Source: Forbes, “The Single Greatest Marketing Tool“, Lisa LaMotta, 7/24/07

Forbes released a great article about how public relations/press releases are the “single greatest marketing tool”. Amazon and Google appeared in some 13,000 news articles in the last 30 days alone.

The main benefits are that it is free and it creates buzz about a company and its products - the same buzz that is repeated all over the Internet in blogs, on forums, and in social networks.

When I create news briefs for The Isolated Entrepreneur, I often see the same information about these companies in multiple newspapers such as Wall Street Journal, NPR, and New York Times.

It is a powerful marketing tool that has allowed Apple to recently sell its one millionth iPhone - only months after it began production.

Can a tiny company benefit?

Yes. Publishing press releases on your company website and releasing it to local newspapers is an important step in free advertising. Internet users may create links on blogs, forums, and other social networks to your article. A reporter may use your press release as a starting point to writing an article about your industry.

On the Internet, you can submit your press release to sites such as i-newswire.com. By including a hotlink to your company website, you are increasing the number of inbound links to your website and, therefore, increasing your search engine ranking.

Check with network groups you belong to and see if they have a forum where you can release member news. Print out your press release and give a copy to members at your network groups.

The most important part about press releases is to make them informative, rather than making them a sales pitch.

Here are some resources about writing and publishing a press release: