Press releases are a marketing tool that can be used by both small and big-scale businesses and entrepreneurs to build a prominent name for their brand in the market. They can help you spread brand awareness all over the world and reach the target audience within a very short time. Distribution of your press release to the right media outlets is very important otherwise the right group of the audience will not be able to see your story. So, the distribution of PR is as important as its creation. Here is the best guide to distributing your PR to the most relevant news and media outlets:
Press Release Writing
Before you learn about press release distribution, you must be aware of the significance of PR writing for successful brand promotion. The quality of your PR matters as you want to impress your target audience with all the information about your products and services. If the journalists do not like what you have written, it does not avail them with all the details that are relevant to their readers, they will simply reject it. So, businesses and start-ups need to give priority to the writing of the press release as well.
Writing a journalistic press release requires the writer to know about the international format and structure of press releases. Most business owners and organizers do not possess the knowledge of writing a press release in the proper format. That leads to rejection from media outlets and bloggers. You should take the assistance of professional PR writers who are able to provide you with the best-quality content that will perform excellently among the journalists and target audiences. They are well-versed with the market needs and trends that enable them to craft the most effective press releases. With a proper press release site, your story will be spread across the world creating massive hype for your brand.
What is Press Release Distribution?
After you have obtained a journalistic and quality press release, you need to distribute it effectively. But to achieve that first, you must understand what PR distribution is. Press releases need to reach a massive group of target audiences to spread awareness about your brand. Press releases are regarded as news. So, they are published in media and news outlets. To reach the maximum number of customers, investors, and industry leaders, you need to distribute your story to a substantial number of media houses that are frequently visited by the target audience.
Press release distribution is a tough job if you are serious about using the press release as your primary marketing tool. A PR offers information about your products or services to the target audience through media outlets. You can make an announcement about your company or brand by publishing a PR about it. Many events happen within an organization all around the year. You need to identify the ones that are relevant to the customers and investors and set a good image for your company in the market for your PR.
Why is Press Release Distribution Important?
There are various purposes for distributing a press release apart from obtaining coverage from the top media publications. If you publish the press release only on your website and social media platform most of your consumers will not even know about it. And you will not be able to gain the countless benefits that a press release offers. Here are some of the reasons why you must distribute your press release:
1. Boosts SEO
Press releases are published online these days. So, they are used to increase the SEO of your brand. More than three billion searches are made on Google every day. Press releases are used to boost the search ranking when your target audience searches for anything related to your brand. Press releases are written with keywords embedded in them to improve the SERPs ranking of your brand and website. Proper press release distribution aids your SEO efforts by establishing a great online authority for your brand. The more your brand name appears online your brand becomes more trustworthy in the eyes of the readers.
2. Drives Traffic to Your Online and Offline Store
Press release distribution can make more people aware of your products and services. When you distribute your PR to an ample number of media outlets, more people will know about your brand. They will be more inclined to visit your online and offline store when they learn about them from their trusted media houses. Press releases also provide direct links to the website of your company. That way the readers will be easily directed to your business website boosting traffic.
3. Generates Better Sales
When you are launching a new product or want to inform your potential customers about your products or services, increasing sales is always your main objective. Press release distribution can help increase your sales significantly by keeping you ahead of your competitors. Press releases create huge hype for a certain product, service, or upcoming discount among the target audiences. You must distribute the PR at least a month before the sale or launch of the new item. That way, you will have a wide group audience informed and ready to purchase your products when the time is right.
4. Establishes A Better Brand Image
It is essential for brands to create a good image in the market to build trust among the customers. Press release distribution not only helps companies create a good image for their brands but maintain it as well. You can use a PR to restore your reputation as well.
How to Distribute Your Press Release?
Press release distribution is a task that needs to be taken seriously if you want positive results. Here is the step-by-step guide on a successful PR distribution:
1. Find The Right Media Outlets
There are thousands of influential media outlets around the world but not all of them are right for your story. You have to figure out which ones specialize in covering news and PRs from your industry. Research your target audience; find out which media outlets they follow the most. Observe your competitors know which news outlets where they distribute their PRs. This will give you a clear idea of which media houses to target. Make a list of the best outlets before you go any further.
2. Find A Way to Contact The Journalists
After you have chosen the media outlets for your PR distribution, you need to make a list of journalists working there. You cannot send your PR directly to the media outlets. You have to send it to journalists and they will decide whether it can be published. So, find out their contact information through Google or the official website of the media outlets and approach them with your story.
3. Create A Pitch
Sending an email with just the press release is not going to grab the attention of the journalists. You have to write a short pitch that will tell them why they should choose your story over others. You should tell them in brief what your PR is about in the pitch. Explain how your story will be a perfect match to the type of content they publish and relevant to the readers as well.
4. Do A Follow-Up
Journalists get hundreds of PRs every day. So, it is natural that they might have missed your PR or forgotten to respond to your email. You must do a follow-up reminding of about the mail you have previously sent. Bust first give them a week or so to go through the mail and write you back. Only do a follow-up when you have not received any response after a week or more. Only contact them on workdays and not on weekends or holidays.
Should You Use Distribution Services?
Press release distribution is extremely time-consuming work. Most business owners cannot spare time to do all that work. The best way to make sure your press release gets published in major media outlets is to employ professional PR distributors with a wide network. There are various PR services available in the market. You must do proper research to find the ideal one for you.
A good PR service will have wide syndication of media outlets and distribute to hundreds of major media outlets.
Your ideal PR service will identify the right media outlets for your brand and guarantee publication on them.
It will create a personalized PR campaign for your brand and story to help you obtain all the benefits of PR distribution.
It will also offer a quality press release writing service along with its effective PR distribution service.
It will offer various PR packages for you to choose from as per your needs and budget.
Building a good relationship with the media is extremely vital for your PR to hit success. A reliable PR agency will help you become credible to not only the journalists but the target customers and investors as well.