Over 80% of digital marketers are using press releases as part of their marketing campaign strategies, but many struggle with where to send a press release. By creating and distributing a press release, you can reach a vast number of online platforms where prospective clients can be found. Furthermore, you can boost brand visibility, generate leads and demonstrate your business values.
While knowing how to write a press release is great, it’s just as important to know where to send it. After all, you need to identify where your target audience spends a lot of time and then pitch your press release announcement to these platforms.
Here are some tips to help you identify the best place to send your press releases from here on out:
1) Generate a list of potential media outlets
There are countless media outlets to which you can distribute your press releases. However, that doesn’t mean you should target all of them. In fact, you only need a handful of media outlets. The most crucial point is that the media outlets you choose must have access to your prospective audiences. This is why it’s very important to understand your target audience before you even start building your media list.
In order to identify your target audience, you need to study these customer characteristics from a broad perspective:
- Marital status
- Household income
- Hobbies
- Location
- Interests
- Pain points
- Languages
- Gender
- Education
- Age
- Buying behavior
Once you’ve used this information to develop a buyer persona, you can segregate your prospects into different groups. Thereafter, you can decide which media outlet is the best fit for each group. Through segmentation, you’ll be able to more effectively target prospective clients. Using these groups, you can build a media list with contacts of journalists to target.
It’s also important to consider the available publications in your industry. You can start by developing a list that includes:
- Digital media outlets
- Traditional media outlets e.g. newspapers, TV, radio
- Social media influencers e.g. on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook
For organization, you can use a spreadsheet when creating your contact list. The spreadsheet should have space for contact information, press contact, and the name of the outlet. You can investigate the target audience of these media outlets to make sure that it aligns with the audience you’re targeting.
To save on time and avoid getting frustrated with this, you can simply hire professionals.
Pressfarm has a media database of over 1 million journalists, bloggers, and influencers across niches and industries. Sign up today and find the right media professionals to cover your brand.
If building media lists isn’t your thing, Pressfarm can also create custom media lists for your brand, thus helping you to connect with the best journalists in your niche. In addition to helping you to reach the right media professionals to tell your story, Pressfarm can also create quality content that appeals to these journalists.
With a professional press release, some winning guest posts, and an eye-catching media kit, you can make a splash in your industry. By distributing this content to the right media outlets and startup directories, Pressfarm can help your brand to rank in relevant search results across different search engines.
With one of Pressfarm’s PR packages, you can reach a wider audience and win people over to your brand.
2) Evaluate their guidelines
After compiling your media list, you should narrow it down to a few options that you will target. As you do that, consider the submission guidelines of each outlet and note them down. This step will help you when you’re distributing your content to several platforms at once. Most media outlets highlight their submission guidelines on their site. You can check that out on the “Contact Us” Page.
Make sure you read the guidelines carefully because minor mistakes can cost you the opportunity to get published. Moreover, it’s in the submission guidelines that you’ll discover if the media outlets can cover your topic. When it’s time to send your press release, some outlets prefer that you use dedicated email addresses for this. However, some have portals on their site you can use for submission. Make sure you know what’s expected of you before submitting your release because one mistake could land your press release in a journalist’s trash folder.
3) Draft a submission email
The next step is to write a press release email that will stand out in the recipient’s inbox and encourage the said recipient to open it. In order to make sure this happens, you need to engage the recipient right from the subject line.
Keep in mind that about 60% of emails engage the audience and hook them for more than 8 seconds. Around 23% of the emails we send are skimmed through, and 15% of them hold the reader’s attention for a maximum of 2 seconds. When a reader clicks and opens your email, you’ve got about 13.4 seconds at most to impress them. If you can’t do this, they will toss your email into the recycle bin.
At this stage, you can share your release with target outlets. When you’re drafting your email, make sure it includes the following elements:
- Subject line
- Custom greeting
- Powerful and engaging intro
- Email body
- Closing
Choose a relevant and attention-grabbing subject line to make sure the journalist clicks and opens your email. Make sure you keep the email short, interesting, and precise.
4) Follow up
After a few days, you can check for feedback from the media outlet. If there’s no response after three days, then you can begin to follow up. In your follow-up email, you can remind the recipient about your email. If there’s no response after the follow-up, don’t reach out over and over again. You can only follow up a maximum of two times before it turns into nagging. Prolonged silence is a sign that your email didn’t impress the recipient. Rather than spamming someone who clearly isn’t interested – and risking being blacklisted in the process – turn your attention to the other recipients on your list.
5) Sign up for distribution services
Distribution services help in targeting multiple media outlets with just one press release. They will help you target social media channels, influencers, blogs, news outlets, reporters, and journalists in your industry. When you hire their services, you can conserve time and let the experts worry about putting your press release in front of the right eyes. For instance, the Pressfarm team takes time to identify the media outlets that would be most interested in your news and distributes your press release to these networks. They will also take care of any follow-ups that need to be done.
6) Share your press release
Distributing your release to media services doesn’t mark the end of your journey. On the contrary, it’s just the beginning. Now that you’ve distributed it to various media outlets, you can improve your reach by sharing the release on your owned business platforms. For starters, you can publish it on your websites. Thereafter, you should post it on your social media accounts among other channels.
Additionally, you can optimize the release to improve its visibility online. Even so, as you share the press release on your accounts and sites, avoid using it as it is. This copy-paste approach can affect your SEO rank because your press release will be marked as duplicate content. Instead, use a link to the release to share it on various platforms where your business has an active profile.
7) Spend time on performance tracking
Do not rely on a blind campaign strategy in the hopes that your efforts will be successful. You can simply track your progress and discover whether your release is making an impact or not. Gathering these insights is useful. This information will be especially effective when you’re making decisions in the future.
For instance, you may choose to try different distribution outlets, depending on your previous experience. You’ll also know which distribution service has a more positive impact on your business. This step will also give you an idea of where your strategies were failing and help you re-evaluate them.
Time to choose where to send your press release
Figuring out where to send a press release gives you an opportunity to expand your online reach. It’s a chance to improve your visibility and uplift your business. You can leverage this guide to send your press release to relevant places where your potential clients can be found. Start today, submit your release and watch your business grow. In case you need assistance with media reach, contact the Pressfarm team. We will be happy to leverage our network to ensure your press release lands in front of the right people when it matters most.