My friend Staci runs a skin care business from her home recently asked me how she could promote her business better on Facebook. I talked to her about the various types of ads you can run and the advantage of each.

The big selling point for using Facebook ads is that you can target your ads very specifically and only show them to people who live nearby. The drawback is there is a learning curve and it’s always changing. Also, in addition to investing the time both to learn and manage an ad campaign, you will need a daily budget. If you have the budget, unless you enjoy doing it, I would just hire someone like Avalaunch Media to run them for you. They’ll create the ads and run the campaign for you.

There are many free ways to promote a local business online that are easy and don’t require as much maintenance that every small business should use and maximize. Here are my top 3:

1. Maximize your Facebook business page with custom tabs
This is obvious, you need a Facebook page for your business. But after that, then what do you do? I found this business page from a Facebook ad asking me to like their page. It’s not a local business (in other words, it’s not in Utah) and so normally I would gloss over it. This time I wanted to do some research so I went to the page and I liked it. I found it was a good example of effective Facebook marketing for a local business.

Besides having a decent level of engagement and following, her cover photo (the large photo) clearly  tells you what she does. The custom tabs give you more information.

Imaginary Jane is in a crowded space – she is a graphic designer who creates logos, business cards and other collateral for small businesses. Her page is at  www.facebook.com/imaginaryjane

Note how she has created tabs (where it says “services” “prices” “contact”) which link to corresponding sections of her website. They have a nice style, which I’d expect because she’s a designer. There’s a consistent design for each button that fit with the overall theme of her page (color, look, font, etc). If you don’t have a website you can simply put the information right on your Facebook tabl. I liked that she put her pricing because immediately I knew what to expect. She is priced right for a small business and I thought to myself: I’d hire her!

It’s a little tricky to learn how to make custom Facebook tabs but you can learn or pay someone to do it for you by using a site like Elance or Odesk, maybe even on the cheap at Fiverr.

Note: Here’s an online scheduling tool: http://www.timetrade.com/products?product=professional that you can use if you create appointments, so people can schedule online. I’m sure there are Facebook apps that do this too (please suggest one in the comments if you have one you like).

2. Create a free profile on Yelp
Yelp is a community that rates and recommends businesses and most people know it as a good place to find restaurant reviews. However, Yelp features many types of businesses. You can create a Yelp business profile so you come up in searches on the site.

This is how I found someone who does eyelash extensions, who also has a home business. I went to Yelp, typed in “eyelash extensions, Kaysville” and found this business: http://www.yelp.com/biz/truebeauty-professional-skin-care-kaysville

She was one of two businesses that came up but she had no reviews.  I needed someone immediately and she could fit me in so I took a chance on her anyway and was really happy.

3. Create a Google business profile.
If you type a type of service or business along with a city and/or state name, you will usually see a Google listing come up first. You should create a business profile on Google, which is now technically a Google + profile.

I searched on, “eyelash extensions Kaysville Utah” and the top result was for a business called Eyecing. They also has a Google business listing with the address and a map on the right hand side of the page. They have no competition for their business listing because they’re the only business shown, and they didn’t have to pay for any of it.  It’s really amazing how much real estate on the page you get free as a local business, simply by getting your business listed. People can also leave a review and Google will display them, adding further credibility to your business.

These are some of my favorite tools for a small business to get free publicity and rankings, free. There are tips and tricks you can apply to further enhance your listings, but this is a good start. Please let me know if you have any additional tips you want to share about free ways to promote your local business online, by leaving a comment below.

Here’s another great PR story that I just love. First, a little backstory. General Mills is taking the heat on Facebook for using GMO’s in Cheerio’s.

Examples:
PR Fail: Cheerio’s GMO Backlash Goes Social (MediaBistro)
Cheerio’s GMO Backlash Facebook Campaign Fail (CheeseSlave)

They haven’t deleted the complaints (at least not all of them) but the complaints continue to pour in, mixed in with cute babies enjoying their favorite breakfast cereal.

So not all is going grand for the brand right now.

However, they did something that I know will make Cheerio’s fans happy (and increase loyalty). It’s a great example of how to reward your best fans, plus a brilliant PR move.

This guy told General Mills that he ate his 10 Millionth Cheerio in November. Not only did they celebrate it on Facebook (not sure why they didn’t use the image of the poster, but still, they highlighted the post). They contracted an artist to make a picture of Chris and his history eating Cheerios.

