There's an old saying that says something to the effect of "any press is good press"… or something like that.  Basically, it means that any time a person, company, or organization gets press coverage it's a good thing, regardless of the reason for the coverage.  In theory, that means dirty dealings by government officials and love triangles involving actors and actresses are beneficial in the sense that they raise public awareness about a person and increase their celebrity status.  I'm sure more than a few of the people who received this kind of press wish they hadn't.  And what about Enron?  Are those folks glad they were in the press for months?

Let's forget about the negative actions that cause people and companies to get press coverage and focus on the positive.  The right kind of press can not only increase awareness about your company, but can also increase traffic to a website or use of a product.  The topic of press coverage doesn't even have to be something related to the website or the product that will ultimately be effected.

Take, for instance, Google's public announcement last night that it was going to start offering its employees transferable stock options.  The program they've implemented is very cool and could potentially help them hire and retain the right people.  A lot of companies offer stock options and some even offer transferable stock options.  But Google has taken a novel approach and made the program stand out a little from the competition (which we've talked about before).  So on one hand, this is a clear-cut case of marketing to potential employees by letting the entire world know "hey… we do things differently here".

On the other hand, however, it's also a clever PR and marketing tactic for the company's brand and product.  They could have kept the information private and released a memo in-house (which I'm sure they probably did anyway).  When you think about it, the percentage of the population that the announcement effects is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent.  But look at the press coverage that Google is getting from making the public announcement.  Millions of people across the globe will probably at least see the story if not read it.  And do you know what else they'll see as their eyes skim the article?  Google… blah blah… Google… blah blah… Google.  Your 95 year old grandmother, who doesn't even own a computer, will see the name at least be familiar with the world "Google".

The lesson here is that press coverage, no matter the reason, can and does help spread the word.  Hopefully it'll be something positive that the press is covering.  And you have a say in what that coverage might be.  A lot of companies do 99% of their business behind closed, locked, NDA-bound doors.  While there are many valid instances where privacy is better, Google has shown that some of the things a company normally talks about inside can be beneficial to the company if brought outside.  Google itself is an extremely private company… when it comes to their technology.  But half of the world probably knows what sorts of things go on (and get eaten) at the Googleplex.  And that public knowledge has helped Google tremendously.

So the next time you're working on a way to get some PR from the press or a little cheap marketing, think about this article.  What could you do to spur some excitement from the press that makes your company stand out from the crowd?