barry forward , business owners , news release

By: Barry Forward

The Internet has quickly become the default launch point for many

media pitch campaigns. Business owners have quickly grasped the ease

at which they can blast their news out through online newsletters,

email campaigns and online wire services. Essentially the Internet

has made getting your name in the media seem a whole lot easier. BUT

just because your news release happens to appear on a website

somewhere, does that mean it's actually being read?

A new survey has found that news consumption, our daily helpings of

local, national and international news, still comes predominantly

from the daily newspaper. Yes, despite the obvious increase in

Internet use, most of us still look to the daily printed tabloids and

broadsheets for our news fixes. 52 percent of us say the newspaper is

still number one and something that we are not going to part with

easily, despite the prognostications of many a digital futurist.

So just what does this mean if you are in business and trying to

generate some publicity for your company - start with the newspaper

first. Or that the very least when you are developing your priority

list make sure the local newspaper is at the top of your hit list and

that you write a version of your news release specifically for the

traditional print press.

It appears to come down to perception - when we see our company name

appear on the newswire, or on a website we are artificially comforted

in the belief that we have achieved some tangible results from our

news campaign. Our local customers may tell us otherwise,

specifically due to the fact that given their news reading habits

they probably missed our news announcement, even though it appeared

on www.lookhereformynews.com.

While newspapers still appear to be the logical first choice for news

coverage, the survey did find that the Internet has passed television

in the minds of business owners looking to get their news stories

covered. There could be several reasons for this including the fact

that most of us find it increasingly difficult to find time to sit in

front of our television sets for the evening news and the

introduction of instant news alerts and online news centers which are

making the currency of television news less attractive.

The newspaper appears to have remained king purely due to its

physical nature - it slams into our door in the morning, greets us at

the bus stop, fills our bird cages and reminds us we are part of a

bigger world as we carry out the recycling.

Barry Forward is the Executive Vice-President of Reputations Inc and

has an extensive background in public relations. He has also launched

several companies, including high tech ventures and products. You can

read more PR related articles like this one at

http://www.prmadeeasy.com/freeforall/freeINK.asp.