| Danielle Capriato 
The end of the year is a time for both reflection and planning — and with exactly one month left in 2015, we are ready to start looking back over the year that was and gearing up for the year to come. For PR and marketing pros, press releases will remain a key piece of a well-rounded communications strategy. Press releases have been evolving for quite some time, as brands embrace storytelling and seek new ways to engage their audiences. Today's press release is highly visual, written for a targeted audience, and has become a critical piece in a content marketing strategy. This evolution was reflected in many of the topics Beyond PR’s contributors wrote about this year. To help you get your 2016 communications plan started, here are some of our top blog posts, white papers, and other content about press releases from the past year. Press Release Writing Tips: Out with the Old, In with the News Embargoes. Jim Dashes. "For Immediate Release." Many features that were once standard practice for press releases have become outdated as we adapt to a fast-paced digital atmosphere. In this blog post, we break down some out-of-date practices and offer tips on how to update your press releases to better suit today's communications landscape. The Best Times to Send a Press Release Globally It has been said that the Internet made the world smaller, as more and more of the world's population logs online to consume content and information. A press release can reach corners of the globe with ease, and PR practitioners are blessed with the opportunity to cultivate a global audience. This is a must-read for those looking to expand their reach to new countries and regions. Learn how to time your press release for international distribution, as well as the key points to consider for different types of content and the varied audiences you'd like to reach. Press Release Boot Camp: What You Need to Know Ready to send a press release? This white paper outlines the entire process from formatting your release and creating engaging content to setting up an account. Reference this checklist to make sure you're fully leveraging each press release you write and distribute in 2016. Achieve Your PR Objectives Faster with Multiple Press Releases As more organizations embrace perpetual demand generation strategies, the need for a constant cadence of content is growing. Press releases are a key piece of a communications plan designed to keep your organization top-of-mind across audiences, increase visibility by connecting with the media and other influencers, and help you stay engaged in important industry conversations. This blog post highlights three scenarios that can benefit from using multiple press releases — but your brand is certainly not limited to just these three. The key to success is continually seeking out new opportunities for your public relations and marketing programs to tell your brand's story. How to Harness the Power of Quotes in Your Press Release A good quote can be an effective way to offer readers a peek into your organization and inspire them to take action, making them a powerful tool for press release writers. Just as journalists extract important statements from an interview for their articles, press release writers must aim for quotes that succinctly and powerfully capture the content’s greater message. Learn how to strategically leverage quotations in press releases with these five important tips. 6 Tips for Trade Show Press Releases Over the course of the year, we brought you storytelling tips for different types of press releases — from personnel announcements to nonprofit news. Our most popular, though, was this article about trade show press releases. It’s not surprising, given how trade shows can be meccas of newsworthy announcements. The story a brand tells at an industry event is critical to helping generate buzz on and off the event floor. These tips can apply to anyone attending or exhibiting at a trade show, as well as brands who are looking for ways to join the conversations around these newsworthy events. Content We Love: Press Releases as a Trusted Data Source If earned media is your goal, making it easy for journalists and influencers to find and verify important information quickly is critical. A press release is an important tool for presenting answers to those key questions: the who, what, when, where and how of your story. Featuring an interview with researcher and reporter Daniel Jameson, this blog post also highlights a press release from Beyonce that successfully answered all the right questions. How to Write Press Releases: Best Practices for Content Discovery The one takeaway all of these articles have in common is that content quality is the key to getting found and shared. After all, you're not just competing against your company's competitors or other brands in your industry: You're competing against all of the content on the Internet for the attention of your audiences. If you want to do more to boost your content's discoverability, check out our latest SlideShare featuring tips for formatting and writing press releases. And then come back next week for the second installment in our ‘Best of 2015’ series. Author Danielle Capriato is the manager of strategic communications at PR Newswire. Follow her on Twitter @dcapriato. | 
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