Turning Press Releases into High-Performing Blog Posts

How to Turn a Press Release Into a High-Performing Blog Post

Law firms often spend a lot of time and energy writing good press releases. But once it’s on PRNewswire or in your local bar association’s press releases page, what happens next? All too often, the release just sits on other sites, quickly to be forgotten.

Contrary to what you may think, however, a press release can become an evergreen piece of marketing content that creates website traffic, improves SEO, and builds trust. All it takes is the knowledge to transform it into a high-performing blog post. Let’s take a look at how your firm can do that with these six easy steps:

1. Start With the Story, Not the Format

A press release typically has a specific format: headline, dateline, quote, and then boilerplate language. However, a blog post is much more free-flowing, and it can take on whatever format you deem appropriate for your firm’s needs. Simply put, you want to take the nugget of news and expand on it to tell a narrative your audience can relate to, not just read.

2. Expand on Why the News Matters to Your Potential Clients

Generally speaking, press releases are meant for mass publication. But a blog post is meant to be read by prospective clients. Blog readers care less about the announcement itself and more about how it impacts them.

So, in your blog, think about what takeaway message you want readers to learn. For example, if you’re interested in pitching the firm’s value, what kind of experience, process, or strategy example can help drive that point home? How does the news being announced reflect your firm’s track record of innovative approaches and results? Add as much context, commentary, and client impact info as you can. These are the key ingredients to make the blog post both engaging and useful.

3. Optimize for SEO, But Do It Naturally

Press releases are written for distribution and syndication, but blog posts should be written with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. That said, make sure to fully optimize it for SEO by mixing relevant keywords into the text. Be sure to include internal links to related service pages, along with any past firm news pieces related to the topic. These internal links will help boost your authority in the eyes of Google over time.

4. Add Images and Quotes

Press releases are almost always in plain text. A blog post, on the other hand, can benefit from a professional headshot, a photo from a news event, or a quote from an attorney. All of these types of visual content will make your blog more likely to be shared on social and included in email newsletters.

By taking a sentence straight from a press release and restructuring it to be blog-friendly, you add a sense of warmth and relatability. Those are two things that press releases are rarely able to do, but two things that blog readers crave.

5. End With an Effective Call to Action

A press release simply ends with your contact information. A blog post, however, should end with a call to action. What do you want your blog readers to do with this new piece of information? In the context of a new verdict, what’s the next step for them?

CTAs at the end of a blog post are important. They allow you to guide readers to your key conversion goals, whether that’s a contact form submission for scheduling a consultation, a newsletter signup, or a deeper dive into your other practice areas.

6. Publish, Promote, Then Repurpose Again

When you’ve finished your blog post and it’s published live on your site, it’s time to share it far and wide. Your firm’s email newsletter, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, and Google Business Profile are all fair game. You can even use excerpts of the blog to create shorter LinkedIn posts to help highlight the human side of your press release.

But don’t stop with one repurposed blog post. This is the chance to build upon it. That same topic might be turned into a short explainer video, a client FAQ page, or a featured spotlight in your next firm newsletter. Adopt a framework of content creation where one press release announcement can become multiple marketing assets. That way, your firm’s brand stays top of mind long after the initial excitement of that new verdict has worn off.