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- [00:00]
John Janice
So what if the press release isn't a relic of the pre Internet era, but actually one of the most underused tools a small business has right now? Especially when AI can help write them. But there's a catch.
- [00:13]
DTM World Grow Marketing Consultant
Let me ask you a few things. Do you feel like you know what differentiates your business from every other business out there? Can you confidently charge a premium for what you offer? Are you working from a plan, a marketing roadmap that allows you to know precisely who what to do next? Look, don't worry if you can't answer yes to any or all of these questions. You're not alone. See, marketers today get so focused on the tactic of the week staring them right in the face that they forget to look at the big picture. The overarching strategy needed to consistently grow their business. Over the years, I've worked with thousands of businesses helping them do just that. Create the perfect marketing strategy and plan that gives total clarity about what to do next, confidence to charge ahead and charge more, and complete control of the marketing tactics they choose. I would love to help you and your team do the same. To find out if our Strategy first program is right for you, visit DTM World Grow and request a free consultation. That's DTM World Grow.
- [01:33]
John Janice
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. This is John Janice. My guest today is Mickey Kennedy. He's the founder of E Releases, a press release distribution service started back in 1998 after watching small businesses get turned away from PR agencies that charged a minimum of $20,000. He since distributed over 150 press releases, more than 30,000 customers. And today we're going to talk about how to train AI to write press releases that journalists actually read and use. So Mickey, welcome to the show.
- [02:06]
Mickey Kennedy
Thanks for having me.
- [02:07]
John Janice
So I've been in this business over 30 years and so certainly the press release and how PR and media relations are a big component of marketing. Seems like when the web came along they sort of lost a little bit of their use and usability. And I wonder how you've, you know, you've been in this game a long time as well. You released really was, came around kind of when the web was just starting. So how have you seen the practice of PR in general and certainly the PR or the press release tool change dramatically over the last couple decades.
- [02:42]
Mickey Kennedy
So I think the biggest change I've seen is the proliferation of noise in the PR space. There is a lot of, I guess you'd call them syndication feeds, where for $49 or $119. Your press release gets replicated on a bunch of websites, but it's usually like a sub domain or a folder on the website. And if you go to the website and you do a search for your company, it won't show up. So, you know, humans aren't actually seeing this. And it's more of just a, I don't know, an eco lift. And it's gotten to the point that, you know, people don't recognize the opportunity of what a proper newswire is. In the US it's largely a duopoly between Business Wire, owned by Berkshire Hathaway and PR Newswire. And PR Newswire is the oldest and largest. And they also charge, they both charge quite a bit being a duopoly. Around $1,800 for a 600 word press release to go out nationally. That being said, all the releases that go out through E Releases go out nationally and it's probably about 25% the cost of that. The caveat is you have to be a small business or entrepreneur, basically the type of customer that PR Newswire sales team has no interest in pursuing. And that's sort of what I act as a co op for small businesses and entrepreneurs. And we move about 30, let's see, right now we're moving about 10,000 press releases year altogether we've worked with over 30, I think right now around 32, 33,000 clients that we've helped. And so we're moving a lot of volume and as a result we're really helping people. But you know, if there are people who have used the other services, then they'll do a press release with us and they'll actually say we had less impact with you. And I'm like, well, I see you got no earned media and you got no earned media with them. They're like, oh no, we got picked up by 200 links. And I'm like, where? And they're just the syndication links. And I'm like, nobody wrote an article about you. These are all the press release replicated on a bunch of syndication websites. And they, you know, it, it's, it's just hard to. I find education has become the thing now where we try to get people to understand the opportunity.
- [04:53]
John Janice
Well, let's talk about that. Because it, in the old days, you certainly, the press release was a vehicle to get media coverage. Know, even if you're just trying to get it in your town, then when the web came along, it actually became as much or more of an SEO
- [05:08]
Mickey Kennedy
play than people trying to game that
- [05:11]
John Janice
yeah, and because unfortunately in the early days, Those links, buried 10 rows deep, were getting picked up by the search engines. Even though no people really saw them, they were getting indexed. And so they did actually, they did actually have some value in that regard. But certainly the search engines now are onto the game and you know that, that those days are, are certainly over. So talk a little bit about this idea of earned media versus owned media, because I think we're actually back in a window of time when earned media is probably going to become more important than it maybe ever was, or certainly more so than it's been in the last couple decades.
