The question “how to send out a press release” can be answered in five simple steps … or, if you want to save time and avoid doing everything yourself, in just two steps. We’ll talk about both of these press release distribution methods in this short article.
But before we answer the question of “how to send out a press release,” it’s important to understand why businesses should use press releases in the first place.
What Are the Benefits of Sending Out a Press Release?
The benefits of sending out press releases are numerous. For one thing, a business can get its name in front of many people for minimal cost. Press releases are often referred to as “free advertising” and, while saying press releases are “free” is something of a stretch, using this publicity method can be inexpensive.
You can have the release written in-house, and your company can take care of the distribution process, or it can pay a small fee to a third party to distribute the release. Either way, using press releases can be less expensive than running traditional advertising campaigns, which often involve graphic design fees, ad purchase fees, and more.
Press releases can be an inexpensive way to get your company noticed by a target audience, including investors, customers, and others.
This exposure can then boost sales, drive business investment, and help a company build credibility in a marketplace.
So now, let’s look at what is involved when distributing a press release.
What You Really Need to Know About How to Send Out a Press Release
Step 1 – Write Your Press Release
The first step to sending out a press release is to write one.
Keep in mind when writing that a press release should announce significant company news – like a new hire, a milestone accomplished, a new product or program, and another important event.
The release should be easy to read and reveal early on what happened and why it is important news that needs to be shared with others.
Here are some other press release writing tips:
Keep the release brief. Describe the news and its importance but avoid frivolous details that are not essential to the story. You also want the release to have an eye-catching headline and an interesting first paragraph that draws the reader into the rest of the release.
One more thing, include quotes from a company official in your press release to add insight into the reported news. Also, don’t forget to add a date line, contact information, and a description of the company and what it does.
Step 2 – Create a Media Distribution List for the Press Release
Here you will need to list in a spreadsheet all the different traditional media outlets (newspapers, magazines, television stations, and radio stations) to which you want to send your press release. The list should include the name of the outlet and contact information, especially an email address. To gather names for the list, you’ll need a public relations expert, or another staff member, to conduct extensive market research and identify the news organizations and other interested parties that might be interested in your company news. This can include organizations local to your business and organizations that specialize in covering your marketplace.
You also don’t want to forget to add nontraditional media outlets to your list. These outlets include Facebook groups, Instagram accounts, blogs, business networking organizations, and more. These nontraditional outlets can be very effective at getting company news out due to the power of social media in today’s world.
Step 3 – Create a Submission Email
After you have created a media list of organizations to which you want to send your press release, it’s time to write a “cover email” for the release.
You will attach your press release to this email, stating your name and the company you work for and then briefly describing the news being reported and why that organization would want to cover it.
Try to give them a vital reason to cover the news to increase the chances of your press release being reported. Examples would be to provide an exciting statistic or highlight how your news directly impacts their target audience.
At the end of the email, give contact information and tell the reader to contact you with any questions.
Once you have your email written, send it along with your press release to your media distribution list.
Here are some additional tips when sending your email – the best day to send an email is Thursday and the best time to send one is between 10 am and 2 pm. Also, if you have a time-sensitive release, be sure to consider this and send out your press release early enough that the news organization has time to schedule coverage of an upcoming event. You don’t want to notify them last minute.
Step 4 – Start Promoting Your Press Release
After writing and sending out your press release, your work is not finished.
It would be best if you also started promoting the release on all your social media. For example, if major news organizations cover the release in articles, share the links with your followers so they can check it out.
Even if they don’t, just reading that a prestigious news organization covered you can increase your business’s credibility and standing in the marketplace with them.
Also, don’t forget to publish your press release on your website, and you may also want to write blog articles about it to gain even more exposure.
Step 5 – Track the Performance of Your Press Release
Another critical thing to do after writing and distributing a press release is to monitor its performance. You can do this by keeping track of what organizations covered the story.
In addition, you could also check on article views on the news sites. Finally, you may also want to monitor traffic and sales on your website to see if either or both receive a bump when the press release is out.
Granted, doing manual tracking on your own can be very difficult. It’s very tedious, time-consuming work, and the truth is there may be no way to know for sure if a bump in traffic or sales came from your release.
That’s another reason you may want to skip this five-step approach and go straight to a faster and easier two-step one.
How to Send Out a Press Release in Two Steps
Step 1 – Write Your Press Release
Step 2 – Send the Press Release to a Distribution Service
If you are looking to simplify the press release distribution process and save time and money, there is no better way to do that than using a press release distribution service.
Top services like PressReach, Ereleases, PRNewswire make it very easy to get your release in front of the people you most want to read it.
You won’t have to create a media list and worry about leaving out valuable organizations. You also won’t have to have staff members spend hours and hours trying to get news outlets’ contact information.
Plus, you won’t have to leave investors and other important target audience members reading your press release up to chance.
Distribution services, like PressReach, are capable of getting your release in front of investors specifically interested in your market.
You’ll dramatically increase the effectiveness of your press releases, and you’ll also gain access to state-of-the-art tracking tools that allow you to see exactly how a press release performed.
PressReach and other distribution services offer several handy, easy-to-use tools that allow you to see such things as:
- How readers are engaging with your content
- How the content is doing compared to others in your market
- What the trending topics are on the web (which can aid in writing new releases)
- And much more
If you are interested in learning more about PressReach, or want to use it to distribute your next press release, click here.
Featured Image: Megapixl @ Adiruch
