[Rodney]

would have thought that this thread would make a good addition to the marketing section, but it's kind of hard to discuss PRs and give and example of what has (or hasn't - I'll let you know) worked, without posting what is technically a 'self promotional URL'. Perhaps it can be moved back to marketing with the link to my original PR removed?

I thought it would be good in the marketing area as well, but with your URL posted and the feedback you asked for, it could only go in the Site Reviews - Design Reviews section.

I'd be happy to move it back to the marketing section if you don't mind your URL being removed.

Out of interest, why has this thread been move to 'site reviews'?

Any time you have a question about a thead move or edit, feel free to send me a PM

 

[Major_Grooves]

Well, the Press Release went out during the week. It was slightly modified version of the 'joke' one.

So first off, I spent $40 one it, which gives it a greater distribution and allows you to have web links (but not html work links) to you site (ie anything www. is a link).

I received an email telling me my PR had been reviewed and got an editorial score of 4/5. Read around on Google and this is not uncommon.

For this upgrade I got an extra $40 worth of exposure, which put my PR on Google news and Yahoo news etc.

PRWeb give you statistics on how many times your PR has supposedly been accessed.

Reads 46,056 This number tells you how many times your press release was accessed from our site and other distribution points where we have the ability to measure a click through. This number does not include the number of journalists who have received your release through email. In addition there are online distribution points that we currently have no ability to track. Estimated Pickup 468 This number estimates the number of times your press release was picked up by a media outlet. This does not tell you how many times your story appears in the media. It simply attempts to estimate media interest of your release. Prints 3

This is the number of times that someone has printed your press release. We measure this by the number of times that the "printer friendly version" link is pressed. In reality, only a small percentage of users actually click this link before printing a release. Forwards 0 This is the number of times that someone has forwarded your press release to a third party using the link on your press release. PDF Downloads 34 The number of times your release was downloaded as a PDF document. PDF Downloads may be reflected in "Reads" and "Estimated Pickup" statistics.
Sorry I just pasted that in and now it looks a bit of a mess. Hope you can read it. So my PR was read 46,000 times? I doubt it but it looks impressive.

So did I get many more visitors to the site? Well, it's not hard to create a visitor spike to a new site. I think 30-40 people visited the site through the PR. Not very impressive, I'm sure you'll agree.

I got one email from a Chicago based magazine. I think they just wanted to sell me advertsing, but they haven't got back to me again yet.

I'm hoping that the real value will be in getting my url out there a bit and getting more sites linking to mine. However, most of the links seem to be RSS feeds, so I don't think they stick around for long or are particuarly valuable.

So was it worth it? Probably not, but it was quite cool to have my PR on Yahoo News!

If you Google around about PRWeb there are various people sugesting tactics for successful campaigns. One of the suggestionse seems to be to submit 2-3 PRs a week for several weeks, and include links to all the PRs in each successive one. That way the oldest one will have loads of links to it and will send many more people to your site than the newst one. Or something like that...

 

[suzieh]

Just some quickie advice from a former public relations/marketing person...
make sure your press release is well written.

Simple, interesting, catchy...especially the headline.
I used to use "sub headlines" all the time.

Also, write one thought for one paragraph.

I would avoid "academic" style writing which to me is wordy and stiff.
Lots of sentences. Someone skimming releases will just stop reading
in my opinion.

So read your release OUT LOUD...
I still do this with other stuff I write.

Have something newsworthy to say or announce.

Keep it short and sweet.

In the old days (yes, I'm of the typewriter generation)
it was no more than two pages.

Answer who, what , when, where and how and possibly why?

Include all of your contact information and your date/location.

I have not kept up with distribution channels,
but you might want to send hard copy to certain editors.
I would personally send a press kit if you could afford to do so.

Better yet, include a free sample!

Don't know if this is still done...
but in the old days we would just pick up the phone to follow-up.
It'll depend on the publication.

If you start with a local one weekly, for example, by all means pick up the telephone.

Have someone proofread your release.

 

[bjmason32]

We said suzieh - don't ignore the traditional methods. You're much more likely to get your press release written up in a local paper / magazine than through a national press release. People want to hear about business owners / companies in their own neighborhoods. Not to mention, editors must sift through hundreds of electronic releases these days.

Sending a press kit will make your story / company stand out.

 

[ajo]

Thanks you. The information you provided was very helpful

 

[Hinal]

Hi guys:

All this information was very informative. I had a few questions..

1. I want to start sending out PR's regularly. Anyone know a good time-gap between sending them (ie, every week/month/etc) ?

2. Is there an "ideal time" to send out PR's like.. on Monday mornings? Or is timing not a factor?

Thanks!!!

- H

 

[Solmu]

1. I want to start sending out PR's regularly. Anyone know a good time-gap between sending them (ie, every week/month/etc) ?

That I don't know. I'm inclined to think it's a bad idea unless you have something newsworthy; if you send out frequent meaningless press releases and people notice, they will ignore you and not write about you in future.

2. Is there an "ideal time" to send out PR's like.. on Monday mornings? Or is timing not a factor?

I spoke to a PR person about this last year: she said timing is definitely a factor. It largely depends on the schedule of the publication in question. They have strict deadline cycles, so timing things early in a cycle is important so you catch the writers before they're panicking about deadlines.

In general the key to a good press release is knowing the target. Write it with appropriate language, find the most receptive person to send it to, and send it to them in the way they'd want at the time they'd want.

Get a media almanack (your library might have one); it will give you all the contact information (including names of editors etc.), along with deadlines, publishing frequency, etc.