What's the Difference Between a Press Release and an Article?

Article Marketing Explained:
There is a remarkable difference in the way article marketing works and the way press releases work. For one, articles are trying to establish you as an expert and arouse curiosity in your customers. In articles, most of the time, we try not to promote ourselves too much because that's not the main purpose of article marketing. The purpose of the article is to disseminate information, share expert knowledge and tips to an industry, market or process. The only part where we promote ourselves is at the end of the article.

In article marketing, we're also trying to get as many people to link to us as possible. What we want to do is to get other website owners or blog owners to use the free article that we've written and then publish the byline at the end of the article which links back to the author's website. This way, we get multiple links back to our own website and help create awareness amongst readers of other blogs and websites.

Press Release Explained:
With a press release, the game is a little different because the press release IS written with the purpose of promoting one's products, services or brand. It's got a little bit of a 'news' element in it - we're trying to keep to that as much as possible without veering off too much on the self-praise bit and that is what a press release is all about.

When others search for press releases and news to capture, when they find yours, there's a no-holds-barred element to it...which is something the articles don't.