Searching for reviews about eRelease?
Although this article is highly favorable about eReleases, it’s less about providing a positive review, and more about highlighting things the company does really well and how we may be able to learn and apply some of these things to my / our own businesses.
Recently we tried using eReleases, an online press release distribution service. These days, personalized service is rare; most companies are more interested in closing a sale rather that earning your business – especially in the B2B space. We always encourage our clients to find a way to get those coveted online reviews…to find some way to incentivize customers to write a review. Let’s face it, as business owners, we all want to boost our positive reviews and online reputation, but if consumers had to write reviews for all their “satisfactory” transactions, that is all they would be doing. Well, eReleases has taught us a valuable lesson – provide service that is so creative and exceptional that clients will want to go out of their way to provide a testimonial…perhaps even write a blog post about the experience.
As a web design and Internet marketing company in Kansas City, we have used a number of national online press distribution services over the years. There are numerous online press release services available today, many of them good – but none have ever really stood out to me the way eReleases did. I would like to share some of my thoughts, but first here is some background information:
A BBB accredited company, eReleases began 14 years ago, founded by Mickie Kennedy who worked in a PR environment and felt that the needs of small and medium-size businesses were not being met. Kennedy’s goal remains the same today as it was 14 years ago – to deliver exceptional value and personal service to each customer, at affordable price points.
I was impressed with eReleases from the first click. As an SEO professional, I admired their clever adwords ads and relatively strong organic rankings. Their landing pages were well crafted and communicated their value proposition almost instantly. They very effectively were able to present their primary competition and clearly pointed out the differentiators. As an SEO guy, I know what to look for in terms of companies trying to game the system so I took a pretty hard look at their site and around the Internet. I even emailed and called them to try to poke hole in their services. Their testimonial section may be the most impressive part about the website. There are so many genuinely effusive service reviews from happy customers stating tangible results that it’s hard not to want to give these guys a chance. Some of the testimonials of eReleases clients include praise such as:
“especially appreciate the unparalleled quality of your customer service,”
“never had this level of coverage, or any proof beyond listing on their own websites,”
“wasted $25,000 on Print Ads, Saw Real Results After Single Press Release”
and my favorite:
“Who said PR companies can’t be personable and fun?!?!?”
OK, so I bought the service. I was so convinced that I bought 3 press releases instead of one. Scary at the time but definitely a wise decision. Not long after the purchase, Mickie emailed me personally with a great message, a clever personalized picture and another offer – this this is absolutely brilliant marketing:
Dear Phil,
We just wanted to take the opportunity to personally welcome you as a valued eReleases
customer and let you know we’re not just a website in some guy’s basement. 🙂
If you ever have any questions or concerns, pick up the phone and call us. All of our editors pick up the phone. No pushy salesperson or operator standing between you and us.
From left to right:Back Row: Bo Suh, Andrew Crisp, Gary Thompson, Mickie Kennedy
Front Row: Chrissy Hoffmaster, Percy, Allison McAlister, Not pictured: Nimmi, the acrobatic dog
As a special thanks for choosing eReleases, take $50 off your next press release. Simply write WelcomePic5 in the referral code field on the billing section of the order form when you place your next order within 60 days.
Best,
Mickie Kennedy
Founder & President
eReleases Press Release Writing and Distribution Services
Yeah, I bit on the offer. At this point I had purchased 5 releases and hadn’t even used their services yet!
Fast forward a couple days, our first press release went phenomenally well, so much so that I was inspired to email Mickie a testimonial which I basically never do. Here is what I wrote:
Hi Mickie,
We’ve used MANY online press release distribution services over the years – from dodgy (and now seo-useless) cheap and free press release sites to premium paid services. Yours is the best to date, 10x better than PRWeb!
FYI, in this first release, we had follow-up stories from many targeted blogs and new sites. Matt Cutts, Google’s head of webspam and de-facto spokesman for their search engine tweeted about our content!! Phenomenal results for my client, and as an SEO firm we got the holy grail of tweets and once-in-a-lifetime bragging rights.
Phil Singleton, CEO
Kansas City Web Design
www.kcwebdesigner.com
And it did go well. We had a great coverage in WebProNews, the American Bar Association, and other legal blogs in Kansas City and blogs in other states around the country. Yet the Matt Cutt’s tweet was mind blowing. The video featured in the really racked up over 100,000 views in the first 5 days.
Today, consumers expect great services but also demand great value. eReleases has renewed my faith in the fact that there are companies that are willing to go beyond clients’ expectations, and that think “outside the box.” Ultimately, eReleases is an online press release distribution firm that will inspire other companies, like my own, to focus on their own uniqueness and attention to personalized services. We have always striven to be the best web design company in Kansas City, but now my goal is offer the best service my customers have ever experienced. Well done guys, keep up the great work. And thanks to Bo, Andrew and Chrissy, three people over there I actually talked to over the phone.