- [05:50]
Mickey Kennedy
Right. I think with AI, people are looking for stuff and AI is leaning on, you know, credible sources. And believe me when I tell you it's not this subdomain on a website that no one knows. It's, you know, if you're in the waste management space and you've been picked up in Waste News, which is the industry standard publication, and they've written about you doing something exciting, the AI as well as the search engines are going to know that that's a very relevant publication and as a result you're going to stand out. And you know that, uh, let's just take that one as an example. I, I mentioned it because I had a client who did a press release about them where they build facilities, municipalities, and it's everything nuts and bolts from waste as well as recycling. And you know, a city orders it and there's nothing else. They handle everything, they work with the contractors and they build out a complete facility. And very, you know, there's nobody really doing that. And so they sent that press release out. They got one article in Waste News magazine. It's like the perfect magazine, but it was just one article. They were contacted by Citi in Australia and within six months they were under contract to build two facilities in Australia. And it was, I think over 30 or 40 million dollars from one article. And so. And you know, they'll continue to get leads and recognition for that. And that's what happens with URD Media. I tell you, you know, you appearing on a website that no one's looking at, nothing is ever going to happen. But when a journalist writes an article about you, it's like an implied endorsement. You know, it's someone has transformed the press release into a written article. You know, during the pandemic we helped an initiative called the Dining Bond Initiative to help restaurants that were closed during the pandemic. It was sort of like a volunteer effort. And if they, you know, you nominated a favorite local restaurant. If they were able to contact them, you could give money that went directly to them, backed by a dining bond, sort of like a gift certificate scenario. And it raised over $10 million in revenue. It got picked up in over 100 places. It got, you name it, Wall Street Journal picked it up, New York Times, lots of food publications. And I saw over 80 daily newspapers who picked it up. And so it did extremely well. And again, that would never happen on these syndication sites. You know, these are all individual articles that people wrote about. And I think that, you know, what people are missing is, you know, what's. What's the magic sauce and its strategy? You know, in this case, it was a lot of unknown. You know, we were sent home two weeks to flatten the curve, and there was an uncertainty. And here was something that was potentially positive news, but it was also actionable. You know, we had. We were powerless, but we could give $50 to the favorite restaurant we go to for our anniversary every year and make sure we're helping them in some small way. And I think that that's.
- [08:46]
John Janice
I mean, I think that brings up a really good point, because a lot of times when people think about promoting something there, it's like, here's my new product, you know, press release. And, you know, that's not very interesting, but it's interesting to that person, but maybe nobody else.
- [08:59]
DTM World Grow Marketing Consultant
So how do you find those?
- [09:01]
John Janice
I mean, you know, the pandemic was kind of an interesting opportunity, but in. In the. In the real world, every day of small business, how do you find that thing that. That nobody's covering or that. That. That's really unique inside your industry? Instead of just self promotion, you have
- [09:18]
Mickey Kennedy
to, you know, sort of put your thinking cap on. You have to play the contrarian. You have to look at different angles. You have to think and talk to people. Like, if we were at a trade show or conference, what are the things you'd want to ask people right now? Have you noticed that this is happening with your company, or is it just mine? Those are the things that are ripe for bringing out, because often these are industry blind spots that the industry's not reporting on yet. But you've noticed this trend, and now you're looking for verification from someone else. And if you can get that verification, they're like, yeah, I'm seeing that too. You can break that. And that puts you in control for getting that news out there. And I've had that work really well, especially for clients that traditionally aren't very newsworthy. And you know, there was a local carpet company in New Jersey and in talking to them during a brainstorm, we asked who their biggest enemy was and they says, the big box home improvement stores. And not only are they our biggest enemy, they give consumers a really poor product and a poor experience. And this is why. And so we did a press release about that and they got picked up in almost every floor trade publication. No one had discussed it ever before. And yeah. Yet it was something that really excited everybody. And we continued to milk that cow for a few more weeks, talking about different ways in which this company, you know, targets and markets against the big box home improvement stores and brings home the value of why having seasoned people install your carpet rather than Home Depot going down a list of saying, here's the list of people who have a certification for home improvement license in our state and that's the only qualification that Home Depot and Lowe's uses.
- [10:56]
John Janice
That, that's really a good, that's a pretty good. Like if people are looking for a hook, like find an enemy right in the industry, like find a bad guy to, to kind of rail against that. That, that's a pretty proven practice, isn't it?
