David Meerman Scott, in his 2007 book The New Rules of Marketing and PR (Wiley), was one of the first to tag the press release as a news release. It was his belief that the news release could be (and should be) sent early and often, and be targeted at more than just the media. His practical New Rules of News Releases still hold up today:
• Don’t just send news releases when “big news” is happening; find good reasons to send them all the time.
• Instead of just targeting a handful of journalists, create news releases that appeal directly to your buyers.
• Write releases that are replete with keyword-rich copy.
• Include offers that compel consumers to respond to your release in some way.
• Place links in releases to deliver potential customers to landing pages on your Web site.
• Optimize news release delivery for searching and browsing.
• Add social media tags for Technorati, Digg, and del.icio.us so your release will be found.
• Drive people into your sales process with news releases.