A press release has always been seen as a platform to send a message, but in today’s digital world it is much more than that. Despite some claims that press releases are no longer an effective way to communicate, the opposite is actually the truth - a press release is the hub of activity.

In a recent interview on Marketing Sherpa in Action by Daniel Burnstein, PR Newswire’s CEO Ninan Chacko described press releases “as a container for a variety of assets that can inform and engage the audience, putting readers on the path to conversion.” As always, the press release must be transparent and offer something of value to the intended audience: hyperlinks, whitepapers, videos and images, for example. These items create opportunities for the audience to share the message quickly via social media and find the message through an internet search. A writer should no longer write just for the members of the media, there is a much larger audience receiving the message.

To be sure press releases effectively reach the new audiences, Sarah Skerik, PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, took to Ragan’s PR Daily to outline a few common mistakes for writers to avoid when crafting press releases:

1. No focus. People and search engines both like specific information. A release with too many messages and a lack of focus will go unnoticed and unshared.
2. Unnatural writing. Search engines reward natural language, and in this day and age, corporate speak slows down and turns off readers and distances your organization from the audience. Formal, super-positive quotes from CEOs are less effective than natural language from an employee people can related to.
3. One-dimensional formatting. Blocks of text are no longer enough. Releases need to incorporate hyperlinks and calls to action to get the reader to do something. Also, including bullets and bold items help readers quickly grab the important information and share it more easily on social networks.
4. Too many embedded links. While it is important to embed links, as mentioned above, too many makes the press release seem flashy and showy, turning off interested readers. Plus, a search engine does not know what to do with too many links and the release will actually end up farther down in search results.
5. No Visuals. Search engines give a higher ranking to visuals, so including them in a release will rank it higher. Also, there are now social networks built around visuals – think Pinterest. It is important to always offer visuals.

Techniques for new age press releases apply to all PR professionals, including those in B2B. Even though B2B releases are mainly distributed to targeted trade media, they are still very visible online once posted in corporate media centers and shared by members of the trade media. All companies, whether consumer or B2B focused, should include hyperlinks and images, at the very least, in their press releases to reap the maximum rewards.