- [11:08]
Mickey Kennedy
And also I think putting the spotlight on a customer, you talk about a new product or service, you, you get greedy and you want to put the spotlight on you, but often you're not the most interesting story. But if you had someone who beta tested your product or software and they had an amazing outcome, sometimes putting the spotlight on them and saying, we have this new product or service, here's a company that used it three years in, they lost money every year. Looks like they're going to be one of the casualties of these companies that fail in the first five years of business. And by using our software solution to write better invoices that are more profitable, they're now projected to have their first profit ever. And then you have a quote by them and it's like that shows the stakes and it makes it so much more intriguing and interesting for an audience. And a journalist is, at the end of the day, doesn't care about whether this is going to make a strong article for you, but is it going to make an intriguing and interesting article that their audience is going to want to listen to or read? And that's the biggest metric. What, you know, sometimes I say you have to take what you want and that's the pill and sometimes you got to put it in cheese to get the journalist to swallow it. And you know what, what is that magic thing that you're going to do and sometimes putting the spotlight on others. It's really just creating a compelling story arc. Because naturally, journalists like to write in a story arc. It's something that we learn from children onward. And having a product or service with a list of features doesn't yield much of a story. So what are the things that you can do to make the stakes higher and to put more of that story arc in there?
- [12:44]
DTM World Grow Marketing Consultant
Let me ask you a few things. Do you feel like you know what differentiates your business from every other business out there? Can you confidently charge a premium for what you offer? Are you working from a plan, a marketing roadmap that allows you to know precisely what to do next? Look, don't worry if you can't answer yes to any or all of these questions. You're not alone. See, marketers today get so focused on the tactic of the week staring them right in the face that they forget to look at the big picture. The overarching strategy needed to consistently grow their business. Over the years, I've worked with thousands of businesses helping them do just that. Create the perfect marketing strategy and plan that gives total clarity about what to do next, confidence to charge ahead and charge more, and complete control of the marketing tactics they choose. I would love to help you and your team do the same. Look, to find out if our Strategy first program is right for you, visit DTM World Grow and request a free consultation. That's DTM World Grow.
- [13:54]
John Janice
So another sort of casualty of PR practice was the fact that we could hit a button and send out 20 million. I get pitches every single day. I'm like, who on the planet thought this was relevant to my audience? And so how do you kind of balance that? I mean, in a perfect world, I wrote this press release for you journalist in this publication, in this city. I mean, how do you balance that with the fact that, you know, you're probably going to need to send a few out to get a hit?
- [14:24]
Mickey Kennedy
Yeah. So I think that it's one of the cases where going over a news wire now is more important than ever. And it sucks that it's in a duopoly environment because it's expensive. You know, that being said, the Newswire is very clean. And so if you go into your login on PR Newswire, you have an industry feed that you've signed up for and you can actually tailor it to exclude, you know, press releases with certain keywords. Make sure that you capture and pin certain press releases that mention certain keywords that are really important to you. And so it's the opposite of their inbox. You know, media databases have become prolific over the last 20 years. And, you know, if you're a golf club company who spent $10,000 for a yearly license and you sent to 2,400, you know, people who cover golf, and they all passed, you now start talking yourself into, well, you know, bankers and financial people like to play golf. So let's send it to financial analysts and reporters, and it's like, they'll never cover golf clubs. But, you know, that's happening in every industry. People are talking themselves because it costs nothing to just hit a few keys and blast to everybody. And so I find that with everybody but perhaps local media. Email has become a really difficult way to reach journalists. And I think that the newswire is a better way to reach them. You just have to make sure that, you know, when you're spending money to go over newswire, even if it's a reduced price with us, that you're, you're, you're really playing with something that's strategic and you're not doing a press release that's like, hey, we hired Judy as the new HR associate or something like that. It's a meaningful press release. And so I tell people to really, you know, put a little bit of effort into the strategy behind the press release. You know, look for ways in which you can make a compelling story and help develop a story arc. Because almost anything that people do, you can sort of play with it and elevate it and try to create nuances that brings out more of a story element.
- [16:28]
John Janice
So we mentioned AI, and certainly, you know, if. If hitting the button to send has gotten easier, certainly writing the press release has gotten easier. In theory, you can, you know, do one prompt and tell it what your product is and what your company name is, and voila, it'll put it in a press release format even for you. How do you actually use the AI tools to write better press releases, ones that are going to get picked up? I mean, what does that look like in practice?
