I spoke with a fairly large hosting company marketing director the other day. As we were discussing his marketing strategy I learned something that shocked me. Our discussion went like this:
Derek: "So your brand is doing pretty well by the sound of it. What are you doing for PR?"
(LONG PAUSE)
Host: "Well...we really aren't doing any PR right now."
Derek: "I think my phone line malfunctioned - because I thought I just heard you say that you aren't doing any PR."
Host: "Yeah, we used to do a little of it, but we got busy and so now we just don't do it."
Derek: "I literally can't believe that."
My point is twofold - first, even fairly large web hosting companies can get busy and neglect certain pieces of their marketing. Second, PR is a "must do" activity for EVERY web hosting brand.
During my time running a web hosting directory I had the occasion to observe many marketing and PR campaigns of hosts of various sizes. One rule held true across every web host and campaign:
Those advertising campaigns that were accompanied by editorial content consistently outperformed those campaigns that ran without PR or editorial content. Click through rates were higher, conversion rates were higher, and brand awareness was higher.
If you are running a web hosting company and are not creating and distributing press releases on an ongoing basis - you should add this to your list of promotional activities.
I recommend PR Web (www.prweb.com) if you are willing to pay a news wire distribution service. For $200 your release can contain the links and anchor text of your choosing – and will be distributed to the major outlets that the majority of web hosting editors use. Additionally, you can send your news releases directly to the news departments of the major web hosting publications to be included in their news coverage.
So what to write about in the release? Here are a few ideas:
New products or services;
New hires or personnel promotions;
Events attended or trade show activity;
Awards your company may have won;
Partnerships with vendors;
Case studies;
Results of surveys you have conducted.
There are a number of well written press releases out there that can serve as general templates – if you go to the homepage of the wire distribution services you can see examples from other company’s press releases. Those are services such as www.prweb.com, www.prnewsire.com, and www.businesswire.com.
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