Even though right now they have just created original artwork to commemorate the milestone, they could turn into an entire ad campaign (think of the way Subway incorporated Jared into their marketing after hearing how much weight he lost eating there). They could ask their fans: how many Cheerio’s have you eaten and where?

Chris posted about it on Reddit and it’s been going crazy since.

How did he count the # of Cheerio’s he ate?
“I estimated the number of Cheerios in a bowl and an average of how many I’ve had each day. The actual date was not really accurate, more that I just chose a date, emailed them with some funny ideas and they ran with it.”

Amazingly, Chris gave them the idea of using his story in their marketing. Here’s what he sent General Mills:

“Hi, I’m following up on my post regarding me about to eat my 10,000,000th cheerio. Just so you know how I came to this, I am guessing that I’ve eaten an average of 650 cheerios each day (1.2 average bowls) for 42.5 years (give or take). So the date may not be exact but it is very close.

Now, this can be done if a couple of funny ways. First we can do something for my “preparation” of the 10 millionth cheerio (preparing the dinner table with the good china, having it with nice wine/champagne. Wearing a tuxedo while I cross the threshold. Another way could be to have a “look back” at where I was when I ate my 1 millionth, 5 millionth, etc. We could have a little fun with this. Kind of like “The Onion” does, just “G” rated. Maybe on my 4 millionth I was getting ready for prom. 7 millionth I was really hung over after seeing my favorite hockey team lose in the playoffs the night before and I was drowning my sorrows. We could have milestones for my international cheerio moments when I had my first cheerios in London, Manila, San Juan, Toronto, etc. Maybe talk about the “purity” of the accomplishment as I have never eaten Honey Nut or other flavor cheerios including imitation brands (which are the Devil).

Anyway, this could be a funny/lighthearted marketing campaign (and it can be done by anyone, not just me).”

Someone from the company called him and discussed the possibilities and even though that was in November, they’re getting mileage out of it now.

Which brings me to my point.  Take a cue from General Mills! How can you creatively reward your biggest fans?

Try opening a new shop to sell smoothies in a small Utah town in the middle of Winter. Not just any Winter, one with subzero temperatures. You’d think it would be tough. It’s really a time when you’d probably do better selling hot chocolate. But thanks to some brilliant marketing, one small business owner is getting plenty of customers for his new smoothie shop in Vernal. He’s also getting national press. How? By taking a controversial political stand.

The owner is already a local celebrity for putting up billboards in support of oil and gas drilling in the town. Now he’s using his political views to get customers for his newest venture.

The large menu states that liberals will pay one price and conservatives pay another (not sure what moderates pay). If you’re a liberal you’ll pay $1 more for your smoothie. The extra dollar liberals pay gets donated to conservative causes. Again, brilliant. So is the name of the restaurant. It’s called the  I Love Drilling Juice and Smoothie Bar.

Owner George Burnett  is a real character, wearing his cowboy hat and not backing down from his opinions one bit. In other words this isn’t a publicity stunt (well, yes it is). He really believes it.

“I have liberals come in who pay $1 surcharge….actually all 3 liberals have been happy to pay it.”

No matter what way your politics lean, you have to have admire his brazen tactics.

Not only are customers rewarded for being conservative,  employees must be too. They must not only believe in drilling for oil (raping and pillaging the earth), they have to share their views on social media and with bumper stickers. Again, brilliant!

Now, in just about any other town in the US this would be not only bold, but stupid. But this is Vernal, Utah, where liberals might get shot at. When I traveled through these towns in college, we always displayed our US flag on the car to hopefully ward off attacks (while we went hiking). This is a small town where most would rather liberals not even visit (it reminds me of Richfield, New York which has a sign that says: Welcome to Richfield — now go home). This move creates instantly loyalty. And this is Utah, where some parents buy pink guns for their babies (as featured on Nightline).

This reminds me of Chick-fil-A and their open anti-gay marriage position. It may have made them hated with some, but others love them for their stand. That’s a lot riskier since they have a national audience, but supposedly it has paid off since this article claims they have record-breaking profits.  7-Eleven gets political without taking a stand either way by letting their customers choose a Republican or a Democrat coffee cup and claims that they do accurately predict election results.

In other words, taking a stand or using your business as a platform for your beliefs or to measure your customer’s beliefs, seems to be a trend that can pay off. What it’s really doing is tapping into what their customers are passionate about.

