Forum Moderators: not2easy
I wonder if someone could fill me in on the best ways to get a story picked up? I know there is several free wire serives, but also some pretty pricey ones too - are the pay wire services any good, or just too crowded to get noticed?
Is it common practice for a PR firm to personally contact editors and discuss having a release published?
PS - also if anyone can recommend a good firm, by all means sticky me.
PR companies have relationships with publications as well as with specific journalists. They won't waste these people's time unless they really think something will get picked up. Any PR company worth their pay will not simply take your money and do what you say.
So you need to look at media that publish stories similar your story, and make sure you only contact them or have your PR company contact the media when your story really IS a story. Often companies get this a bit confused based on ego...
Usually a PR company will charge you a monthly retainer for a set period. Otherwise it's not in their interest or capacity to give you good service.
But, like most things it comes down to money and your budget.
Editors and Journalists are constantly being overwhelmed by press releases of different kinds so it's usually not common practice for PR firms to contact editors personally, however of course the more pricy PR firms might have connections to get your press release through and published, afterall you get what you pay for.. Usually anyway :)
One strategy to use is to aim your press release towards magazines that might have a genuine interest of your website or company. This might be a problem using free services such as PRWeb since their press releases are sent to a number of magazines and medias.
Hmm hope this clarified more than it complicated :)
good luck!
Daniel
I thought I was getting what I was paying for, which is why an asked about the free service vs paying them.
Anyway, so far I got 6 visits from people visiting the PR Web page where my press release is located. This is whithout counting those that directly typed my url to access my website, which I can't really keep track of. It could be worse for a free service I guess.
I'm in the same process of finding pr companies that distribute to magasines etc. I was wondering if you might be able to recommend some?
Especially in niche areas, there are often a handful of highly trafficed blog sites that have made the transition to a proper content site.
Because of their structure they are hungry for news, so if you write a press release in a way that they can just copy-paste the whole thing, they are likely to stick you up on the front page - which can provide a surprising amount of traffic.
Don't simply think of press release distribution, think of what you want to achieve with it. Are you trying to create a brand? Are you simply wanting distribute news of new products or developemnts?
Consider carefully the difference between News Distribution and Press Distribution. Press Distribution is for the Press only and News Distribution applies to a wider audience.
If you simply want to issue news as cheaply as possible, use the free news wires. If you want to "get in the press" then you should seriously consider engaging a professional agency to help you hone the news for the audience.
It's about quality, not quantity.
Getting a news release published once in the top journal is worth the effort, compared to distributing the material via the free services - anyone can use the free services - not anyone has the contacts to help get into the top publications. That's where the agency comes in.
So, I'll just repeat, you get what you pay for.
