The Benefits of Using and Creating a Press Release Plan
Sometimes you can wing your content. You can whip up a quick social media post or repurpose a blog post to make it fresh and up to date. The same really isn’t true for your press and public relations content.
You can’t reuse or repurpose a press release. You don’t want to send the same pitch or story idea to a media representative. The content and the idea must be original and unique. Therefore, to be successful, you have to do some advanced planning.
A press release plan can help you not only stay on track to consistently create unique and original story ideas, it can help you leverage key opportunities. A press release plan is exactly what it sounds like. It is an annual plan that includes:
- When you’re going to issue a press release.
- What the press release goal is – for example, promote a new product or service, drive traffic to an opt-in page, build inbound links, and so on.
- Supplementary content for the press release – for example, videos or reports that you link to in the release.
- Supporting content to build up to the press release announcement and to follow it up – for example, if you’re promoting a product launch you might publish content relevant to problems that the product solves and then follow it up with content on tips to make the most of the product. The content should be in line with your press release news as well as the goals for your release.
- Things like links, keywords, images, social media tags.
- Key media representatives – plan who you’re going to pitch to and the date you’re pitching to them to stay on track with content creation and publication.
The Benefits of Using a Press Release Plan
By looking at the features and information you include in your press release plan, you may already see the benefits. They’re rather apparent. A press release plan:
- Ensures everything is completed in a timely basis
- Aligns your content marketing efforts with your press release efforts
- Supports you to achieve press release marketing goals
- Ensures you don’t miss any opportunities like keywords and links
- Integrates media outreach and pitching into your timeline
- Creates a timeline for you, so you don’t miss out on any opportunities
- Supports you to get the most return on your investment
- Identifies press release opportunities
It also helps you take advantage of press release opportunities as they arise. Sometimes the opportunity for a press release reveals itself. If you already have a plan and systems in place, it doesn’t take much additional effort to quickly create a press release.
You can create your own press release planning system with a project management tool, a content management tool, or a simple spreadsheet. The system you create and the technology you use isn’t as important as actually creating, and using, your press release plan. Start today; you’ll be amazed at how effective and efficient your press release marketing becomes when you have a plan.
Call us today to speak to one of our PR specialists: 1-800-713-7278
