Press Release 101: Do You Need a Reason to Toot Your Own Horn?

If you're like many small business owners, you don't believe you have anything press release-worthy to share with the world. You couldn't be more wrong. Every single business has something that's worth putting into a press release. It's all in how you look at it.

Writing a press release doesn't require that you are part of a major merger, or that you secured millions of dollars of financing. Even a little event, like hiring a new employee, is acceptable material for a press release. Remember, you make the rules about what is news. The purpose is to get your company out there frequently, so people start to take notice.

The more news you have, the more active your company appears to be. I recently added a News page to my company's website, and suddenly I had dozens of ideas on what I could promote there. I tend to be so focused on my business, I forget that being interviewed on the radio or a blog is news to others. So now I strive to write press releases about all my or my company's activities.

Still stumped for what to write a release on? Here are 24 ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

1. Launch of new website
2. Launch of new company
3. Accomplishments (met certain metrics; for example getting ISO certified)
4. Putting out financials for the quarter
5. New contract with client (any client; doesn't have to be big)
6. Commencement or completion of a project
7. Piggyback current news article ("going green" is big right now)
8. Participation in local events, fairs, trade shows
9. Donation to a charity
10. Employees participating in a group or serving on a board or committee
11. Being quoted in a book or article
12. Interviews on tv, radio, in a magazine, or in a blog
13. Winning an award
14. Upcoming presentation or speaking engagement
15. New product launch or improved features
16. Promotions or new hires
17. Company anniversary
18. Free offer on website or in store
19. Sale
20. Holidays (make one up if you need to)
21. Strategic partnerships with other companies
22. Acquisitions or sales of divisions of your company
23. Moving of your office to new location (or building new office)
24. Workshop you are presenting

The idea is to generate news frequently. I would suggest a minimum of one press release per month. You can even map out what you'll release each month ahead of time, to keep yourself from agonizing over trying to find news each month.

There are dozens of press release sites to send your news to. Many are free, and others are paid. The paid sites tend to get better results, since you're paying to publish your press release on major news sites like Yahoo!, MSN and Google.

Stay consistent with it, and soon you will see results. Your search engine ranking will move up, as there are more websites where your company (and keywords) is mentioned. You will start to get calls from interested journalists and customers. For the price, you can't get better advertising than press releases!