PPC - Pay Per Click Management

A few years ago ess releases were a great way to build incoming links to your web site and blogs, however Google has since devalued these links and they are no longer the attraction they used to be. However, the press release business is still going strong, but now more in a perspective of trying to get great company news out there and hoping that other news outlets will see your articles and pick it up on their own sites.

There are a few problems that a lot of people are seeing with press release services right now. Some of these are the high costs of getting press releases written and sent out, only to see little feedback or interest in the actual release. Another problem is that if you are paying a PR agency to work directly with your company, you might not be seeing the content or results you were hoping for.

Companies like PRWeb are always going to have a massive customer base because they have the reach that huge companies want and are willing to pay for. However, spending $400+ for a press release to go out through their service and seeing minimal (if any) results is quite the chunk of change for any smaller business.

The Dark Side of PR Marketing

As more people continue to move their focus into online reputation management rather than press releases, they are seeing a common trend from the main PR agencies in the game today. The problem is that PR companies will take the time to collect payment from you, some generic information and then contact sites that they can spread your information on, but after that it’s all up in the air.

There isn’t much of a B2B business there after the initial contract or payment. By this I mean you are likely paying for content and links to be placed on various other web sites and blogs, but you don’t have an end say in what is posted within this content and also don’t have the ability to update or correct the information if needed. This is something that was also discussed in the recent “Disruption: PR is Dead” article on Brand.com.

What are your thoughts on press releases and have you changed your marketing efforts from using PR to focusing your efforts in other areas now?