How To Increase Press Release ROI
Press release return on investment, or ROI, is an essential measure to help determine whether or not your press release has been a success. There are a number of ways to measure this. Which you use will depend on your goals in creating and publishing the press release.
Free Marketing
Free press release sites may seem the ideal place to start gaining more traffic and sales. They may not cost any money to use, but they can eat up your time if you’re not careful. Send out slightly different versions of the same press release to different distribution services. Give each one a unique link back to your site. Then track to see how much free traffic you are getting.
Calls To Action
Increase the ROI of your press release by asking readers to take action. It is great to get media professionals to pick up your release, but it is even better if they run the story as is and increase your marketing opportunities. Each action to be taken can be on the unique landing page you provide. For example, you might decide to lead people to more information about your niche or topic, free and paid information.
Sign Ups
If you want more people to sign up for your email list, entice them with a free special report or ecourse and a free newsletter. Put the offer on your special landing page. Link to it using keywords in your press release.
Sales
If you want to make more sales from your press release, create a special offer visitors to your unique URL would be foolish to refuse.
Paid Press Release Services
For paid press release service, the ROI is pretty easy to calculate in some ways. If the press release costs $200 to send out with X service, you need to track the results through X service’s analytical tools and see how many pick-ups. If you give a buy now call to action, track the number of sales. You need to earn at least $200 in profit to make the press release pay for itself.
Defining ROI In Your Business
But what about less obvious ROI? For example, what if your goal is to get more followers on Facebook or Twitter? Or increase the reach of your brand by making it more visible?
In this case, use the measurements that make the most sense to you. Track the number of followers you had before you sent out the release, and how many after. Watch the amount of traffic to your site, or the number of sign-ups for your newsletter. All of these will indicate more engagement with your brand.
Customer Worth
Some businesses like to assign a dollar value to each follower or subscriber. This may be tough to do if you are first starting out. In this case, start with $1. If every visitor, subscriber, or social media follower were worth $1, what would that mean to your business in terms of income each month? Look for sale patterns after each release to see if your notional value holds true.
PR Contact Interaction
Cultivate the contacts you gain from the press release. Make the most of the opportunities you get from the press release. If a reporter contacts you to ask for more information or to use you as a source, follow up in a prompt and professional manner.
Many online marketers think the tough work is done once they write a release. The truth is that the planning before, and the tracking and follow up after, are where the real hard work lies. Don’t skimp on these steps and you will soon see a solid ROI for your efforts.
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