What do you think, do politics and business mix well? And, would you drink the Kool Aid  conservative or the liberal smoothie?

It’s that time of the year when everyone is either looking backwards (at 2012) or forward (to 2013). It’s also time to talk about old and new trends.

The trend for me in 2012 has been to blog and tweet less often on my own properties and do more writing for others or paying other bloggers to write. I was however, recognized in a local business magazine as one of Utah’s top business people on Twitter and I’ve done more blogger campaigns than ever. When it comes to content I write for my readers, I’m posting on Facebook the most. I never would’ve predicted this.

If there is a theme it was a year of Pinterest marketing. My friend Paul and I launched PinAlerts.com and started a blog PinnableBusiness.com (now you know where I’ve been blogging). This was to market my newest book about Pinterest marketing, which is still not done  (that is on my list for 2013!). Our biggest story was scooped on Venture Beat but we still made it on Mashable for a successful launch.

I did get a few clients on television this year, which is a first since most of my press releases are for traffic and usually get picked up by print media or blogs. That’s most often because I work with small businesses. The biggest challenge is to find something newsworthy that the media would care about. It’s having lower budgets that would go to pitch the media or do a lot more outreach.

I learn a lot by being on the TV set, but would rather watch in the wings than be on the air. Writing allows editing and time to think, but the exposure of being on TV is irresistible because of the reach. One of my favorite parts of my work is to see my clients succeed.

Enough reminiscing. Time to list my most popular posts.

Top Posts of 2012

7 Christmas Social Media Campaigns that Rock – this is going to become an annual tradition.

Why your Facebook Fans Aren’t Seeing your Posts - this is why small business owners have hired me to help…it’s a job to keep up with Facebook changes and maximize your exposure. I’m getting around 30-50% engagement rate.

5 Pinterest Tools I Love - I mentioned PicMonkey, even though there was an uproar when they started to charge for some of their premium features.

How to Pin a Blog Post that Doesn’t Have an Image

Pinterest Case Study: A Designer who Gets Direct Sales

OrangeSoda Acquired by Deluxe Corp for $27.7 Million – Former CEO Jay Bean amazes me, he’s not a one-hit wonder, this is the second company he’s sold. He made work fun and coworkers were like family while the company grew dramatically and then got bought out, something I predicted in my interview almost 5 years earlier.

How GungHo Tapped the Power of Social Media for an Incredible Product Launch - I found the company via a press release on PRWeb, learned they were local, interviewed  them, and we were both on TV!

Pinterest is often thought of as a customer service platform, but used right, it can not only be that, but Pinterest can drive sales. When talking about Pinterest for business, most focus on the actual sale. They overlook the things you can do before the sale to engage with potential customers. Doing so can motivate them to buy.

Here’s an example of a company that utilizes Pinterest as a way to provide excellent customer service. My friend Mat is one of the owners at Rocky Mountain Mattress.

First, he uses PinAlerts(I’m a cofounder) which sends you an email whenever someone pins something from your website. Then he follows up by going to the pin and thanking the person for it. He says he appreciates knowing WHEN IT HAPPENS because it makes for GREAT customer service.

Here’s what he said (this was an IM):
Mat: i am loving pin alerts this holiday season
me: oh yeah? why?
Mat: been good to see what peeps are pinning right when they pin
i have been interacting with them right when they pin
and they have been coming over and buying
its pretty amazing

for example we will get someone that pins one of our toppers to their boards
and i will comment later on we find them calling us

All that he does is say thanks for the pin. He asks them to let them know if they can answer any questions. That’s it. Simple.

Here’s an example:

Another way that Rocky Mountain Mattress utilizes Pinterest is as a product catalog. That’s not that unique, but the way they point people to it is. When someone calls and asks about their custom mattress, they send them to their Pinterest profile. No need for a lot of clicks, you scroll through and can quickly see all the choices. Most of the time the person calling sees what they’re looking for and buys it on the spot.

Have you used Pinterest for customer service or sales? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

I got an email today from someone who read my book, I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What??? It immediately drew my attention when it said,

“I love your book, and it has helped me understand press releases better.

That alone gets anyone’s attention (apply this principle to working with journalists. We write because we want to feel like we make a difference and it’s nice to be acknowledged). It’s short, sweet and to the point.

