Online PR Campaign - Some advice appreciated...

[BrightSparke]

January 21st, '06

Dear All:

Working for other companies, I've seen how valuable PR can be in generating interest in a company, new product, etc.

Now I have my own (small) operation (www.personal-software.com), I'd like to generate some press coverage.

We have a number of (I think) news-worthy stories (just won the ISTC award for our software, signed a deal for product distribution, etc.), but I don't have the budget for an agency.

I've researched the different PR services on the Internet and believe that PRWeb and PR Newswire seem to have the widest/best distribution. It also seems to me that PRWeb use PR Newswire, but I can't be sure.

Some questions I'd appreciate your thoughts on:-

1) Which of the pay-services would you recommend?
2) How much should I be prepared to pay per PR release?
3) Are there any worthwhile free distribution channels I should use?
4) Any first-hand experience on the number of visitors you own PR campaigns or stories generated?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Peter

[crus]

I'd be very interested in the responses to this post as well.

Thanks in advance.

D

[10 Yetis]

ok, eyes down, looking in... shall i have a bash at the first response before some of the heavy hitters arrive? :)

First off, are you looking for online PR because you only want to drive site traffic up, or is it a case of you don't think offline PR will help? Knowing this would help us, to help you. nnnnkay.

Regarding online PR I am going to sound a bit "old school", which is depressing given that I am only 29! I am sure some people have had good results from the sites you mention in terms of journo's picking up stories from these but to be honest not many national, regional or trade journo's I know use info via PR Web and the other one you mentioned.

I have to be honest and say that I do put all client releases on these using the minimum payment method available, but not because I expect a journo to come across it and use it, but mainly cos it will drive traffic towards the clients website and also because I am fairly confident that the story will pop up on some online news place, (usually in outer Alaska) which will help when doing coverage analysis.

If I remember rightly we pay about $2 per release using the PRWeb thing and for this it gets submitted to all the major online news places like google news, yahoo news and msn news etc with a one day turnaround (sorry if I have just ruined any other PR's revenue stream by revealing how much it costs - sure no-one from this forum would do that).

Places like PR Web also say that they vet releases to make sure the writing is quality and alike, but I think they may fib a little as I have seen some real old trash going out on it and this is probably a good reason why it does not work so well.

Basically, to sum up my longwinded post, they are good for increasing traffic but most PR's use them as the last part of the PR campaign rather than seeing them as a priority.

In my humble opinion, if you have a generic, none regional but interesting story which you don't think a national will pick up but may be good for the regional as a filler peice then try your hardest to get it picked up by the FREE Press Association newswire.

Oh yeah, most industries have their own sort of press wire service, e.g. in financial services PR there is Headline Money which is great... have you not got one in your industry?

I hope this helps.

[BrightSparke]

Thanks for these useful comments.

I also plan to send releases directly to PC magazines, my local press, etc. However, I was hoping using an online service would give me a global reach I could never achieve "manually".

Peter

[10 Yetis]

it will certainly give your release a strong global reach, but my concern would be that it does not get used.

That being said, unless you have the funds to pay for a company overseas to push it then I would say that the wires are your best bet then.

Alot of us PR's subscribe to global media list services... not sure about my service provider - will check - but maybe someone has a global list they could send you for your selected industry?

[cjd]

I have used all the on-line PR outfits and I generally agree with Andy.

I will continue to use PR Web tho' as it gets picked up by loads of online news sites. No one reads these sites but you get the links back to your site from them which ups your Google ranking.

(If you go to Google News and type in Voipfone you'll see the press release we put out in December still generates 3 or 4 links from daft places like Netherlans and India. In the past we've had dozens of links for innocuous stories).

Don't expect much else to happen from PRWeb

The UK PR outfits (Press Dispensary, WebITPR, UKPRWire) can get your release into national and regional news desks inboxes but you'll be very very lucky indeed if any of them are picked up. They almost always go straight to junk mail as they get hundreds per day.

What you will get though is 3 or 4 calls from people trying to sell you ad space in their industry/business rag......

I'd love to know how Andy gets PRWeb for $2 .....?

[Pebble Communications]

What Andy said!

I do put my clients' releases on some of the newswires but more to drive traffic and build links than in any expectation of a journalist finding them.

Fiona Bailey
Pebble Communications

[JustOneUK]

for a software product definately go with PR web..it's about £80 I think and you should get minimum 30-50K views

(correct at the time of going to press) :wink:

[BrightSparke]

Thanks for the advice - very helpful.

I do accept that - unless you have a "million dollar homepage..." our stories - while riverting to us - are probably not likely to grab the attention of the worlds press...

To explain a little further:-

1) I would like to send "personal" releases to the local press. We're based in Norfolk, where software companies are not common (unlike Turkeys, barn conversions and holiday homes);

2) I would send individual releases to the PC/technical/Microsoft journals more in the hope they would review our software rather than publish the release itself;

3) The online releases are specifically designed to generate links and traffic for our site - which is our main sales vehicle...

Make sense as a strategy?

Peter

[10 Yetis]

if site traffic is your main driver then online PR is for you.

Just to go back to one question about the cost... i hope i have not got confused. On PR web there is the set fees and also an option to just make a donation. I always go for the donation which starts at $2? i may have got this confused?

I have never paid $80 though, seems really steep. You could probably find a US agency for that?

[JustOneUK]

On PR web there is the set fees and also an option to just make a donation. I always go for the donation which starts at $2? i may have got this confused?

I have never paid $80 though, seems really steep. You could probably find a US agency for that?

I think there is an option to PAY..or donate. As far as I remember people who pay the full whack have had some good results, others less so. Doing it anyway is the first step..regardless which option you choose.

[publicityheaven]

I agree with everyone (it's so important to have an opinion)

Can't ever remember getting a story from one of these services when I was a journalist

Saying that, if a good story is on there, it will probably be picked up by a freelance journalist somewhere. As with all stories, if the hook's good enough it will be picked up

If it gets you some extra website traffic though, go for it!