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February 11, 2004

Keyword Press Release

By Glenn Fleishman

Hotspot firm issues press release with good keywords: When you see a press release of this form, a company has paid Business Wire or PRNewswire to distribute a press release that contains as many business names as possible to meet keyword matches at stock and news sites for investors and analysts who scan for information.

In this short release, the company mentions Subway (which is only tangentially related, as the consultant they’re trumpeting having hired is a franchise holder) in the headline, and a host of firms in this sentence: Currently, the company is targeting the ownership and operation of successful franchises such as Dairy Queen (NYSE:BRK.a), Subway, McDonalds (NYSE:MCD), Burger King, Baskin-Robbins, Ben & Jerry’s, Carls. Jr. (NYSE:CKR), TCBY Yogurt, and Mrs. Fields.

Back when Amazon.com’s affiliate program for allowing sales to be referred to them for commissions was new, the tiniest dotcoms would issue press releases that they had “partnered” with Amazon.com when, in fact, they’d just signed up as an affiliate. Amazon.com started enforcing a contract provision that said affiliates weren’t allowed to issue such releases.

This release goes a step further, as the company has no direct relationship with any of the firms mentioned; this is just unabashed PR keyword spamming. The company’s own site only lists a handful of locations in press releases; there’s no location finder.

Did you notice I didn’t mention the firm’s name? I’m not out to give them more indirect publicity.

Posted by Glennf at February 11, 2004 6:25 AM

Categories: Financial

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