Press release services offer powerful benefits to businesses and individuals that are difficult to obtain using any other marketing or publicity-generation methods. And when combined with other marketing methods like article syndication, social media marketing or print advertising, press release services can significantly bolster a company's overall public presence. Because the ultimate goal of most news releases is to drive leads and sales, understanding the benefits and features of press release services is critical to developing a comprehensive plan to capitalize on the publicity they bring.

Press Release Benefit #1: Public Presence

For businesses looking to increase their public presence and improve brand awareness and loyalty, partnering with a press release services company is essential. Even if readers of your news story aren't interested in your product or service now, having your name in the public eye is generally a good thing - assuming that you're conducting business in an appropriate manner. Additionally, the reader may be interested in your company later, or they may recommend you to friends, family and associates if they've "seen you around" in the news and media.

News Release Benefit #2: Search Engine Optimization

Today's media distributes news stories heavily online, and this means that there are a number of SEO benefits to be realized. First, your story is likely to be picked up by thousands of small media outlets and news websites, which could result in a massive amount of links to your site. Second, your release will be featured on the home page (or other pages) of a news site temporarily. Depending on the PR of that particular page and the authority of the site overall, this could mean that powerful link juice could be passed from the news site to yours.

Finally, many press release distribution websites will feature your release on their site permanently. This link can be powerful and if the story is a popular topic and gets a large number of views and social media shares, the page where your release is hosted could actually achieve PR and send yet more link-love to your website.

PR Benefit #3: Develop Media Trust

Because editors are spammed daily with irrelevant and poorly written press releases, they pay close attention when a business or individual submits interesting, original and relevant news stories on a regular basis. Over time they'll develop trust in your company and more of your releases will be published and shared, resulting in an increase of the previous listed benefits of press releases. This could also lead to powerful contacts that could help you in the event that you write a book, a major article or some other publication where having extensive media contacts could be extremely helpful.

Press Release Benefit #4: Sales

A well-written news story is primarily meant to inform, but great writers can also subtly inject a call to action that can result in a significant number of leads and sales being generated from your press release. However, hiring a professional to write such a news release is strongly recommended because most editors won't publish a story that is too salesy or a clear advertisement.

The most important thing to remember is that in order to realize the benefits that working with a press release services company can bring, you need to produce news stories on a regular basis - generating publicity is not a one-off marketing ploy.