Value of a Great Online Newsroom

With the newspaper business in America in shambles and much of the rest of mainstream media adrift somewhere between wild sensationalism and chaos, there are fewer and fewer places for a corporation, association or not-for-profit to get their stories shared and heard.

Sure, mainstream media may show up if some scandal or crisis is brewing. But they could care less about such things as best practices, new and more efficient approaches to doing business and worthwhile programs that help people.

The reality today is that it is a significant challenge for any company or organization to get meaningful attention on a consistent and credible basis.

Sending out press releases is the least effective method of getting the media’s attention in today’s world although news releases are still the staple of lazy PR people who lack actual working relationships with the media or knowledge of the online media environment.

In this digital era, a great online newsroom is needed together with a strategic plan for building an enhanced footprint of awareness. The problem is that most online newsrooms are either dusty, molding depositories for press releases that date back to when God invented dirt or merely advertising showplaces to boast over new products with complete disregard for legitimate “news” about the company.

Imperial Sugar Company, headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, has boldly taken a better direction. The company has created an honest-to-goodness working newsroom, ISCNewsroom.com, and after just a few months online, site traffic and ranking reflect its popularity. Awareness about the company’s news has increased on all major search engines.

At a time when most online newsrooms are generally the least-visited section of a company’s Web site, the ISCNewsroom has quickly become the most popular online news source in the sugar industry, reaching out to investors, employees, communities, suppliers, the media and the industry, as a whole. It is rich with appealing photos.

ISCNewsroom.com was developed by The News Group Net - with offices in Washington, Austin and Dallas. It is a consultancy of veteran communications strategists and journalists really know legitimate news and how to strategically communicate and connect with audiences … and the results are in the impressive audience numbers that help to position Imperial Sugar as the #2 producer of high quality cane sugar products in the United States.

Filed Under: Featured • Media Relations

Tags: Imperial Sugar Company • Online newsrooms