When the recession hit in 2008-09, marketing departments and newsrooms were downsized and unfortunately, many marketers and journalists lost their jobs. What transpired was a surge in PR professionals, as many individuals decided to hang PR shingles. This, along with the advent of social and digital media, changed the PR industry forever.
Today, with print publications dwindling and digital/social practices growing by the day, the PR business has evolved. Given the 24-hour news cycle, companies and their PR representative/agency continue to issue press releases, however, in many cases, the news value is not being maximized.
More importantly, companies who should be paying for full-service PR expertise (i.e. strategic planning, project execution, media relations, story development, etc.) are paying for a press release house … a reactive company or individual who simply distributes company news/events without any plan to proactively promote (i.e. media outreach) that company or its brand across all viable channels.
The press release, without any strategy to promote the news (via earned, owned and/or paid media) or maintain a share of voice for a company/brand, offers very little ROI. Be wary of the press release house and seek out an agency that develops a strategy to establish and maintain a share of voice, while leveraging multiple platforms, when applicable.
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