He went on to say:

What I still struggle with is coming up with interesting ideas for stories. I have tried some press releases before but I have not seen any encouraging results.

I am currently helping someone…with SEO, and I want to make use of a press release to promote the business.”

This is a common question and a valid one. Many small businesses struggle to find topics to write about.

For SEO (news sites are authority links) and for marketing, it’s ideal if your press release is newsworthy, in other words, something the local press might cover in a story.  A press release written for SEO alone might not get you the best results, depending on your business.

This press release case study shows that getting your business in search results pays off, however they have the advantage of using celebrity names and plenty of new content. Not everyone has this advantage though. We have to get creative.

Here are some press release ideas that can be adapted to fit a local business. 

1. Tie into a holiday.

Tell kids to bring in their candy from Halloween and you send it off to the troops (work with a nonprofit). Made up headline example: Thaeler Orthodontics Partners with Operation Give Back to Donate Candy to the Troops this Halloween

My favorite example is from Lacy at LeanMoms.com – an online fitness program I belong to. She gave a fresh take on Halloween. Most people are talking about the costumes, the candy and safety. Lacy talked about fitness. She put together a pumpkin event, had women dress up in striped tights and a witch hat and led them through a workout in a park using a pumpkin as a weight. That unique angle got her a ton of media coverage. Here’s what her PR rep said:

Lacy came up with the idea to use pumpkins for fitness. She wanted to do a free local event involving exercise, but renting out a gym or having enough weights and other exercise equipment would be too expensive. Pumpkins are heavy enough to act as weights and adds to the fun and excitement of the fall season. 

We have had media attention from Channel 2 news and ABC 4. I pitched them a press release via email and got immediate attention due to the different nature of this event.

Here are links to some of the press they got :http://www.kutv.com/news/features/fresh-living/health/stories/vid_87.shtml

http://www.cw30.com/content/news/dailydish/story/Carve-Some-Curves/DOoAcPmW1UaTp2ExS0h9hA.cspx

Even if Lacy didn’t want to do an event, she shared so many tips about how to avoid weight gain that even those would make a strong story.

2. Host a showing of a movie that relates to your industry.

I did this when the movie The Social Network was released, since it was about social media. We found a sponsor, rented out a movie theater for one of the first screenings, and organized a party around it. We invited our Facebook fans, and Fox 13 News covered the story.

A rather geeky company made a tradition of hosting free movie nights when there was a new scifi type of movie release. They could’ve scored some free media coverage by just inviting the media and getting some coverage.

Just last week, a chiropractor I know recently screened a showing of the movie, “Doctored” at a local university. He was featured in the film and was there to answer questions afterwards. Perfect media opportunity. I’d tell him to do another showing but have me write a press release and send it to local media. The discussion afterwards was so interesting. Healthcare is a hot topic  and since  he’s worked on local sports icons, it would make a great story.

At the event I found out that blogger Tim Ferris wrote about my chiropractor in his book, The 4-Hour Body, which led to a filmmaker coming to his office for treatment. That led to the filmmaker making this film.

4. Tout a good cause.

Perhaps your office gets half a day off to go volunteer for an organization you believe in and you invite your patients to join you. If you can do something to give back (this press release scored a front page story in a local newspaper), it makes you look good. My favorite is the story about how a press release made a Utah kid’s family $3k in donations in a day, because of the resulting media coverage.

Look for opportunities to give back or help people. To me, this makes the best type of news.

5. Come up with events that your target market would enjoy.

My orthodontist does this. He  sponsors patient appreciation nights at local attractions like a corn maze in the fall, roller skating, or other fun places. He also runs contests. These are press release worthy and the visibility would likely bring new patients to the office.

If you don’t have the budget or cannot pull off regular promotions like this, do what you can. Share interesting tips around your expertise. Give useful information. Share an opinion. Many of the things you blog about, put in your newsletter or even post on Facebook could be made into press releases. These are a bit trickier to get approved though.

I hope these examples give you ideas for press releases that could help you get new traffic for your website and media coverage. I have a confession. After all these years of only working on word of mouth, I’m building a website just for my press release writing service. I’ll be sure to send out a press release. Let me know if I can help your business come up with a press release plan.

