Press releases

[Pete Williams]

Hi


I run my business by myself so am always strapped for time.

Can anyone suggest ways of getting Press Releases noticed or "out there".


Cheers

[Amber]

Well, there are lots of different ways to get them out there... If you want to get them noticed, though, you will need to start with a good, newsworthy angle - i.e. the kind of thing that YOU would want to read about in a newpaper yourself.

If you don't have an "angle" that's newsworthy, you need to think about creating one: run a competition, offer something for free, host an event, sponsor someone, get someone to sponsor you etc.

That's the difficult bit :-) Then you need to write your press release and find the right journalists to distribute it to, which is a whole other kettle of fish. There are different ways of doing that: there are various distribution sites online which will distribute the release for you, either for free or for a charge, or you can do it the old fashioned way by sending it out yourself to targetted publications and journalists, which is the way we do it :-)

Hope this helps a little - if you have any specific questions, feel free to give me a shout!
Amber

[epiphany]

It's all about the hook. Journalists get bored to the core by daily press releases being sent to their in box that they are never going to use. Tell an experienced journo about yourself and your company and they will find an angle for you :)

[Pete Williams]

Hi

Thanks for the advice so far.

How do I get to know what journalists to approach or is there anybody who can handle Press Releases for me?

[epiphany]

Amber is an ex-journo and writes press releases privately now. Send her a pm I am sure she will give you some good ideas :)

[Amber]

Yes, we offer a range of PR services including press release writing and distribution - feel free to get in touch if you think we can help :)

[daveashton]

Yes, we offer a range of PR services including press release writing and distribution - feel free to get in touch if you think we can help :)There are lots of FREE distribution sites i.e. www.prleap.com, prfree.com pr-scotland.com etc.

Oh and remember to get your key words right and put a geographical set, industry set and topic set in!

i.e. GB, UK, England, London, Manchester, Scotland etc.

This is a MUST for the world wide distribution sites.

Good Luck

[Greg]

There are lots of FREE distribution sites

There is quite a big difference between free distribution sites and paid for services. Unfortunately, it’s now possible for inexperienced press release writers to find distributors that will syndicate content willy-nilly, unchecked by ‘gatekeepers’. This sometimes produces a less-than-professional image for the company or service being promoted, and there’s growing evidence that some busy journalists pay scant attention to announcements from such undiscriminating sources.

Look for distributors who are experienced in both PR and journalism that provide an ethical service that is trusted for the quality of its content and journalist-targeting, while at the same time providing clients with a huge reach.

Distributors who use opt-in lists will not reach all the journalists you wish to target. The same applies to those who only syndicate news online. And, press lists MUST be targeted to relevant journalists, those who use a scattergun approach 'send to all' are basically sending spam. If your press release is not well written, or in the correct format, it's likely to be deleted. We have tips on writing press releases and liaising with journalists at http://www.pressdispensary.co.uk/services/advice.html

[daveashton]

There are lots of FREE distribution sites

There is quite a big difference between free distribution sites and paid for services. Unfortunately, it’s now possible for inexperienced press release writers to find distributors that will syndicate content willy-nilly, unchecked by ‘gatekeepers’. This sometimes produces a less-than-professional image for the company or service being promoted, and there’s growing evidence that some busy journalists pay scant attention to announcements from such undiscriminating sources.

Look for distributors who are experienced in both PR and journalism that provide an ethical service that is trusted for the quality of its content and journalist-targeting, while at the same time providing clients with a huge reach.

Distributors who use opt-in lists will not reach all the journalists you wish to target. The same applies to those who only syndicate news online. And, press lists MUST be targeted to relevant journalists, those who use a scattergun approach 'send to all' are basically sending spam. If your press release is not well written, or in the correct format, it's likely to be deleted. We have tips on writing press releases and liaising with journalists at http://www.pressdispensary.co.uk/services/advice.htmleasy tiger

People need to way up each side of the argument and evaluate if it is worth paying for.
We have lots of clients who use free distribution and do very well from it once they have have thier key words sorted out.
A classic example is www.increase-sales.co.uk who got lots of press including sales force ( the leading sales management magazine in the uk) by posting on only 1 free distribution site.
The BIG down side though, is that unless they call you, you end up getting coverage in papers/ magazines often without knowing it.
I am also not convinced the journalists are so picky on spelling and grammar. A good news storey is a good news storey and we have found that even if it is not grammatically perfect it will still get exposure if the story/ news is good enough.
Last but not least. Any exposure for SME's is good, because it lets people know who they are.
Also it generates links for your website (you do not need to pay extra for this even though the sites tell you that you need to).
So free PR is good
No PR is bad
If the PR company can provide good value and you have the money great and should be considered.

