What Happens After You Submit A Press Release?
Many marketers really struggle to write a press release, so they can be forgiven for thinking that all of the work is behind them. The truth is that it’s often just beginning. What happens after you submit a press release depends on the quality of that release, but also on the way you distribute it and quality of your follow up.
Crafting the press release
There are several essential elements journalists will be looking for in a high-quality press release if they are ever going to give you a pickup.
1. It must be news, not an ad
Examples of newsworthy items would include launching a new product or hosting a live event.
2. A good headline
It should get the reader’s attention and make them curious. Use a strong active verb and at least one keyword so it will be discoverable by those interested in your niche.
3. An informative and interesting subheadline
This field is included in many press release distribution service interfaces and serves as a summary of what the press release is about. You should also use keywords related to your niche in the subheadline to make your press release more discoverable.
4. A strong first paragraph
Include all of the 5Ws of journalism in your first paragraph:
- Who
- What
- Where
- When
- Why
These are the most important facts in any news story, and this organization will help busy journalists do their job more efficiently, which means a greater chance of a pickup.
5. A call to action
Tell readers what you want them to do after reading your release. One of the easiest ways to track this is to send them to a special URL at your site that you will create for each press release.
Examples include:
Read more here: URL
Go to URL to get your free copy of X ebook/white paper report (have them register as subscribers to get it)
6. At least one image
Studies have shown that press releases with images and video get more media pickups than those that don’t have any.
Submitting the press release
Once you have written the press release, gathered your images and video, and made sure it is error free it’s time for publication.
If you are using a free press release distribution service, chances are not much is going to happen. Why? They usually distribute to a ring of sites they are associated with, which means there is not a great chance of getting picked up in any prominent publication.
With paid press release distribution service sites, many journalists will use the site as a database to locate interesting information they think would make a good article their target audience would like. This is what motivates them to give you a media pickup.
Tracking the results
Once your press release and pickups have started to circulate, you should see evidence of it in various reports. Each press release distribution service should offer reports that show your media pickups, views, views of your video, and so on.
Your traffic logs and sales reports should show how many new visitors the press release had generated and how many sales resulted from your press release about a new product being launched.
If you check your email marketing platform, you will see the number of new subscribers you are getting to your marketing list.
All these statistics can be used as an indication of how successful your press release has been.
Following up
One final thing to do once you have published your press release is to follow up promptly with any requests for more information that you might get from journalists. Be polite and helpful, and you could soon develop a good working relationship with one or more journalists happy to use you as an expert resource in relation to your niche or industry.
Call us today to speak to one of our PR specialists: 1-800-713-7278
