It used to be that you had to know how to create a great concept, develop great copy, create an accompanying photograph that was superior, and select the best media outlets in order to get product publicity.  Today, however, all you have to do is write some mediocre copy, snap a photo with your digital camera or smart phone, and go to Business Newswire, PR Newswire or some other internet news distribution service, fill-in-the-blanks, and send them some money.

Publicity defined is “news and information in the editorial or nonpaid segments of a media.”  As such, it carries with it the weight of “sanctioning” by the editor.  Think about it, “Motor Trend Car of the Year” means something.  That’s conventional product publicity, not the “pay-for-play” internet news environment today that gets your “news” listed as a news release sponsored by your company on a whole bunch of websites.

That doesn’t mean that today’s “internet news” isn’t valuable.  It has great value because of search and SEO.  The link popularity resulting from content published in quality websites and the influence it has on SEO is terrific.  Make no mistake, though, this is not publicity as it has been defined since the beginning of communications.  It is an SEO tool. Furthermore, it doesn’t carry the weight of editorial endorsement.

Good publicists know how to tie everything together, given this redefinition of product publicity.  They realize that the better the publicity idea and presentation, distributed to a media list which contains the personal addresses of editors, plus internet news distribution is the correct way to take advantage of the true value of publicity as editorial together with today’s value as internet content and an SEO facilitator.

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© 2102 Steven M. Stroum