Success Tips for Press Release Distribution
Want your press release to get the maximum amount of exposure possible? By carefully planning your press release distribution, you can improve your PR marketing results. Before we look at tips for press release distribution success, it’s important that you begin with a well-written and newsworthy press release. If your release isn’t top quality, then your distribution efforts won’t matter.
- Timing Matters – First and foremost, make sure you understand your marketing timeline. When we’re talking about news, the timing is sensitive. Right? Your handpicked media reps aren’t going to want to cover news that’s already been released to the masses, so they need to receive the story first. And the masses won’t care about your product launch or news if they learn about it after it happened. Create a timeline of when you want your release to be distributed to various channels.
- Choose Your Channels Carefully – It’s better to get your press release in front of 10 journalists and bloggers who might care than 100 who don’t. Don’t waste your time, or anyone else’s, by submitting your press release to media reps who don’t cover your industry or news. Focus your efforts and target those who are relevant to you and your audience.
- Know Their Timeline – You have your timeline and you know when you need to get your news in front of your audience. Your targeted media reps have their own timelines too. They need lead time to research and write the story. It’s up to you to dig up this information. Journalist A may need 24 hours lead time, while journalist B may need a week. You have to give them time to cover the story, so make sure you distribute it to them in a timely manner.
- Include Links – Take your press release just a bit further and when you distribute it to the media by including links in your pitch. In addition to personalizing the pitch, adding useful content helps the media cover your story in the best and most efficient way possible.
- Include Images – Everyone responds better to content that contains images. When dealing with the media, that means press releases that include photos, graphs and charts, and video.
- Schedule Distribution for Off Times – It’s natural to default a scheduled email or press release distribution for the top of the hour. The problem is that everyone does the same thing. That means your targeted media rep is getting an inbox full of press releases at 8:00 am. Why not send yours at 8:11 or 8:23 am instead? You’ll have a better chance of capturing their attention.
- Use a Distribution Service – Yes, you should focus on key media reps, and you should choose your media outlets and channels carefully. But that’s just the beginning of press release distribution. Also make sure that you leverage the power of a distribution service to get your release in front of the largest, and most relevant, media outlets possible.
Press release distribution is a crucial step in PR marketing. Make sure you’re optimizing your efforts for the best results. You may be amazed at the difference one simple change can make.
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