Sending a press release is an equally engaging process as is writing a good press release. You might think of it as a rather trivial detail in the whole process, but the fact is, that how to send a press release is not as simple as it seems and there is a lot that needs to be done beforehand. Done carefully and in line with the requirements of your press release, this can make all the difference between a press release well-spread and a release at the bottom of the paper shredder. So, here’s a rundown of what steps you need to do before you can submit a press release and how to send a press release.
Also Read: Comprehensive Guide to Write Press Release
‘Ma’am, is your PC actually on?’ is a term far too common for old ladies to hear. As stupid as it might sound, it is nowhere near what the heading reads: is your PR ready? It’s like asking if you have a car before calling the insurance people. Unfortunately, the state of today requires people to ask ‘is your PR ready?’. And by ready, it is certainly not implied if there’s a Word file on your desktop labeled ‘press release for office’. The reason behind it being the first step to follow before you submit a press release is actually to make sure a couple of things are in order before you dump it onto someone else.
While the list goes on and on, as a general rule of thumb, these five points entail in them the crux of the release itself; as such, ensuring that all of these requirements have been fulfilled means a green-light for your press release to be sent out. But wait, there’s more.
Also Read: Do’s and Don’ts to Follow When Writing a Press Release
The next big step is to get a PR distribution service on your case. As with everything else, there’s a ton of them in the market and you need to decide on them by comparing them, their services, their clientele, and what they charge for their services. There is a criterion to selecting a press release distribution service; the first one being the extras they provide in a package (usually, PR services bundle together extras and features to maximize the benefit you can get out of a package). The PR distributor manages and monitors a ton of things about your press release, including, the best day to send a press release and how to send out a press release to different media houses.
However, there are other factors too that require a closer look such as what is the main difference between the leading PR distribution services.
The most obvious way you can gauge a distribution service’s performance is by looking at the way they handle releases: do they prefer quality or are they more biased towards quantity? You’d want to go for the service that prioritizes quality over quantity: what good are a hundred releases when no one wants to read a paragraph of them. Many top-tier services do cater to the quality of the release itself and will also go for quantity. Choose one that strikes a balance between the two.
The second but perhaps the most important point of all would be the budgetary restrictions you have and what service is willing to go with you for that price. Companies utilizing this medium usually don’t expend a ton of financial resources on this; which would make it safe to say that PR distribution companies tailor their packages keeping this fact in mind. Always go with the service that falls square in your range; not a cent more or less. This way, you can ensure you get the most bang for your buck.
You’re going to want to opt for the one with successes on their list of completed projects, not failures or disasters. As basic and banal this point may be, it also includes in it another really vital point: give newcomers or nascent establishments a chance to prove themselves. While there are many established PR distribution services that have impressive track records, it’s imperative for a competitive market to give the little guy the chance to do something big too. They are usually cheaper than Cision or PR Newswire too, so, there’s that.
The most important point of selecting a PR distributor before you send a press release is the extras or features, they throw in the package just for a good measure. There are a ton of services out there, all laying their claim to a bevy of features and extras that a person can use before they can submit a press release to ensure optimal distribution. Services at the top of the food chain like Cision and NewsWire routinely advertise their features section to attract people to the barrage of features they provide as an extra to their press release marketing strategy. They will also help with things like how to send a press release email and how to submit a press release overall. Some of them, as listed on the ReleaseLive website, are enumerated below,
– Top-rated services ensure that a press release is issued to the business hotspots and regions dedicated to the specific niche: tech press releases to Silicon Valley, financial press releases to Wall Street.
– Your press release will be exclusively distributed to major news handlers across the metropolitans on the globe: from New York to Tokyo.
– Services like ReleaseLive also include in them the integration of voice assistants like Samsung’s Bixby, Amazon’s Alexa, or Apple’s Siri.
– The press release will be translated into a multitude of languages for a wider audience (on a global scale).
– Press release distribution using RSS feeds.
It’s simple; you can email them, call them, or meet them in person to schedule a demo of their press release marketing strategy. Reaching them out is a vital part of the process too; the way you approach them and handle them is how they’ll handle your account and your releases. Simply get to them, schedule a demo of the release and see for yourself the magic that happens in the wizardry that is press release marketing.
A feature limited to a select few PR distribution services. PR performance reports can be considered as an input from the service itself to the client, regarding the performance of the release when spread in the wild. It consists of three reports;
Interim report: The report that is released to the client after the initial period of the release has passed. It is a basic report, making a mention of pretty basic reporting stuff like the sites where the PR was released, how many languages was it translated into, and the likes.
Master distribution report: A master distribution report takes things up a notch and relays information back to the client about the clicks, views the release has garnered, the media distribution sites it has been placed on, and the demographics it has penetrated.
Digital distribution reports: Considered a premium performance report only available for high-end packages like ReleaseLive’s Super Premium package, a digital distribution report contains all the relevant material from the aforementioned reports and then some, including a detailed breakdown of the views and clicks from each country in a region, from which demographic and even what sites displayed the release and how they displayed it. It is a comprehensive report that can give you a glance at how successful the release has been in terms of views, clicks, and coverage.
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