I love cause marketing. Not when it’s manipulative but when it’s authentic. This is one of those stories. One of my friends on Facebook asked me to do some PR for his grandson. I told him I was too busy and would like to help out, but had to decline. Then he sent me the story and having the hippie heart that I did, I couldn’t turn it down. I’m glad I didn’t because it illustrates how much a strong story can sell your cause, your business or your ideas.

This is what Les said: Thanks for willingness to help. Any help at all will be greatly appreciated. What I need most is publicity right now. We’ve had lots of volunteers for everything else. Here is the story.

Then he told me the story (condensed). It was too good to pass up!

My grandson Nathan has brittle bone decease. He is an amazing little guy with an incredible attitude in the face of averaging one break a month. He is a miracle because he wasn’t supposed to live past birth…Nathan proved all the doctors wrong and will turn 6 years old this November. In that time my daughter has set more broken bones that most doctors will in a lifetime. Through it all Nathan is one of the happiest boys you will ever meet. He has an excitement about life that is contagious. Everyone who meets him instantly falls in love with him.

We are trying to raise money to help make Nathans life a little easier and help him to gain more independence. The community has come together to help in the effort and we are holding a benefit concert/art show for him. 

He told me more about the event and gave me links to the Facebook page devoted to Nathan. He linked to past stories in the media about Nathan. Essentially he sent me a very effective story for a press release. I used it as the basis for one and sent it to media in Utah. That is all that I did –  just distribute the story to reporters. I didn’t make a phone call, email anyone, or do anything else, besides send a press release. That’s the last I heard of it until Les messaged me after the event.

He said:

The evening went very well. All of the acts were wonderful and the artists were great as well. We raised about $3,000 from the event and close to $6,000 from online donations due in large part to the news story. so all together it boosted our totals by close to $9,000 dollars. It also inspired someone to contact us about doing a golf tournament for Nathan.

One interesting note. Nathan broke his arm just before the event. He didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want to ruin the fun. My daughter didn’t catch it until the KSL video. He did the video with KSL with a broken arm. I can’t even imagine that. the kid is amazing.

Thanks for your help. You made a difference in his life.

The story was picked up by KSL and the response was immediate. Before reading it, I admit to feeling guilty that I didn’t attend the event or do more to follow-up with the media. Still, it was gratifying to see that the little work that I did helped Nathan and his family. Also important to the story is the new opportunity that opened up – a golf tournament.

There isn’t a better feeling than helping kids out, especially since I became a parent. These stories tear my heart out. This  reminds me of the power of PR and what it can mean to businesses and people’s lives. It’s why I love what I do. Like I say in my book, the key to getting news coverage starts with a strong story, especially a story that resonates with people emotionally.

I’m so glad I said yes.

Last night I heard one of my favorite SEO speakers, Rand Fishkin speak (he has a personal blog!). I love his insights because it’s  not the same tired or outdated advice about SEO. He likes to bust SEO myths. I admit to buying into every myth he talked about at some point in my learning. I’m still wondering about a few.

The premise of Rand’s tips are that giving up your misconceptions can free you to meet your goals (sometimes the solution is easier than you might think).  This applies in life too.

Here are 5 myths which are my notes from the evening.

Myth #1: It’s always best to rank first on Google for your keyword phrases.
People used to click on the top result in Google first. We’ve gotten more sophisticated. Now we look at many elements before clicking. Things like: what the text (snippet) says, the source (PDFs  usually kill the click), if there are reviews/ratings next to the listing, and images. That means we have started looking for the best result, not necessarily the first or easiest one.

This is good news! You can outplay the competition you can’t outrank by making your listings look more attractive to searchers.  Poor quality listings can cost you trust, which translates into less clicks and traffic.

Myth #2: Testing is the best way to increase your conversion rates.
Conventional wisdom says to test elements of your website to see what converts best. You might test  your buttons, your text, word or image placement, or your call to action. Rand says another approach is to make your site faster. This is esp. true for ecommerce sites like REI (the link gives suggestions on how to improve your site’s speed) who saw double digits increases in sales by making their shopping cart and product pages 1.5 seconds faster.

You can also create higher quality content – because no one will convert if they’re unimpressed with your site. One way SEOmoz applied this is they interviewed segments of their audience to find out what motivates them to purchase and what objections they had to overcome. Then they redesigned their sales page to reflect what they learned. They addressed the common questions and motivations from their potential and current customers. The changes translated into an extra million bucks in sales in a year.

And last, be sure to fix errors on your site. They create friction with people, therefore with Google.  This includes fixing things like 404 errors.

