One of the most important tools in the marketing toolbox
of independent publishers is the press release through as many channels as
possible. This blog post is not about the press release itself, but
rather the distribution of it to as many places as possible. Other sites
that talk about how to make an effective press release include:
I'm not an expert in this field, but I have several
experiences, of which I will explain in hopes that it helps others be able to
better navigate their own distribution.
The usual method is to distribute the press release
through a distribution service. There are several that are paid
subscription services, and several that are free. Overall, I can really
confirm, you get what you pay for. It's not that the free subscription
services are bad or the expensive ones will get you everything you desire, but
your odds of getting good coverage definitely go up the more you pay.
There is one service I want to get out of the way right
off the bat. DO NOT USE INEWSWIRE. IT IS A SCAM. They will
seem convenient and pleasant and will look legitimate until it comes time to
actually do something, or more disturbingly, when you decide to stop using
their service. When you try to cancel service, they keep charing your
credit card. When you email them, they do not respond. When you
call them, they do not answer their phones. It took me several months to
cancel my credit card and get a little of my money back. If you don't
catch them doing this, you will continue to be charged every month until you at
last cancel your credit card and reset everything. It's a huge headache.
Okay, now on to the free services. These are the
ones I use:
A few of these services have a paid option as well, but
they seem to work best in their standard free distribution. Don’t expect a lot from them, but I think it’s
a good idea to send my press release to them because they don’t take a lot of
time, and you never know who’s going to get them that might like them.
The paid services that work best are the ones you see the
most.
PRWeb ($100 +)
PRWeb is right there at the top. It sucks to spend $100 or more when no one
picks up the story, but at least your odds are the best. Also, they have a wonderful service that allows
you to see how many people are reading the story, and a good analysis on what’s
being done with it. You can also see
some of the places where the story’s playing.
They are at:
| http://www.prweb.com |
PRLeap ($80 - $100)
PRLeap is simple and easy to use, though I had more trouble
seeing where my press release was picked up, and how effective it was. Frankly, I prefer to go the extra few bucks
to PRWeb, but if you’re really tight on the budget, or you’re wanting to do a
few releases, this might be your best bet.
| http://www.prleap.com/ |
I had INewswire as the third one on here, but like I
said, THEY ARE A SCAM. Stay away from
them. It’s dumb of them, also. If they were not so seedy, they would be
right here on the list as the economical plan, and I would use them as much as
I use PRWeb. In making the quick buck,
they’ve lost far more money than they have gained.
Interestingly, the most effective method I’ve had has
been simply contacting the news media myself.
This is very time consuming, of course, and rather tiring. In fact, I switched to online distribution
methods for the very reason that it was taking me so long to send it out myself
that it was more cost effective to simply pay someone to do it.
However, as I analyzed how many people picked my story
up, I found that contacting them directly, especially when I was able to send
it to a reporter, editor, or producer by name, I had a lot more luck than when
it was sent out through any mass distribution service.
What I do is I create an Excel sheet to keep track of the
different places I’m sending it. On the
far left, I list the names of the places, and in the following fields to the
right I enter contact information, names, notes, etc. I then color code them based on the type of
media it is. For instance, I list
reviews in purple, radio in blue, newspapers in white, etc. These are the categories I always do:
Radio
Newspaper
Television
Magazine
Review
Podcast
Blog
I make a list of 50 to 100 places, usually getting their
contact information off the internet, specifically Google.
Once I have the list completed, I go down the list,
usually picking one color to focus on each day.
I create a form letter that I’m going to send, but then I alter it based
on who I’m contacting. The letter starts
the email, and the press release ends it.
As always, never send the press release as an attachment; always put it
in the body of the letter after putting ### at the end of the letter.
But the rest of this would belong in a blog about press
releases.
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