DISTRIBUTION TIPS
Now that you’ve written your press release, you want people to read it, see and hear about it.
Timing wise, your press release should ideally be timed and distributed alongside your first media story. Here are several different ways to distribute your press release.
NEWSWIRES
Journalists uses newswires to find news stories, but also to mine for article ideas and monitor industry trends. Price varies for each service and new ones pop up everyday. Here are the top 5 reasons to choose a distribution service, based on cost, word count, media outlets, multimedia types, customer service and customer reviews.
1. | Companies needing the widest potential distribution for a low price |
2. | Teams that need extensive support and guidance via industry-leading customer service |
3. | Businesses that want a professional review of their press releases before distribution |
4. | Companies targeting both specific regions and specific industries with their press releases |
5. | Best for generating good SEO and visibility in web crawling services like Google Alerts. If a company is public, it’s also good for reaching investors through tying news to a stock symbol. |
WEBSITE
Host it on your website for SEO. Create a section called “company news.” The point is to capture as much online real estate as possible. Press releases as a tool to create in-bound links to their websites.
You can email it directly to journalists who cover your space, along with a short pitch. This is akin to media relations, meaning you want to curate a media list specific to your industry, accompany a short pitch that is catered to them, and then share the details of the release with a call to action. *for media coverage results, we recommend doing this at least one week before your announcement and put your press release “under embargo.”
BLOG
You can write a blog post about your news and link back to the press release hosted on your website.
SOCIAL
You can share it on your social media and link back to where you have it hosted on your website – drive back to the site you want your customers to stay on!
Remember though, just because you upload it to a newswire or distribute via any of the tactics above, it does not guarantee a reporter will see it or write about it. This is why media relations is so important. However, for SEO and capturing online real estate, these are great options.