Myth #3: Google’s Keyword Tool is the best tool for doing keyword research.
Rand made a great point that Google Keyword tool isn’t always useful because it shows historic data not what’s hot now. Google Search Suggest is more current (start typing a search into Google and it fills in suggestions of words to add to your search, based on what others are searching for).

My suggestion is to build your site around solid historical keywords in your niche. Use trending keywords to create content such as press releases, blog posts, or video, Google+ updates, Facebook posts, and tweets.

Other tools that help: Topsy and PopURLs. These tools can help you predict search demand before or as it happens based on social media shares.

Need more inspiration for current content? Search Google News by topic and look at the recent headlines in your industry. Create content around those themes. Then you can take advantage of Google’s reward for fresh, new content. This is what I call “riding the wave” (and not trying to create your own wave, which is much harder).

Myth #4: You should publish your best content on your own website.
Sites such as Slideshare or YouTube have instant trust and recognition with searchers. Sometimes it’s more effective to put your content on a more powerful or known domain than your own. That’s another reason it’s a good idea to actively communicate on several social media sites.

I learned this lesson when I let Mashable publish our Pinterest infographic first, and not putting it on our Pinterest marketing blog. It essentially launched our site which was new with almost no traffic.

Myth #5: When you post content doesn’t matter.
When you post something matters too, because there’s a better chance of people seeing it if it’s posted when most of your audience is awake and online. SEOmoz bought FollowerWonk a tool that shows you when your Twitter followers are online. (I love to use FollowerWonk to search Twitter bios for media contacts.) Since it’s unlikely people are online all day, you can post your tweets more than once, at peak times.

Favorite thought of the evening: Don’t build a website, build a brand. Later when I asked how affiliates can compete in search. He looked at my name tag and said they have to build their own brand too — like Newspapergrl.

Google is constantly tweaking how they rank websites. What are they trying to do? Rand says Google’s goal: to show brands that people will love and that reflect positively on the niche. Yep, it’s less about keywords and more about being known and liked. Just like in life (read the book The Likeability Factor for more on how important it is to be likeable).

That’s why hiring an SEO firm can sometimes hurt you. Many tend to buy into these myths. Or they really can’t know your brand well enough to create high quality content that will get shared. Most focus only on keywords and rankings. That leads to cheap work like writing poor quality articles with keyword phrases peppered in them. Or neglecting to look at site speed or other factors that affect rankings. Many never even discuss these factors. Having someone on staff who knows your brand and works for it exclusively is a huge benefit.

Do you have any SEO myths you’d like to bust?

PRWeb published the most read press releases of the summer, 2012 and the #1 press release was from FreeCellSearch.com It’s titled: Free Reverse Cell Phone Lookup Directory Helps Verify Mobile Calls. The free service helps to verify who an unidentified caller is – so you don’t have to pick up if it’s not something you recognize.

You’ll notice that the press release isn’t in a corporate-sounding voice, it simply tells about the service. It’s not perfect either (the date on the press release says 2011, but I’m certain it was published in 2012). This is why I love press releases for small businesses. They don’t have to be amazing, you can get stellar results for promoting your news and using a good distribution partner.

This press release has gotten over a million clicks. I reached out to Andrew Collins at FreeCellSearch.com to find out how he did it. He shares some valuable insights including that what he pays for, which is not just for distribution. The biggest takeaway is that he might not publish a lot of press releases, but he makes each one count. He not only publishes the press release, he promotes it.

Q: Did you write the press release or did you hire someone else to write it?
A: If I am going to promote the press release, I will most likely be the one who will write it but I do realize there are people and services out there that can do a better job drafting PR. But notice however, that it is you who has the up to date expertise about the product, so it makes sense to write about it in your own words and then have someone check it and improve style wise. As far as the PR in question, I wrote it.

Q: What are your top tips for getting more exposure for your press release? Is it using keywords, timing, your headline?
A: Good question. You have to be creative. As far as this particular PR goes, I targeted Google from the beginning with it. And with Google it is all about backlinks. Just as you create backlinks to your own domain you have to think about getting backlinks to your press release.

Select a more expensive distribution channel – you will get your press release republished on many websites. I also buy RSS feeds from top publications in my niche. They will include your PR in the monthly or weekly newsletter so you basically do some sort of email marketing at the same time.