Press release distribution

Splodge

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Hi everyone!

I'm sorry if this has been asked before but I couldn't find anything when I tried to search through here and I've asked Google...

I've just started my own writing business and am starting with the copywriting side, because that's my background. However I'm a bit of a newb when it comes to press releases. In my old life we had a grumpy press team who were very precious about their jobs. So I have experience in writing releases but not distributing them.
As I'm just starting I also don't have any contacts.

I've been asked by a client to write and distribute a press release for a very interesting new product. He wants it to go to magazines and newspapers, and I don't want to use any of these eletronic sending distribution services (mainly because of the cost and I don't know if they work?).

I've already told him I can't guarantee publications publishing the release, but I really want to do a good job.
I'm going to be researching appropriate publications, and I thought I would contact the editor (or whoever should be contacted, depending on the publication) first to introduce myself and ask about sending over the release. Then try my best to write the most engaging, interesting release I can to catch their attention!
Obviously I've quoted my time for all of this research and contacting so I will be paid for it.

I would love to get some feedback from other freelance writers, if anyone has any experience in this. Is this the right way to go about this or should I try something else?

Thanks!
Splodge - who is having a wobble
 

WriterBN

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When I used to write and submit press releases (not freelance, but during one of my corporate employment stints) I found that editors/PR people who knew me picked up the release, while others didn't.

This was in a specialized market, and not for the general public, so your experience may be different. Either way, it doesn't hurt to build a network of press contacts.
 

Wilde_at_heart

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I once worked at a company that distributes press releases, and like everything else, your mileage may vary regardless. It depends on the subject matter and any competing news at the time.
However, the larger, more legit ones (that specify wire distribution) definitely do work.

If you're going to do it 'manually', don't contact the editor first. Send it to the right department (such as business, or arts & entertainment or sports or what have you - it'll vary from outlet to outlet) or a specific journalist if there isn't a general address to send press releases to. Send it late morning or early afternoon and the next day, follow up with either an email or by phone.
 

Splodge

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Thank you for the replies! Sounds like I might be right in worrying about getting no coverage. Feels like a bit of a catch 22, how to build that network unless you have something to send them.

Thanks Wilde_at_heart, I'll try that way. It's an industry I want to be a part of so I hopefully be able to build relationships for the future. I just really want to do a good job for this client :)
 

Jenkki

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I have worked in both consumer journalism and public relations for many a year.

Writing a press release is easy. They are relatively formulaic and somewhat anachronistic but a catchy title, good lead and a snappy quote can help somewhat.

The real challenge is getting anyone to look at a press release, let alone write about it. Those pay to play electronic newswire services are basically worthless. Editors often delete them immediately and flag them as spam. I know I did. When you get hundreds of emails a day you delete the majority of them with barely a glance at the sender or subject line.

I don't know what kind of product you are making a pitch for and that is going to affect the strategy quite a lot, but effective PR people have a large contact database of media people but more importantly relationships with those journalists, people they've met face to face over the years at industry events, media events, press conferences. Those relationships are their most valuable asset. PR people usually but not always specialize in a particular industry, so they develop and cultivate media contacts in that industry over a period of time. So when a new business wants to pitch a product and they are not large enough to have in-house PR person of their own they should partner up with an experienced PR firm in their field to pitch them.

In short, public relations is not really something that can be done as an afterthought as part of a copywriting gig. This isn't meant to sound discouraging, you have to start somewhere and there is no reason you can't learn PR on your own, but it sounds like your client may not have realistic expectations. It's good you told him you can't guarantee publication because you can't.

You are on the right track about researching the publications and collecting editors' email addresses where you can though most will be hidden behind some web form or generic contact address that an intern might look at once a week... However don't ignore smaller blogs, indie publications, websites, etc. Sometimes you have to start small to start a buzz.

It's probably better not to send a query first, just send the release with a short note like, "Hi Jane, I thought this might be of interest to your readers." You are better off putting the press release text into the body of the email, word doc attachments are often ripped out by spam filters and corporate security firewalls. And put all the names you are emailing to in the BCC field and address the email to yourself, if you are not doing individualized, personalized emails.

Hope that helps!
 

veinglory

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You best bet is to personalize the release and/or cover letter as much as you can afford to (in terms of your time) and just send it. If you can offer special inducements for them getting in touch or give coverage (e.g. review samples) mention it in the cover letter.
 

Kudra

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Press releases are basically a pointless waste of time as Jenkki has helpfully pointed out. They don't work. You know what works? Great stories. E-mail journalists with fantastic stories about the product, the people behind it, the users, etc, and if you can hand them stories that actually get their interest and they'd be excited to feature in their publications, you'll get far more traction than if you're doing straight-up press release distribution.

Good luck!