One of the fastest ways to turn heads within your industry or competitive marketplace is to make the news. Everyone wants to land on Channel 9’s evening broadcast, but very few know how to do it successfully.
Here’s a few of my personal recommendations to help your press releases generate the media attention that you desire:
- Include a News Peg – that means, give a logical and newsworthy reason to justify why your press release is being distributed.
- Offer Samples – along with a means of obtaining them for media review, etc.
- A Picture Tells the Story Better than You Can – Be sure to have quality hi-res and low-res [web optimized] photos of the product, event, etc. on hand for use with the story. Include the low-res “money shot” with your press release.
- Make It Easy For Folks To Learn More: Be sure to include how can the product be purchased: in store, catalogs, online, by phone? Price? If it’s an event, how can people participate or donate?
For more advice on how to write a properly-formatted press release, click here.
Bottom Line: Getting your store, event, or products mentioned in print articles, online and on TV/radio shows will help spread the word to customers −− at a fraction of the cost of an advertising campaign.
And, the good news is, online press release distribution doesn’t have to cost you a dime.
Mashable [one of my favorite tech-info sites] published the following list of free press release distribution sites a few years ago [see source: http://mashable.com/2007/10/20/press-releases/%5D, and I’ve used it as a handy resource for my own marketing programs. My personal favorites in terms of reliability and speed are marked below with an asterisk.
Many of the sites listed below also offer functionality to help you create a newsroom on your business website – allowing you to update your site with breaking news as your press releases go out in real time with no IT involvement necessary.
List of 20+ free press release distribution sites:
*24-7PressRelease.com – Free release distribution with ad-support
*1888PressRelease.com – Free distribution, paid services gives you better placement and permanent archiving.
ClickPress.com – Distributes to sites like Google News and Topix.net, Gold level will also get you to sites like LexisNexis.
EcommWire.com – Focuses on ecommerce and requires you include an image, 3 keywords and links.
Express-Press-Release.com – Free distribution company with offices in 12 states.
Free-Press-Release.com – Easy press release distribution for free, more features for paid accounts.
Free-Press-Release-Center.info – Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to your site. Pro upgrade will give you three links, permanent archiving and more.
I-Newswire.com – Allows for free distribution to sites and search engines, premium membership differs only slightly in adding in graphics.
NewswireToday.com – All the usual free distribution tools, premium service includes logo, product picture and more.
http://www.newsrx.com/pr_login.php — Healthcare-focused, each month over three million readers globally view and download NewsRx articles and publications online.
PR.com – Not only will they distribute your press releases, but you can also set up a full company profile.
PR9.net – Ad supported press distribution site.
PR-Inside.com – European-based free press release distribution site.
PRBuzz.com – Completely free distribution to search engines, news sites, and blogs.
PRCompass.com – Distribute your press release with a free or paid version, others can vote it up ala Digg-style.
PRUrgent.com – Not only distributes your release, but attempts to teach you how to write one, and even offers downloadbale samples for you to work with.
Press-Base.com – Submit your release for free and get on their front page and the category of your choice.
PressAbout.com – A free press release service formatted as a blog.
PressMethod.com – Free press release distribution no matter what, but extra services based on the size of your contribution.
PRLeap.com – Free distribution to search engines, newswires, and RSS feeds. Fee based bumps get you better placement.
*PRLog.org – Free distribution to Google News and other other search engines.
TheOpenPress.com – Gives free distribution for plain formatted releases, fees for HTML-coded releases.
Pitch your story the right way, and you’ll have more media attention than you can handle!
Remember, you get what you pay for. There are times when paid releases are a better choice than free. For example, if your company is part of a merger, acquisition, or joint venture, you should spend the money and time to give extra attention to this high-level event.
However, would you want to pay several hundred dollars to share a press release announcing your sponsorship of a local charity walk? Your choice, as you need to decide what events are historical and impactful enough to your business to merit a significant investment in publicity.
PR Newswire is a paid press release distribution service that can help you capture online audiences and gain traction in search engines. It offers both search-optimized press release hosting and distribution via PR Newswire’s online syndication network of more than 5,700 Web sites. Your news release will be seen on the Internet’s largest news sites (such as Yahoo!, Bizjournals.com and Marketwatch), niche and localized Web sites and news engines including Yahoo! News and Google News.
But it’s not cheap though, press release distribution packages on PR Newswire start at $399 per release. So make your dollars count and choose your paid-promotion opportunities wisely.
Need a hand with your next media campaign?
Give me a shout, I’m glad to help!
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