It used to be as simple as “getting the word out.” And then the Internet happened.
In today’s world, boosting a brand, mandated financial reporting and increasing online presence is essential. Efficiently developing and wording the information and distributing effective releases to a wide range of business, financial and news outlets is vital.
The extraordinary business impact of technology – mobile options, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and limitless search possibilities – are invaluable for contemporary business but the warp speed presents challenges for companies and their communications professionals.
In today’s business, “releases” are not only an intricate and specialized necessity, but a contemporary art and science.
For most businesses, exposure, coverage and maintaining a digital presence is crucial. For others, it is legally required.
“Because publicly-traded companies are mandated and required to distribute and disseminate vital and timely shareholder and market information, there are strict legal standards, rules and requirements for the press releases to use a TSX-approved newswire service,” explains Pat Beechinor, business development manager of TheNewswire (TNW), the respected Calgary-based distributor and filing agency for hundreds of business clients – regionally, domestically and internationally.
TheNewswire has been creating and distributing releases for clients since 2004 and Beechinor is proud about a recent good-news development: TheNewswire has been approved with accreditation and is now just one of two Canadian-owned newswire agencies permitted to provide the vital service. He points out the legalities, intricacies and the hoops that must be jumped through for the all-important accreditation to provide the invaluable (and required) business service.
“There are more than 800 publicly-traded companies based just in Calgary,” he says. “And accreditation is very difficult to achieve. It took TheNewswire about 15 years of providing the specialized services and proving itself as a solid and reliable disseminator for the TSX Venture Exchange, Canadian Securities Exchange and OTC Markets.”
He explains with the warp-speed and state-of-the-art efficiency of technology, the business art and science of releases has not only been transformed but has become dramatically cost efficient for businesses. “Most public companies would like to put out a press release about every three weeks,” he says. “The cost factor used to be prohibitive.”
The release-preparing, newswire industry used to charge per word. There’s consensus that it was a financially punitive hold over from “the good old days” when news agencies literally rewrote news and transmitted endless announcements via telecopiers. And the companies paid for the time-consuming finger-work.
“It’s 2019 – nobody actually rewrites anything and telecopiers are long gone,” Beechinor points out. “Unfortunately, many TSX issuers are still billed as if that is still the process for doing and disseminating releases. TheNewswire’s accreditation could cause a major upheaval in the newswire industry, because TNW is the only newswire service that does not charge per word.
“Mostly because technology has redefined the mandated financial reporting and release process, TheNewswire’s rates are set and simple for unlimited press releases, unlimited words and unlimited press release frequency.”
