I want to ask about good practices of sending out press releases.
First, the format has to be good and readable. As mentioned in another post, google “press release format” for good press release templates. How about some press-addresses of well-known mac news sites? I thought I’d start by posting some. —-
press@macnn.com *pr@macobserver.com *news@macminute.com *releases@tidbits.com *reviews@macworld.com *pr2003@macintouch.com —- *Now to the questions:
What if no sites bring your news? Mail the press release the next day again? Or just accept it and get no media attention at all?
Well, if you send a Press Release to an Editor, they read it, they don’t carry it, and you send them another copy, imagine what they will do the next time you send a Release to them?
Unread it will be. Or worse (especially if you keep it up) they start talking about you “behind your back” as it were, and all of a sudden you get bad press. So, just get over it, and don’t pester anybody.
Now, if NONE of them report your news (which would be unique – if you made good coverage, there are some places that report everything that’s sent to them) then I would have someone else (preferably a person with some marketing experience) to look at what you’re sending. And don’t forget the basics such as spelling and grammar.
When I was working as an editor, anything that exhibited lack of these basics got tossed in the trash no matter what the news was. And realize that some places (OK, most) reprint the release verbatim (or edit by cutting whole paragraphs) so conciseness and terse, expressive language are vital if you don’t want to sound like a schlumf.
If you are new to writing press releases, take your time to learn and discover what is expected from you - before posting. Your press release is likely to be the main way news of your efforts reaches a larger audience.
The following page includes some good suggestions: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/marketing/TipsJulyAugust02.php
You may find services such as Ray Barber’s prMac useful: http://www.prmac.com/
My personal experience in writing press releases is archived on DssW’s web site at: http://www.dssw.co.uk/press/index.html
With each DssW press release we tweak the style and format a little but always within the guidelines set out by common press release practice. That experience lets us discover what works and what does not. A good measure of success is how heavily your press release is edited before being published by the news sites.
You will find writing a good press release takes time. Those two to five hundred words should be crafted and considered. Anything less and you are denting your product’s presentation.
Take the opportunity to browse the press releases of companies you like and respect. As an example look at Apple or Microsoft’s press relations:
*http://www.apple.com/pr/ *http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/
With regard to paying for press release distribution, I recommend against paying. In the past I have paid for distribution with prWeb and the like but never been satisfied with the outcome. DssW’s internal press list is far more targeted and gets our press releases to the right people.
Building a good press release list takes time. Initially the time is spend visiting the news sites looking for each site’s masthead and extracting the appropriate contact details. Dull but not difficult.
The following press release distribution services all offer free packages. Their value is questionable but if you want a page containing your press release published, these can ensure it.
*http://www.prlog.org/ *http://www.sanepr.com/ *http://www.pressbox.co.uk/ *http://www.prleap.com/ *http://openpr.com/
Hope this helps.
Thanks, Graham, that helped. Especially prMac.
Just go there and register, it offers a free distribution option and it’s awesome, helped me and others as well.
It is best if you write your press releases in plain text; this way editors do not have to reformat your text when they copy it. Provide a link to press material, that’s what I did, provide a contact name and email, maybe even address.
Take care, everybody!