Numerous journalists are jumping the newsroom ship to “brand storytelling” as content marketers and an increasing number of public relations firms are evolving as integrated marketing communications agencies. As more companies adopt content marketing and integrate their marketing activities across owned, earned, shared and paid media, there’s an opportunity for marketers to tap into the expertise of the PR world
When Matt Cutts, head of Google’s web spam team, announced that links in press releases have no value for SEO, it created a lot of discussion and debate in the SEM community. But, if you look at his comments in their entirety, you’ll notice that he also said press release sites do have value for press and marketing reasons as Cheryl Conner, contributing writer at Forbes , so eloquently points out. Consider, 92% of journalists use search engines to research stories and 81% of journalists use search engines daily ( MarketingSherpa ) Blog readership, RSS feed subscriptions and social media sites are visited in record numbers Journalists using Google News surpass usage of major networks, like MSNBC & CNN! A consistent public relations program (that might include press releases) will help build general awareness of your product, service or brand and will supplement any direct marketing and advertising efforts