience. Use it in your releases.
Using the right brand voice in your content ensures that you connect with your target audience. It is important that you use the same brand voice in all your content distribution to attract consumers and potential buyers.
6. Be shareable
When you use press release distribution newswire sites that syndicate your releases, ensure that they offer social sharing feature. It lets the audience share your content in just one press of a button.
Your visitors can share your releases on various social media platforms and email it to their recipients. They can share it automatically on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter, Google + or email it directly.
The more it is shared online, the easier for you to grow your brand. You can easily become viral. When this happens, you can instantly become popular in your niche.
7. Think about SEO
Although releases don’t provide any SEO value, it offers an indirect way to make your releases visible on the search engines. Whenever you issue newsworthy and relevant releases, Google and other search engines will love you for it.
Use keywords for optimization. It makes your release visible in the SERPs. People are able to find your site with an optimized release.
Moreover, producing great content attract other sites to link back to you. It produces organic link juices that make your content more visible.
8. Add multimedia
These days, when you distribute releases via newswires, they require multimedia elements to be embedded in the content. You can embed images or videos, which make your release more searchable.
Remember that people like sharing content with multimedia. It is the reason why they share it. Search engines like Google reward sites that offer useful and shareable content.
Images can appear on Google Images. It can put your content on top of the image searches. It’s the same as videos.
When people looking for similar content looks into videos, they are more likely to find you. This way, incorporating multimedia in releases can help build your brand.
9. You become a thought leader
If you distribute release via online distribution sites, you can highlight your expertise in your field. You can issue releases to show your prowess in your niche. Let’s say you are a fashion designer, you can talk about the latest fashion trends to help shoppers become aware and easily shop for the newest designs.
Doing this regularly can promote your brand as a trusted source of information. Journalists looking for sources to write can check on you each time. Making their work easier can easily position you as a great source of information. Not only that, buyers will refer to your brand before making buying decisions.
When you use distribution services, it provides a lot of benefits for your business that you wouldn’t find in other marketing channels. Startups and those that want to grow their brand can use it for this purpose.
It is the easiest and fastest way to use it as a modern “word-of-mouth.” Don’t forget that people refer to news or stories online as a source before buying.
An established branding builds trust. As soon people trust you, you can be assured that they love your brand, and everything comes into place.
About the author :
Fred Griffin is a marketing consultant, promotion specialist and content creating guru. He writes custom content for the internet offering solutions from creative digital marketing tactics to SEO and web design driven by results. He enjoys applying his marketing insight to overcome business stagnation, create growth solutions, and improve customer experiences.
