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Using Press Releases as a Marketing Tool?

Written by: Jon Hansen

Article Overview: After all, when you consider the ubiquitous power of the Internet which enables anyone and everyone to step into the spotlight and espout the virtues of their product or service, the true value of a press release has become somewhat jaded.

Using Press Releases as a Marketing Tool?

In my previous commentary regarding a Zycus press release heralding their tremendous rate of growth, I cited its relevance as being indicative of the evolution of a trend that was first presented in a Procurement Insights post from August 31, 2007 titled “The Ariba Interviews: Re-engineering the Future of On-Demand.”

Referencing that same article today (a post by the way that continues to be one of the most popular I have ever written), I also discussed “the growing cynicism of procurement professionals who, being inundated with press releases and announcements of exciting breakthroughs, have for the most part discounted brand-centric promotion as a reliable indicator of a vendor’s ability to deliver results.”

Challenging the veracity of using press releases as a primary means of connecting with the market, I questioned whether the practice was designed more to “succor existing clients by telling them that a new account meant that they had made the right decision,” or an “enticement for prospective clients being the equivalent of the old saying come on in, the waters fine?” Perhaps, I concluded, it was little bit of both.

After all, when you consider the ubiquitous power of the Internet which enables anyone and everyone to step into the spotlight and espout the virtues of their product or service, the true value of a press release has become somewhat jaded.

Don’t get me wrong, the traditional, well crafted PR deftly balanced the elements of “strategic self-promotion” with meaningful news or insights that actually served a purpose. However, it has now more often than not become the proverbial noise-maker that obfuscates rather than informs.

In an attempt to sift through the morasse of the “we are the champions” mantra that plagues the practice today, one must look especially hard for the true meaning and subsequent impact behind any one release. This of course is a virtual impossibility for most, limiting their understanding to a cursory review of the headlines at best.

In what is truly a reverse of the McLuhan “the medium is the message” axiom, the recent Zycus press releases clearly illustrates how the “message is in actuality the medium."

Previously referencing a number of reports and articles that pointed to the beginning of what I referred to as a paradigm shift in favor of emerging vendors such as Zycus, I highlighted the fact that the “expertise, product quality and SaaS pricing model” was finally gaining mainstream acceptance.

And while the structure of their latest press release announcing the Sigma-Aldrich contract follows the same formulaic outline as every other press release, it is in reality a gauge of the future of the vendor software landscape.

This is an important “between the lines” message that is reminiscent of a Price Waterhouse conference I had attended in early 2001 where the speaker made the observation that “somewhere out there are small, struggling, innovative companies who will one day become the Microsoft’s of tomorrow.”

Based on Zycus’ growing dominance as a global leader in the area of spend management in 2009, they may very well be one of the emerging Microsoft’s to which the speaker had been referring. I will definitely be watching this company’s progress closely over the next 12 to 18 months.

That said how one crafts their press release only has signifigance if it is actually read and understood by the targeted audience. Gaining this necessary attention requires an effective combination of quality composition, effective distribution and finally an understanding of the intrinsic interests of a market that has largely become numb as a result of information overload.

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Article Tags: cynicism, enticement, insights, little bit, noise maker, plagues, press release, press releases, procurement professionals, prospective clients, relevance, right decision, self promotion, spotlight, succor, true meaning, true value, veracity, virtual impossibility, virtues



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