I was reading Michael Stelzner's New B2B Study Shows White Paper Importance, where press releases ranked 2nd in online content effectiveness for lead generation, according to findings from MarketingProfs. Looking at the comments he got (apart from the big question mark about newsletters being the 1st), another question remains: How do press release generate leads? My neurons instantly reacted... "Ask David Meerman Scott!" According to his book titled The New Rules of Marketing & PR, press releases in a web world suggest that Marketers can reach buyers directly, and the primary audience is no longer a handful of journalists. Online press releases are now a direct-to-consumer medium. He suggests tips to optimise press releases for search and quotes WebEx's press release at the top of Google search results. Some tips that David gave for the new rules of press releases:

• Create news releases that appeal directly to your buyers
• Write keyword-rich press releases
• Add social media tags
• Place landing pages links in releases
• Include offers for people to respond in some way
• Optimise news release delivery for searching and browsing

David has a complimentary e-book if you wish to know more: The new rules of PR: How to create a press release strategy for reaching buyers directly Other resources I found useful: Rocky Fu on tips to boost your online press release efforts, social media press release template from SHIFT Communications, and Press Release Grader from HubSpot. So while media relations is still important to overall communications strategy, it is no longer a deal breaker if your press releases are not "picked up" by the mainstream media. The Web enables us Marketers and PR professionals to reach buyers directly through direct-to-consumer news releases, and even generate leads for sales with optimisation techniques. Finally, my seemingly feeble (not!) attempt to sum everything up in startling simplicity: SEO Friendly Press Releases = Lead Generation. As my organisation starts to embrace the whole Web 2.0 shebang in its overall marketing strategy, I can only taste the sweet fruits of hard labour in the next few months (it's work in progress right now). I am putting my hopes high on this one. Unrelated side note: Wondering who's Pocoyo? This cute little blue boy is full of antics and making both kids and adults fall head over heels in love with him.