[Greg]

I disagree with some of your comments. You’re largely talking about driving traffic through search engine optimisation / page rankings rather than presenting a company/product/service in a professional manner by using public relations skills to write an effective press release. Remember that releases may be searchable online for years to come via major search engines, which makes it all the more important to depict your company in a favourable light. Otherwise, mistakes made now might come to haunt you in the future.

Our company is staffed by people who are experienced in both PR and journalism. We’ve conducted primary research into journalists’ dislikes concerning press releases. As well as an almost universal hatred of stock words and phrases such as “unique”, “solution”, “world’s first”, “we are delighted”, etc., journalists don’t appear to respect badly written material. In reality, this portrays an amateurish image of the company distributing it. Yes, if you’re announcing that the Prince of Wales is visiting your business, the local press will cover it even if your release is written in kindergarten style! However, for most small companies with stories of moderate interest, bad presentation will simply increase the chance of hitting that target you really don’t want: the bin.

Spelling and grammar do matter. Misspellings, word misuse, awful sentence construction and avoidable typos can result in the journalists chortling – which is hardly the result you desire. Just as you would try your best to avoid an awful haircut or hideous suit while representing your business in public or on TV, quality standards with PR and the presentation of promotional material must be upheld. Free or low-cost PR activities that show a business as being incapable of writing a basic press release will not win them any favours. Good PR is worth carrying out. No PR is arguably preferable to bad PR which can detract from a company’s reputation amongst the press.

[daveashton]

Greg

I don’t disagree with your points in a perfect world.
The problem is that it is not perfect.
From a sales perspective any opinion is better than none in by far the vast majority of cases, especially if the image is that they just cannot spell. As for haunting you in the future, sorry but I think that is a just a touch alarmist.

The second problem is budget.

People make hard choices and nothing is ever perfect and hence we all want a pr company, but of all sales & marketing activity it is the hardest to show ROI along with networking. Most of our smaller clients what this service, most find paying fees to outsource this difficult to justify.

Even worse is that many companies think that PR is a way to generate leads and when you compare it to SEO/PPC/ Telesales, leaflet drops etc it often comes out very low, but as we both know GOOD PR will mean that a lot more enquiries will convert into business but it helps to give the vital credibility factor needed to win new business.

In a perfect world yes use a PR company.
If not use the free sites to distribute your press release, it takes only a few minutes and 1 article on your business is better than none.

[epiphany]

In my humble opinion writing a press release yourself (unless you have a lot of knowledge of PR and are very good at English) is a waste of time that could spent more productively elsewhere.

[daveashton]

LoL

I notice that the 2 posts saying nothing is better than something is you DIY and use the free press release sites are both providing PR services.

To answer the question properly it would be good to get some more natural opinion i.e. has anyone used free pr sites and actually had a bad experience?

PS To date ALL our clients have said it has worked v well and they have news stories publish in local to national press and marketing leading vertical publications.

Results were dependant though on getting your key words right!

[epiphany]

In my opinion free distribution services are good for one thing, link building :)

None of the papers we deal with use them, our former journalist worked for a few different papers and none of them ever used these sorts of sites for stories. In saying that if a story is good enough it would get picked up from anywhere in the internet such is the nature of the beast :)

[Rob Holmes]

Ok I'm not taking any sides, heres my personal experience for what it's worth...

I had a couple announcements to make, both pretty important.

One I used a professional Media company for, the other I did myself but not using the particular sites mentioned above.

The professional media company did come out ontop for a couple of reasons. Firstly they didn't just email people out, they called their clients and contacts and got us into some very interesting meetings and actually global coverage of our event.

The one I tried myself just fizzled out. That maybe a reflection in my inabilities to write good press releases and get them infront of people, so I'm not saying the free version does not work. Maybe I could have followed up with a phone call but that would have been alot of calls!

The one thing that using a pro to do the job for you is they can advise on all the extras that people don't usually think about when they launch a press release. Things like.. How to react when you get out of bed and theres a telephoto lens poking in your face as you bend down to pick the milk up off the doorstep, how to react to negative questions, which words to use and which to avoid, which emotions to show and which to suppress. We also had advice on how to react to negative news, what happens if they dredge something else up etc etc - and if we were ever unsure and needed advice they were on the phone.

For me there was definately differences in free and pro press services, people have got to assess their own abilities and decide which is better for them.

Hope this helps,

Rob

[fastfences]

Hi all, excellent debate!

Don't forget you can get 'duds' from both sides. I recently paid heaps for a professional 'advertorial' only to find grammar and punctuation mistakes as well as total disarray of the subject matter. As with contracting any new service, nothing beats the 'word of mouth' recommendation. Cheers!

[winton50]

So the question is Rob was it worth it?

being a complete novice how much do pro PR companies cost and do theymake you money in a definable way or only 'raise your profile'

stu

[Rob Holmes]

Hi Stu,

For me, I am not skilled in the area of PR so I would need to use a pro next time.

Rob