- [16:53]
Mickey Kennedy
So I never let AI decide what to write on AIs. You know, I tell people the metric is about 97% of press releases that even go through the newswire, where people paid $1,700 plus to go out nationally, they do not generate earned media. So what I tell people to do is focus on the 3% of press releases that do get pickup, because there's patterns in there. As the story arc is an important one. You know, building in an industry survey or study that's something anyone can do. Nobody owns an industry. You can do the legwork, get a survey in your industry. Partner with a small or independent trade association, not the big one. They'll often, because it's a smaller independent one, they don't get a lot of love from the media. So they see it as a win win themselves and say more than two thirds of the time, they will cooperate with you to send that out to their members and, you know, focus not on all the questions, but what was the most, the biggest surprise or of that survey that you did, and then focus on that as the press release. I then ask AI, hey, I've got this idea for a press release. Here's me, here's my company. Do not write the press release. Give me the structure of what you feel would be the perfect press release on this subject. It'll probably write the press release anyways. And I go, okay, I see, you wrote the press release. Now give me just the structure. And then finally it gives me the structure and say, okay, give me eight headline options for this press release. And then if I find one that I really like, I'll get it. Otherwise, we'll refine one. It's like number three comes closest, but I want to make sure that this is in there. And then I say, okay, now give me three opening paragraph options using this target headline. And this way takes longer. It might take the most it's ever taken me to do a whole press release is 12 minutes. So you don't get it in 30 seconds. But if you take it top down, paragraph by paragraph, and then focus like, hey, in the second paragraph, I want to make sure I have a quote. And I want to say something very powerfully. You know, make sure active verbs are used and that really stands out. And, you know, if you're comfortable being a contrarian, you could even say you can, you know, make it a contrarian quote or something like that. So, like, you know, let's say you did a survey of graphic designers and 80% believe that they're going to be replaced by AI in five years. You could say you could disagree with that and say, hey, while this survey shows a lot of people are scared the industry, I think this is a bit alarmist. And I do believe that those who don't know how to start incorporating AI into their graphic tools toolbox, they're going to be at a huge disadvantage in the coming years. And, you know, you're not necessarily agreeing with what the survey said, but it makes you seem very thoughtful and rational. And you know, those types of things and then, you know, just going top down until you get what you, you know, get it finished. AI is very good at writing the press release, but the ideas behind it, it's not very good at. It'll. Yeah, it'll make a press release like you see out there. And you're like, this is as good as that one. Well, that one probably didn't.
- [19:59]
John Janice
You know, it's read all the bad press releases.
- [20:01]
Mickey Kennedy
Right, right. And it's like, yeah, you're right, it did as well as another bad press release that didn't get any media pickup. So, you know, one of the things
- [20:08]
John Janice
I think people really underutilize is the deep research aspect of it. I mean, you can get to the point where you could go to just about any industry and ask it something like what are generally accepted practices, you know, in this industry that you know, nobody is questioning? I mean, things, questions like that, you can all of a sudden really spark some, some things that will be polarizing, controversial potentially. And that's really where the, where the gems are, isn't it?
- [20:36]
Mickey Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the research capability of AI is so good. And a lot of people also don't brainstorm with it. It's like, hey, what are some contrarian ide use for my industry? And just brainstorm them and maybe it gives you five or six and you're sitting there saying, well, I would never feel comfortable saying that in my industry, but maybe number four is one that I could get behind and I wouldn't alienate my customer base. But you know, being a contrarian is a really great way to stand out with the media because so many times everybody agrees in one direction and as a result stories get written that are one sided. And you know, believe it or not, outside of politics, journalists like to be fair and balanced. So if you're the only one raising your hand and saying, hey, electric cars are bad for the environment, they're bad for right now. You know, you know, taking a lithium battery fire and getting it under control often involves 12 fire trucks and 50,000 gallons of water and, and it burns to X amount of degree. Plus we don't know what we're going to do with these batteries at the end of their life. Maybe we could hit pause for a few years until we figure some things out before we embrace electric cars so strongly. And that way you stand the likelihood of every time they discuss this subject, you get plugged in as that rational contrarian viewpoint. And that's a much easier place because less people are competing for that spot.
- [22:03]
John Janice
Yes. Awesome. Well, Mickey, I appreciate you taking a few moments to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Where would you invite people to learn more about E Releases and connect with you?
- [22:12]
Mickey Kennedy
So our website's ereleases.com I have a free masterclass where I teach people in less than an hour these strategic types of press releases that work, the 3% of press releases that are actually working. And again, it's completely free, and it's a great place for anybody to start. And that's@ereleases.com planpla and again, it's completely free. And, you know, you can feel free to call or email my office or chat with us. You know, we work with people all the time on their first real PR campaign, and we're great at holding hands and sort of teaching people the way to do this. And I always tell people, this is something that anybody can do. You don't need to hire a PR firm. This is something that you can do yourself. It just takes a little bit of thought and effort, but it's a way in which I think a small business can sort of implement it and maybe do it quarterly or every other month. Find a cadence that works for you.
- [23:04]
DTM World Grow Marketing Consultant
Yeah.
- [23:04]
John Janice
Awesome. Well, again, I appreciate you taking a few moments, and maybe we'll run into you one of these days out there on the road.
- [23:10]
Mickey Kennedy
Sounds good. Thank you.