In the old days, the best way to get press for your business was to take a news editor to lunch or run for public office (actually, those ways are still pretty good!). But now it’s all about expanding your Internet presence, and a press release distribution service can be a tremendous boon. Here’s how to harness the power:
1. Your press release must have the WOW factor: No one cares that your jewelry store is celebrating its 23rd year in business, so go big and bold. For example, instead of spending $2500 on advertising in the local magazine for one month, you could put $99 into a press release service (more about that below) and $2401 into the cost of a 1-carat diamond ring nationwide giveaway to the most deserving engaged couple.
2. Identify your baseline stats with a Google search: Do a Google search for the the description of your business and see what comes up. Ideally you will be on the first page of results, and your stretch goal is to appear in the top three listings. Be realistic. For example, if you are a regional jeweler, you should care about “jewelry Minneapolis,” or a similarly descriptive phrase for your business, but not a generic phrase such as “diamond jewelry” or “diamonds” unless you are De Beers or Blue Nile.
3. Which online press release service should you use? Comparing online press release services is as easy as comparing sand grains on the beach:
- Free services: There are free press release services, like PR.com, i-Newswire and My Free PR, but there is disagreement on whether these services will get your information out to the media that you would like to hit.
- Pay to play: If you’re willing to spend some money, you can go with Marketwire for distribution in one state such as Minnesota for $150-200, or around $300 for the entire Midwest (All prices are estimates to give you a feel.) Marketwire includes national media outlets such as the USA Today and Wall Street Journal in all packages. For maximal Internet marketing benefit, definitely pony up an additional $75 for the optional SEO Enhanced (search engine optimization) service, which allows you to embed live hyperlinks into your press release, targeting keywords (for example “jewelry Minneapolis”) that you care about. These links can not only drive traffic to your web site, but also raise your search ranking. There are lots of companies angling for your money, including some that go after niche markets, like Business Wire for business releases and PRWeb and PR Newswire for specific industries.
- The key: Look for a service that is used by lots of other companies, particularly ones in your industry, and that meets your desired budget. For example, over 30,000 companies have used PR Leap, which has a service starting at $49, going up to $149 for a Premium package that includes SEO and Social Media distribution and a generous 2,000 word allowance. PR Leap positions itself as more affordable than the top 3 wires, with an easier to use web interface. To be fair, PR Leap probably does not have the reach of Marketwire (download the list of media outlets reached in your state from Marketwire, and you will be impressed by how many local media sources are contacted). Their press releases can be found on Google News, Google Search, Yahoo! and MSN, and are submitted to UPI and AP news services. PR Leap may represent a happy medium between free but possibly ineffective services, and the established but more expensive leaders. One colleague of mine used PR Leap to, well, leap from page 18 in Google’s search results to the number 1 spot for a local search phrase (i.e. city name + type of business) for his business — in mere days! I should note that this is a highly unusual result, and I am certainly not suggesting that a single press release will consistently pull you from search engine obscurity to the top of the heap, but my colleague’s example shows what is possible!
Next time in Part 2: how to format your press release, following through, and tracking results.
{ 3 comments }
We have tested almost all of the wire services and also found Marketwire to be effective and price friendly. Another trick of the trade that we use is to place the press release into an RSS feed before putting it out on the wire service — that way the client is credited with being the source of the content.
Pretty nice post. I just came by your blog and wanted to say
that I’ve really liked reading your blog posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
Jenna, thanks for the kind words! More posts coming…
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