(Post by Jessica Killenberg Muzik, APR, VP- Account Service)
If your typical press release distribution process is like ours, it probably goes a little something like this:
- Issue the press release on the newswire;
- Email it to a carefully crafted, customized media distribution list;
- Post the news to media sites that allow image / news sharing;
- Post the news to social media sites; and
- Monitor for coverage and share the results with our client.
Simple enough, right?
But no matter how many times we’ve successfully conducted this process over the years, we’re still asked every now and then: Do we really need to use the wire? Can’t we just email the release? If we’re using the wire, why do we need to email it too? You’re going to share our news via social media? Isn’t this all a bit redundant?
My response will typically begin with a question: Do you want maximum exposure of your good news?
The typical reply back: Well yes, of course we do.
When you’ve got good news to share and you’ve taken the time to carefully craft your message, gained executive approvals, etc., why wouldn’t you take the same amount of time and effort with the distribution process?
Let me address those “why we need to …” questions:
- Newswire – The wire has become a standard for issuing most news, as you can select exactly which areas your news is released – a particular city, state, country, etc. The reason for using the wire is simple, it’s how our industry typically shares its news with the media and public at large. Another benefit of using the wire is the increased online search visibility it creates for your company and its products / services. This is due to the database links and news aggregator sites that pick up the release this way.
- Direct Email to Media – Creating a customized media distribution list and emailing it directly to media is critical to making sure that your news it getting to the right publication, reporter / editor, instead of just hoping that they’ll catch your news on the wire.
- Posting News Online – With the slimming down of editorial staffs, more publications are beginning to allow you to upload your own news and images to their sites. This is especially ideal if you have images to go along with your news, as it can allow for guaranteed online media exposure.
- Posting to Social Media – Utilizing sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. will extend the reach of your news with your contacts, who (in many cases) are media covering your industry, as well as customers, potential customers, industry influentials, etc. My suggestion is to post your news release on your website, so that you can share a link to it on these social media platforms, thus increasing your company’s potential website traffic as well.
Over the years, we’ve continued to find ways to carefully hone and perfect a pretty basic – yet critically important – part of the PR process. The result: increased media hits; increased circulation; and, ultimately, increased client satisfaction.
Execution, as a legendary championship coach so aptly put it, does indeed win it.
How have you tweaked your release distribution process? And what were the results?
Bianchi Biz Blog 
Hi Jim, Just a quick note to say how much I’m enjoying these articles. Succinct and power-packed. Molly Moons
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Thanks, Molly, I’ll pass your kind words on to the team.
Excellent points, Jessica – the distribution aspect (whether done via a newswire or not) is how your message will get traction with the audience. Simply put, it’s imperative that you go to your constituents with your story.
It’s also important to think about your press release format. There are a number of tactics you can employ that are proven to to increase readership, including:
– Using a headline that is between 100-120 characters long. (If you need to add more detail, use a sub-head!)
– If relevant to your story, put a numeral in your headline. It’s not AP style, but it does attract readers.
– Format your release for tweeters. In addition to a perfectly tweetable headline, use bold paragraph heads and bullet points to break up big text blocks, and also make it easy for people to scan the story and pick out interesting points.
– Include an image. Always.
– Include one or two (no more!!!) embedded anchor text links. These links provide a path for interested readers to take, and give search engines more context for your content. But don’t go nuts. Too many links are annoying to readers and may be seen as spam by the engines.
I can go on about press release tactics forever (hey, I have worked for PR Newswire for 18 years!) Here are my most recent press release best practices: http://www.slideshare.net/prnewswire/how-to-write-press-releases-that-can-be-found-and-shared-online
Thanks for reinforcing the process. Can you suggest some news sites — particularly Canadian-focused — that allow you to post your news directly? Is it a subscriber basis, or do you have to give up copyright to do so as I have seen on certain U.S. sites?
Unfortunately Cindy I cannot suggest sites, as I don’t have a Canadian-specific list. Each list we create for a client / release is customized and takes time / research. If you have media list established for your organization / client, I would start the research there to see if they allow for news uploading to their site. To your second question, you do not always need to be a subscriber, but typically you do have to create a user name and password to post. And you don’t necessarily give up copyright, but you / your organization will typically be listed as the source for your news.