NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A traditional goal of the press release is to secure earned media coverage, and while that is still a primary objective for many communications professionals, smart small business marketers can get even more mileage out of their efforts if they expand their definition of the "media." With the proliferation of social platforms and engagement over the last ten years, audiences are no longer getting their news solely from the usual press outlets; bloggers and social influencers have become authorities in niche markets and have gained loyal followings. Many brands have begun growing their influencer network, but few have figured out how to use press releases to effectively recruit brand evangelists.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110831/NY59180LOGO)

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130117/NY44355LOGO-a)

In her debut article for PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit, Sarah Ware, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Markerly, offers expert advice for understanding the value of influencers and making influencer engagement part of your small business growth strategy. From tips on how to identify influencers appropriate to your market to creating a pitch relevant to the influencer audience, Ware will help your release achieve coverage on influencer blogs. Executing an effective influencer outreach program can increase brand awareness and drive discoverability.

To learn more:  http://bit.ly/1fkNDG2

PR Newswire's Small Business PR Toolkit is a comprehensive resource that provides small businesses and entrepreneurs the tools to develop an affordable public relations and marketing plan that helps generate interest from potential customers, engage with key audiences and grow their businesses.   The toolkit features relevant content such as informative white papers, interactive webinars and how-to articles and premium access to educational resources, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of special offers designed specifically for small businesses. To request information on how PR Newswire can help your small business, click here. You can receive updates on new Small Business PR Toolkit content by following @prnsmallbiz on Twitter.

About PR Newswire                                

PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 60 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content — from rich media to online video to multimedia — and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company.

Media Contact:
Caitlin Carragee
Manager, Marketing Communications
201.360.6363
caitlin.carragee@prnewswire.com

SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC