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How To Select News Release Distribution Services

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news-release.jpgNews releases are distributed in a variety of ways:

  • One-to-one media relations from public relations professionals to media
  • A distribution via a media list developed via Cision, Vocus or other media databases
  • An online only news release distribution service e.g. PR Web
  • A traditional wire like PR Newswire, BusinessWire or Marketwired which also blend and distribute with online outlets

There are resellers of these services that may have a limited distribution or fewer bells and whistles. What’s often a feature for companies watching the bottom line of out-of-pocket expenses is price. Resellers come in less than the primary suppliers; which features are sacrificed for price? It’s hard to know.

In fact, it’s hard to know the best recommendation any more for clients and companies. Recently, I was asked my professional opinion on the difference between the online only news release distribution service compared to the more traditional wire.

I’m going to try to provide thoughts via an in-depth analysis of metrics from a very recent distribution for a client. Keep reading to hear my thoughts and do add yours, too?

Online News Release

Prior to Google switching up news release optimization and requiring no-follow links for online news dissemination, there was a creeping practice of “SEO PR” where some professionals were optimizing public relations content for search marketing benefit.

Back in the day about three years ago, results for online news releases were fabulously successful and companies realized high traffic to websites as a result. Today, times are a bit rougher; there are hundreds of news releases issued every single day from a variety of platforms and channels.

The suite of outlets picking up news releases via online only distribution is impressive, but when you look closely at the outlets, they may not be the best places for the news, especially if the news is a niche topic for a business-to-business audience.

Metrics for Online News Release Distribution  via PRWeb (Actual)

  • 57,489 impressions from a feed or web page
  • 1,096 reads — number who loaded a full version
  • 49 interactions — clicks, download, forward, website interaction
  • 109 online pick up

When you examine the outlets that picked up the news from the traditional wire, they are more popular news sites with a slew of broadcast TV websites, daily papers and business journals.

Metrics for PR Newswire Distribution (Actual via eReleases reseller)

(eReleases report says it distributes news to 5,900 websites and traditional news rooms with 1.5 million views of news releases; PR Newswire says it distributes to 200,000 media and 8,000 websites.)

  • 2371 Views
  • 0 Downloads

When you look at the data only, the online distribution service wins  by a long shot; but, are numbers always accurate? No, you need the interpretation, and that’s what we’re trying to do here; but, there’s a missing link.

Website Analytics Required

When a company is putting news on both the online only and traditional wire service (with some online outlets, too), the best idea is to do a split test with a link on one of the services or a different quote and a different link or quote on the other distribution service.

Also, understanding traffic to web pages via Google analytics or Clicky is helpful and rounds out the picture. Without incorporating these data into the full analysis, it would be hard to determine which distribution service is better.

Pricing

  • PRWeb has five levels of pricing from $99 to $499 depending on whether the news is a multi-media news release with images and video or merely an extremely basic version.
  • PR Newswire is a membership service and members receive pricing accordingly. This service, however, is the absolute top of the line with all the real and required services publicly traded global companies need…and more.
  • eReleases is a reseller of PR Newswire and they do a great job. They have tiered pricing, too, with a “personal publicist” service.  I use them often for news distribution on the PR Newswire. The difference is you don’t get everything PRNewswire offers, and the price reflects that.
  • Marketwired phoned me yesterday to inform me more about its 10 vertical distributions with emphasis on the Associated Press

What Is The News

To make a determination about which service to use, professionals have to analyze the news. Here’s what I’m talking about:

  • Is the news national, breaking news?
  • Is there a time element to the news?
  • Is it specialty niche news that appeals to a specific segment?
  • Is it for trade media in vertical markets?
  • Is it business-to-business news or consumers with wide appeal?
  • Is it regional news to a smaller audience?
  • Does the news tie in with a seasonal event, current event, or trend?
  • Is it oriented to research supported by evidence, proof points or data?
  • Is the news investor related for a publicly traded company?
  • Is the company a startup, corporation or non-profit?
  • Is the news global? Should you launch simultaneously on several continents?

Knowing whether the news is important enough to warrant national distribution is the responsibility of the media relations professional. Media relations professionals will also know when to use online distribution only, wire service only, or both.

Best Analysis

So, with all of the above which doesn’t clearly or definitively point to one over the other, the best analysis is frequency. In order to understand which distribution service may provide best results, then consider this:

  • Get five news releases out the door using both services
  • Ensure the news is valuable and more hard hitting
  • Analyze results from reports and compare data side by side
  • Incorporate news content into that analysis, too

In My Professional Opinion…Taking into consideration all of the factors above, here is my professional opinion about which service provides better opportunity.

The answer is very lawyerly — it depends.

1. Look at the quality of the news
2. Determine who should get the news
3. What is the objective — traffic, views, clicks, earned media
4. Incorporate analytics from start to finish
5. Distribute five to seven news releases and do a comparative analysis
6. Review the metrics and conduct your analysis

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PR Is NOT Press Release

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news-release.jpgHello, my SEO colleagues and internet marketers. For several years now I have cringed when I hear the word “PRs” emanating from your neck of the wood over to mine. Upon the first hearing, I wasn’t sure my ears had picked up correctly, must be that invisible hearing aid.

PR Is Public Relations

For, the abbreviation PR has always been for one thing and one thing only – public relations, my discipline, my profession, and my world for many decades – yes, I’m ancient.

Your continual delivery of PR as “press release” is confusing because people in PR, the practice of public relations, are migrating over to the word news release. And, I’ve share why on many an occasion.

When SEO folks get a turn at a “press release” to optimize it and push links, it’s not a press release at all; it’s merely a communication tool we can call a news release IF there is news within it. The point I’m trying to make to save anyone from having to go hunting down a rabbit hole is this:

Back in the day, the press corps was everywhere following folks and the press conference was a gathering of journos listening to a spokesperson shoving mics in his face (yes, it was always a he back then).

Today? Not so much.

Press Corps

There really isn’t a mass grouping of press, the print media, covering companies like groupies. The press corps is relegated to U.S. federal government officials, like POTUS and the secretary of state.

So, when the term press release is used, I switch it out for news release because that’s the goal of the communication tool – to be a vehicle of news.

When an SEO professional uses “PR” for press release and not public relations, I will kindly correct your vernacular and inform you to kindly remove that abbreviation from your vocabulary and call it a news release.

Wouldn’t you agree the word “news release” is so much more powerful than a “press release” anyway?

Note: Jayme Soulati is a veteran public relations practitioner of 30 years; she has a right to defend the purity of her profession.

PR Strategy For Business: The Company Launch

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News crew setting up to report on the floods (Photo credit: max_wedge)

Economics and economies are contributing to the start-up and along with the great idea to launch a company comes the need for solid public relations counsel to strategize about the best way to distribute news.

Gone are the days when launching the company was straightforward. What we used to do was develop a media list, write a press release and get it approved, and then start pitching media one by one with phone calls, followed by executive interviews, and stories that appeared in media outlets.

I’m not going to say that was easy, but it certainly pales in comparison to what we do today (she said with excitement!).

Blending Traditional With Digital

Launching a company today requires in-depth strategy and a healthy regard for the social media sphere.

When a start-up is launching a company website at the same time it’s trying to establish a brand and reputation, there are elements to activate that enable a one-two punch in logical sequence.

A website with language by copywriters and marketers needs to launch with the appropriate optimization and back-end analytics tools.

Meanwhile, a should be orchestrated from which a few news releases and fact sheets are created.

The media list is trickier these days. Media outlets have fewer reporters on staff and also fewer print editions. Many publications are strictly online which means the lead time for publishing the news (especially if it’s hard news with a time element) is zilch. If an editor likes a story, he can clear a blank web page and run it! Funny, but true; you get the idea of the immediacy of the news cycle.

What that means is the PR team has to button up and think about every news angle, its impact on the company, how it should be communicated, and when. Please read this sentence twice; it is that important for your business’s success.

Factors To Consider

  • Should the news go on the wire, just online or both?
  • Should social media channels post the news same day and repeat it or wait?
  • Which social media channel should be regarded as primary for corporate news; how about consumer news?
  • Should bloggers be pitched? How about important journalists? Should you pitch them online via Twitter or traditionally via phone and email?
  • Do you want to field requests for interviews that are inbound or do you want to be aggressive and pitch and earn the hits?
  • Is your spokesperson trained using the message map? Is there a Q&A developed so spokespeople are prepared and not blindsided?
  • Has the PR team created a media brief of reporters who call requesting an interview?
  • When should a blog post news of a launch? Before or after a news release?

And, there is so much more.

The primary takeaway is not to confuse you, Ms. or Mr. Business; it’s to encourage you to hire a qualified public relations strategist with media relations expertise. Have no fear…

 

 

 

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PR Strategy For Business: Blog Post Or News Release?

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digital PRThe news release is NOT dead. There is no other way to formally announce company news that meets and adheres to traditional journalistic standards.

For those suggesting a news release no longer matters should take a look at whether they have hard news to share.

Start-ups, small-to-medium businesses (SMBs), and even established companies need to use a press release to issue news either online, via the wires, or sent as a pitch by media relations teams.

Blog Post Or News Release? 

More companies are realizing the value of blogging. The blog, like the news release is owned media. You create the message, write the content and publish it, post it or distribute it via many channels.

But, here’s the $5 million chicken-or-egg question — which comes first?

Should a company write a blog post to launch news or should it write a news release to launch news?

A blog post seems like the easiest method to put news out there; albeit, the audience that sees the post is questionable (especially on a brand new blog with zero analytics).

If a company was to launch news of a new product, service or other innovation for the very first time via a blog, then that news is no longer fresh.

A blog is NOT the best place to announce major company news first unless a news release is included in that news strategy with strategic timing.

Here are the steps I recommend, and afterwards I share why: 

1. To launch company news, draft a news release and blog post at the same time.

2. Get the content for each approved via the overall marketing and legal teams at the same time.

3. Set distribution of the news for both the blog and news release at about the same time. A blog post can be scheduled at any time of day.

4. The news release should hit the wires first, and the link to the news release should be included in the blog post just before clicking “publish.”

Rationale For This PR Strategy

If media get wind of a start-up’s news announcement and the company’s blog is the vehicle to share that news, then any attempt at issuing a news release, featuring the same content, and garnering attention is likely to fail.

When media relations practitioners pitch media, a blog post is not the vehicle of choice to inform media of news. It can complement; however, it is not an official vehicle.

Corporate blogs have a variety of authors and topics. To establish the company blog as the official word from the C-suite would take months of consistent writing with on-message topics. Media relations cannot be done via an occasional heavy-hitting blog post.

The news release must prevail first complemented by supporting vehicles with the content emphasized and packed with punch.

 

 Thanks for reading Soulati-‘TUDE! Blog Post #400! Please subscribe, up and to the right, so you miss no more!

 

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The News Release Is NOT Dead

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newsreleaseEverywhere I read, someone speaks of the demise of the press release. Perhaps they’re right; we in media relations rarely put “press” in front of “release” to describe company-issued news.

We call it a news release, and the news release is NOT dead.

There were 137 news releases issued on PR Newswire today in the span of 30 minutes, the majority issued at 8 a.m. ET.

News, among those who don’t truly know what news is, can be anything a company announces; however, if it’s hard news then it’s oriented to facts, data, investors, publicly traded companies, major new products with mass appeal (Boeing’s failed jet), global issues, national crises, weather disasters, and other critical news of the day.

Soft news can be anniversaries, events, new books, babies, ribbon cuttings, christenings, restaurant openings, and other items without critically timed orientation.

Regardless of whether a company has soft or hard news to share, the news release is one of the best vehicles with which to distribute news. Here’s why:

  1. If and when you’re pitching media with that news, a news release written in appropriate journalistic standard and AP style (follow them on Twitter @APStylebook) (typically) is most easily recognizable and accepted by media.
  2. When a company issues a news release in the format as stated in #1, there’s credibility around that action which requires attention.
  3. A news release usually goes through several rounds of editing by many layers of teams and professionals (marketing, legal, executives). Once it is approved and ready for publication, it becomes the official word of the company.
  4. News releases are archived on websites as public record and as an historical queue of stories that inform audiences.
  5. Media and other writers comb these archives to report on and understand companies, products, and people.
  6. Executive quotes are readily accessible in news releases and can be printed in a variety of media with attribution to the spokesperson.
  7. A news release is owned media; your company creates and controls the message. It is used to garner earned media…the story that appears in media outlets featuring much of the news and facts from company-issued news releases.

How is media relations done at your company? If it’s just via a personalized email to multiple email addresses via email marketing, then the message is harder to control.

If the team is using a pre-approved pitch and news release, then everyone is using official language approved by company leadership.

As I said, the news release is NOT dead.

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