Press Release Distribution – An Explanation

Many small business owners have heard of press releases, but think they are only for big businesses and brands. Nothing could be further from the truth. A press release is a great way to spread the word about what is new in your business, from the time you launch your site, through to each new product or service you release, what live events you host, and more. If it’s newsworthy, it deserves a press release.

Press release distribution

You can write a press release, publish it at your site, and hope media representatives see it. Or you can ‘get in their faces’ to help ensure they pay attention to you. Press release distribution services take your press release to the next level.

There are free and paid services. Some are like a database, while others will send notifications to journalists interested in your niche to let them know about your release. Some services will also have various tiers, with their pricing going up if you wish to distribute your release to the most prestigious media outlets, such as the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. Paid services will often even give you the chance to get your niche-related story on Google News, such as in the health or technology section if you have a wonderful breakthrough to report.

Press releases thus have the potential to give you unprecedented access to top journalists and media outlets. All you have to do is write a great press release.

That may sound like a daunting task, but it really only involves several simple steps and about 400 words of interesting content.

How to write an effective press release

Here are the main items you will need so your press release will look professional and gain media attention.

• an enticing headline that intrigues and commands attention
• an interesting sub headline that supports the headline and acts as “teaser” copy to get the audience to read more
• a powerful opening paragraph, which answers as many of the following “6Ws” as possible:

1. Who
2. What
3. Where
4. When
5. Why
6. hoW

Who the press release is about, what happened, why it happened, and so on. These are the essential facts of any news story. Use them as a checklist to make sure you don’t leave out anything important in your release.

• a high-quality supporting image-studies have shown that a press release with an image is far more likely to get picked up than one without an image
• your full contact information, so interested media representatives can contact you to learn more
• clear call to action-what do you want them to do after reading your press release?

Note that the release should contain keywords related to your niche in all of the most important areas of the release, particularly the headline.

Final steps

Copy and paste your press release into the distribution interface. Make sure you put the right items in the right fields. Check it over to ensure you don’t leave out anything important. It should be error-free.

Tracking your results

Each press release distribution service will have its own tracking and reporting. Most of your results will come in within the first week of publication, but don’t be surprised if you get pickups even weeks later. Link to your best ones from your media page.

Call us today to speak to one of our PR specialists: 1-800-713-7278

Anthony Santiago

Anthony Santiago is Director of Marketing at Newswire. With over a decade of experience in PR, he helps ensure that clients understand the value of brand messaging and reach.