There are many opinions regarding the press release. Some experts say that they aren’t what they used to be.
Business owners now have a dilemma on whether
or not to include press release distribution in their marketing campaigns.
Social media has been a platform that some believe has replaced the press
release when it comes to media coverage.
This may be true to some extent, there are press releases that don’t get picked
up or get coverage by mainstream journalists anymore.
However, this does not mean that the press release is dead. It can be a useful
tool that can complement social media and direct to consumer communication. As
part of your long-term PR efforts, a press release will always have a place
especially in specific complex industries like finance and health.
Choosing
The Right Press Release Provider
The market for press releases is quite crowded nowadays, which makes it hard
for marketers to decide where they can get the most value for their money.
In choosing from among the top press release services, we share some questions
that may serve as a guide to knowing the best provider for you.
– Which media outlets do you reach and how?
– How do you track and measure media activity and what type of reporting do you
provide?
– How do you measure online distribution?
– What sites display my release and syndicate your content?
– Do you include reaching out to industry bloggers and influencers?
– Do you reach out to my niche industry?
It would help if you also found out the pricing structure based on the level of
distribution that you are getting. Choose a press release site that receives
the most social shares and online traffic referrals.
You need to know your intended audience on a geographic, industry-specific and
demographic scale.
Your press release distribution service should
offer solutions to match your needs whether you need to reach your local,
regional or national market for your news.
There are times when a news story needs to target a specific industry, your
provider should have targeting capabilities that can reach certain journalists
in a particular sector or online sites that have top search authority.
The website of your provider should get your content shown in search engines.
Your brand should be discovered, and your marketing campaigns result maximized
through the press release providers’ site.
Choose a provider with millions of visitors, SEO optimized and has a high
search authority in search engines.
Certain service providers can help you target multicultural markets. The
internet has turned the whole world into a huge marketplace where you can offer
your products across borders. You can now reach specific ethnic audiences like
Hispanic, Chinese, Native American, and African American among others.
You can also go across borders by using local language distribution and
reaching key media outlets by country. Services can provide professional
translation aside from the partnership with international media experts that
can help you navigate the foreign market.
Your press release can also be promoted to specific demographic segments like
age, lifestyle, gender, religion, lifestyle, and ethnicity.
You may also want to look for a service provider that can allow you to embed photos and videos with your press release. Including multimedia content will make your release stand out from the rest and help you come up with a story that is visually compelling and engaging. Make sure your provider can help you connect with your audience through photos, videos, audio clips, and infographics.
Some added services that you can look for is media monitoring, writing services, video production, media placement, and international distribution. These capabilities in a vendor can help support your brand’s current marketing campaign. A one-stop shop may be the ideal set up for you and your press release provider.
There are so many horror stories that we hear
from businesses that have made the wrong choice in a press release service
company.
We share with you scenarios that are happening that you can avoid when it comes
to choosing the right service for you.
The
Best Price For A Press Release
There are service providers who charge a huge sum of money, but they don’t
deliver what they promise. Some of these press release service providers
outsource their work from different parts of the globe. This makes the finished
product impersonal and not relevant to the market the business is located in.
It is better to avoid such companies who don’t personalize their service based
on what the customer needs.
Reporting and analytics is another area where customers experience not so good
results. There are service providers that come up with tons of reports that are
too technical and full of jargon that no ordinary person can understand. There
are so many graphs and charts that can’t be explained with results that are not
felt. You just receive these reports, and no further explanation is given
regarding the relevance to your campaign and the results that you can expect.
There are even times when results are just taken from other client’s and not
even from your campaign just for the sake of coming up with a report.
For those who are new to online marketing, some companies will even go to the
extreme of making bogus promises like claiming that press releases can have a
direct impact on SEO when in fact there is none.
There are many companies out there who are just out to make a quick buck, due
diligence should be practiced in choosing the right press release distribution
service for your company.
Newswire services are known for being one of the oldest online marketing
services in the business today.
History of press releases has been recorded since the 1950s and 70s when
companies like Newswire and Business Wire came up with new ways to distribute
press releases to media outlets during that time.
Fast forward to the present day, the wire service industry has been overlapping
with other PR solutions which include media contact databases, analytics,
software, and content publishing services.
When we compare newswire services to other areas of marketing tech that has
impacted the digital revolution, news wire services have experienced both a
boom and bust.
Newswires have been affected by dramatic shifts in media organization, trends,
and function of the press release in business today.
The value of press release distribution is not guaranteed. The question always
is, why would any company pay $150 per release to have their news distributed
to networks that may never care to read them?
This will depend on your business, release topic, and your PR goals, of course,
newswire services may or may not be effective especially if you choose the
wrong service company.
As you consider marketing strategies, we share the current state of PR wire
platforms so you can make a decision based on the right information.The
Different Kinds Of Press Release Providers
The past few years have seen a great consolidation and reorganization in the PR
industry.
In 2014, we witnessed the largest consolidation yet when Cision and Vocus who
are known giants in the PR software industry merged.
They were rebranded as Cision, then they bought Viralheat and Visible
Technologies, as well as two social media platforms and a PR analytics firm.
Cision later divested its UK based functions to answer anti-competition issues.
Today, Cision manages its own newswire, analytics, and social platforms along
with standalone providers which include PRWeb, Gorkana, HARO (Help a Reporter
Out) and just added Bulletin Intelligence.
This shakeup will help businesses evaluate PR software solutions among the
current providers.
According to G2Crowd, eight PR distribution services form the top dogs of the
industry:
– Cision
– PR Newswire
– Business Wire
– Newswire
– Marketwired
– PRgloo
– PR Underground
– PRWeb
This group represents news wires with different origins. The old and
new are represented in this list.
Worth noting is the non-inclusion of TrendKite which is a platform that focuses
on monitoring and analyzing the results of your PR.
Also not included is software like PitchEngine which hosts news content rather
than distributing releases.
A G2 Grid analysis, four of these are “leaders” in the industry:
Newswire, Business Wire, Marketwired and Cision.
Most PR experts would likely agree that with Business Wire and Marketwired
longtime leadership in service distribution, Newswires excellence in customer
service, and Cision’s integrated solution, makes these four platforms the best
in their class.
Newswire has made their mark in the PR distribution service niche with their
second to none dedication to customer service.
They have one of the highest scores of satisfaction on the G2 survey for their
knowledgeable staff, hands-on approach and detailed live tutorials.
Apart from their robust client services, users remark that their platform is
easy to navigate and on the lower end cost wise.
They also offer added features, customizable options, premium press packages,
newsroom and a platform to connect social media.
It would be a wise decision to consider buying from one of the top providers in
the industry. This will give you fewer headaches and a higher chance to get
good ROI on your press release marketing campaign.
Chris Mcdonald has been the lead news writer at complete connection. His passion for helping people in all aspects of online marketing flows through in the expert industry coverage he provides. Chris is also an author of tech blog Area19delegate. He likes spending his time with family, studying martial arts and plucking fat bass guitar strings.
