Crafting a press release is an important component of a PR strategy. Within your company’s wider PR and marketing strategy, press releases can be one of the fastest ways to truly generate buzz within your industry.
Generating value:
1) The piece must be of general value within your industry;
2) Be relevant to the reader
3) and Truly highlight what is newsworthy at your company.
Getting this content right and properly contextualized within the rest of your marketing strategy will take time. Explore our resources section for some ideas on how to use press release writing for branding.
However, this is just the first step. Publicizing and distributing your articles are where successful marketing teams will turn to press release distribution. PR Distribution works with thousands of companies to properly leverage their news and strategically target different newsrooms and outlets. This is key in maximizing the effort put into creating content and making sure that the content strategies of your company are getting to the right viewers.
While we advocate forming relationships with individual journalists and outlets, press release distribution services connect you to media outlets on a scale that just isn’t feasible for most organizations. PR Distribution services operate through networks of hundreds of thousands of journalists across tens of thousands of newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other outlets, including TV and radio. So, while there are many ingredients to keep in mind for a successful press release strategy, having that type of distribution is certainly a huge leg up.
Matching Content to Objectives
There are certain strategies you can employ that will also make your press releases more effective, depending on your needs.
If you’re a new business that relies on local visitors, target regional publications and make sure that your contact information is prominently placed in the press piece. Add multimedia pieces to the article, as well.
If improved SEO is your primary objective, press releases are an effective tool to get high authority links to your site from reputable sources. Of course, this really hinges on the importance of your news and how you craft your pitch and the article itself.
We recommend targeting points that you know are deeply relevant within your industry and targeting publications within your market. Providing context regarding a region, timeline, or otherwise differentiating your company will also further differentiate your company.
For example, if you’re the first company to launch a particular type of product or service from within your state, crafting a press release that focuses on local business will appeal to regional publications.
This can also be applied to product launches, major sales dates, as well as upcoming products and services that break new ground.
Simple Mistakes that Kill A Press Release
- Avoid articles that come across as “spam” or “fluff”.
Work with your company to make sure your press release is newsworthy. A press release is branding that could potentially affect your standing with not just clients, but also news outlets. If you feel like your company has to really stretch to produce something newsworthy, it may be better to wait for truly relevant news. Your readers and news outlets will thank you for it. - Don’t neglect formatting!
Press releases are meant to provide raw information for journalists to work with. Stick to a brief, but informative format. Most press releases fall in the 400 to 600 word range with supplementary imagery. This can vary by industry, so be familiar with the publications and the conventions within your field. - Remember to include contact information and important links.
Regardless of whether your business requires incoming SEO, you want readers to be able to easily find further information about your products and services. We recommend including a brief summary of contact information near the end of the article. Links to important segments of your website, or even the press release reproduced on your blog will greatly help interested readers learn more. - Make sure you’re speaking to your actual audience.
This ties into an overall marketing strategy. Make sure that the tone of your article is consistent with your overall company brand. While it may be tempting to create a general interest piece, it is important to keep in mind your clientele.
Ultimately, what gets presented to readers of the final piece should promote the business from a sales or awareness perspective. - Value your journalist relationships.
If a journalist or outlet shows interest in your piece, they will likely be strong candidates for future articles and pitches. Journalists can often provide great insight into their readership as well as the needs of their own publications.
This can be a great way to increase the value of future PR efforts to readers and will almost certainly be helpful in crafting future pitches to other journalists.
How Effective Are Press Release Distribution Services?
There are many different ways to use press release distribution providers. However, for any company looking to truly scale their PR efforts quickly, press release distribution is invaluable.
It cuts down cost and time. While the upfront cost may be high for some plans, averaged out across results, some companies are paying less than $1 for valuable instances of media exposure. And this media exposure tends to snowball, so long as the rest of the branding and marketing strategy is working.
Companies that are on a budget can still find value in selective usage of press release distribution. These services have experience within an industry, as well as insight into the crafting and targeting of press pieces.
We’ll cover the best known press release distribution companies in 2020 in a followup article.
Have questions about press release distribution, or any of our other services? Our team at PR Distribution™ is ready and happy to help through email, live chat, support tickets and phone! Contact us