Press Release Distribution

Why the big deal over writing and sending out press releases? Because they're an inexpensive way to get the message out in the most credible way possible: as editorial, not advertising, content. Consider the advantages they give you:

Press Releases Get Trade Publications or General Media to Provide Positive Coverage Free

It's a little bit scary, but for decades now studies have consistently shown that over 50% of news stores come straight from public relations people (Crikey in conjunction with the Australian Center for Independent Journalism explored this most recently at http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/03/15/over-half-your-news-is-spin/). James Fallows of the Atlantic wrote about this subject in his stunning "Breaking the News" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Fallows) way back in 1996.

The good news is that, despite what you hear about the independent press, reporters and bloggers often place more credibility than you might expect on properly written, consistently posted press releases. The best ones think of the information presented there as a starting point, but many smaller publications simply don't have the time or the resources to check out every fact that comes their way, and will simply post the press release as you wrote it, possibly under their own name. (Don't complain! Your goal is to spread the word!)

Press Releases Can Drive Targeted Customers to Your Site

Press releases can deliver laserlike focus in driving targeted customers to your site, or those of your partners. Imagine you love guitars and you're making a buying decision. Guitars cost hundreds of dollars, so you're doing some serious research. Your favorite company has just issued a press release yesterday announcing an update to the one you're thinking about buying, and it shows up in your web search (search engines like fresh content and tend to place it higher in the results).

Do you A) ignore the press release because, after all, you want only unbiased information from a trained journalist or trusted blogger, or B) Read the press release because it's the first you've heard about the new guitar and because you can trust the press release for at least some information, like what features were added or what musicians are playing it?

Obviously you will make the press release part of your research. It is influencing your buying decision, and it will influence the buying decisions of many other people who encounter it too. When that audience clicks over to the site of a merchant selling the guitar, they are about as qualified a source of leads as that merchant can hope for.

Use Press Releases to Brand Your Company or Product

Think of one of your favorite consumer products or organizations. Enter that search term along with the phrase "for immediate release" (include the quote marks. For example, if you're a Photoshop user, enter this into the search engine:

photoshop "for immediate release"

Chances are great you will see a surprising number of sites that have published related press releases as is. You can also see in the above example that Adobe is not the only source of Photoshop-related press releases.
Spend some time looking at the sites that published press releases. Observe the viral spread from the original source and see how connections appear. Note that:

• Press releases can give your product or service credibility simply by implied association with a larger entity (publishers of books about Photoshop, for example)
• Press releases get searched in a variety of formats, notably when posted as PDF files
• Press releases often get published with little or no change
• Press Releases Get Backlinks and Help People Find You on the Web (SEO)

Google's famous PageRank algorithm revolutionized the search engine world by asserting that the most important factor in determining where they would place a site in search results was what other sites linked to the page in question.
This led to widespread abuse by site owners who used bots to generate tens of thousands of sites solely to link to their main site and improve search results.

 

Since then Google has refined their (proprietary) algorithm considerably, but they make no secret of their desire to make sure that sites that get ranked highest will be those with incoming connections from "authority" sites. What's an authority site? Well, what consists of an authority in your world? News gatherers are probably high on the list. So too would be sites related directly to the area you're searching in. If you want to learn about whether an expensive new fertilizer is effective, you'll go to gardening blogs and community sites, right?

Now go to the sites you trust and start searching for press releases. You can do this with some search voodoo. Replace example.com with the name of the site you want to search and enter the following into Google:

site:example.com "for immediate release"

Links from another site to yours are called backlinks in the search engine optimization world. Google loves backlinks from relevant sites. They want to do just what your best friend would do if searching for you: ignore low-quality links (like offshore gambling sites linked to from a messageboard about American cars), and emphasize links from the sites likely to match your interest.
Now you know where to find sites likely to publish your press releases. They aren't just news sites or trade publications, though you want your releases to go there too, of course.

Using Press Releases for Branding Yourself: Developing a Reputation as an Expert in Your Industry

Trade publications and news outlets love experts. If they get regular press releases from your company and need to quote an expert in your field, they will often take the path of least resistance and call you if your press release happens to have caught their attention.

If they've seen one every month, they may or may not consciously associate you with expertise in your field, regardless of how smart you really are. Disturbing for lovers of the free press, great for anyone who wants to become known as an authority.
Sending out monthly press releases can cost anywhere from nothing (besides time expended) to a few thousand dollars, but in all cases regularly issuing properly prepared and targeted press releases can do wonders in making your presence known to influencers in your field.