Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker at the CCNMatthews and Market Wire sales and marketing conference.

CCNMatthews is one of Canada's leading newswires and Market Wire is a full-service distributor of company press releases and material news in the US. In April, the companies announced that CCNMatthews was acquiring 100% of Market Wire to join forces to form the full-service newswire with largest media distribution footprint in North America.
This conference was the first time that the entire sales and marketing teams and executives of the companies had come together and I thank them for inviting me to present my ideas on The New Rules of Marketing and PR and the use of news releases to reach buyers directly.
Executives I spoke with share my excitement about the tremendous future of the news release as a critically important vehicle to reach buyers directly. We agreed that news distribution services providing valuable features for reaching buyers such as Search Engine Optimization, social media tools, and RSS feeds have a bright a future. There was a definite buzz in the room as the entire sales and marketing team looked to the year ahead.
PR professionals and marketers have a choice with press release distribution services. The competition is healthy and benefits everyone—organizations issuing releases, the media that follow them, and consumers who are looking for products to solve problems.