It's really not that hard to freak out your PR team. Just tell them you want to issue a series of press releases as a SEO tactic. If they are old-school PR folks relying on the 'tried and true' techniques from the agency they worked for 10 years ago they may bristle and proceed to lecture you on the 'proper' usage of a press release.
There are rules. You must have two customer quotes and an analyst quote. AND it absolutely, positively must be newsworthy. Afterall there are journalists sitting down right now staring at their fax machines waiting for newsworthy releases and if we send them junk, well we embarrass ourselves for generations to come. We can't have any of that. No sir.
Using press releases as an SEO tactic has been quite effective for a number of years because it works. We present this technique in our Effective Product Marketing seminar and occasionally there is a PR person in the class that comes close to having an aneurism. "I beg your pardon?" "You can't tell people in my company that!" Well we do because if we didn't we would look foolish.
If you are a PR professional and you aren't aware of the technique of using press releases as an SEO tactic you have been living in a bubble. I suggest you venture out and see how very different the world of PR is from ten years ago. It's an exciting new place.
