"Today You Can Use An Effective Press Release As A Potent Marketing Tool And Strategy To Get The Information You Want To Your Audience."
Press Release – The Ultimate guide to writing, publishing and distributing your Press Release
The What, When, Where, Which and How of Press Releases – Everything you need to know from starting to think about when to create and write your Press Release to publishing it, distributing it and leveraging it for further media visibility for you and your organization.
This Press Release guide is NewsVoirs most popular piece of content and is based on our Founder, Anurag Mittals twenty plus years experience of Public Relations, Creating, Distributing and Reviewing Press Releases for companies small and large across many sectors.
Each section is purely actionable to help you prepare and optimize the Press Release process.
Are you looking for guidance on a specific part of the Press Release process?
Select any of the sections below to scroll to that part of the Press Release – Guide
What is a Press Release
The technical definition of a Press Release is
“A press release is a written statement about a matter of public interest which is given to the press by an organization concerned with the matter.”
Press Release Definition And Meaning | Collins English .., https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/press-release (accessed June 18, 2018)
When you look at Wikipedia, you get a bit closer to the modern usage of a Press Release
“A press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy.”
Press Release – Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_release (accessed June 18, 2018).
However, a Press Release is so much more than that. It is used as a tool to generate visibility and build a connection with existing and potential customers. It is also a vehicle for creating your online presence, after all, if anyone wants to know anything about your organization the first thing they will do is Google you, and chances are they will find your latest Press Release even before they see your website. By controlling the narrative of your brand you can remain visible and present to your customers needs.
When should you publish a Press Release
The correct timing, what content to release and the appropriate distribution channel of a press release depends on your business and coverage goals.
Each of these aspects feeds into the brainstorming about when to put out a press release.
- Are you looking to get national and local media coverage?
- If so, what audience do you want to target, will it impact a national audience?
- Would you like your Press Release to enhance your search engine optimization?
- Are you launching your company, a product, an event or a new feature?
- Is your focus to attract customers, investors or to inform shareholders?
Here is an infographic which can act as a ready reckoner for you – are you keeping these milestones in mind and then implementing a sound Press Release strategy around them?
This would be a great starting point to identify what are the upcoming milestones for your organisation and start to build your Press Release calendar around them.
When Should You Issue A Press Release? – Newsvoir Blog, https://www.newsvoir.com/blog/issue-press-release/ (accessed June 18, 2018)
Elements of a Press Release
Headline
There are many discussions on what is the most important aspect of your Press Release, from our experience and analysing which Press Release actually gets traction – we can tell you that the Headline is by far the single most critical piece of the puzzle.
You need to look at the Press Release elements as a funnel – If you do not have the volumes at the top you will not get what you need as the outcome of this funnel.
The infographic below explains how the order of priority and how people move through your Press Release.
Maximising the starting point is where the Headline becomes the key to a successful Press Release.
Your Headline is the first impression you make with the reader – this is where they decide whether your message is worth their time.
If your headline is not good, your Press Release won’t be opened.
The headline has 2 different target audiences – The journalists and the reader. It needs to appeal to both for you to get the visibility you want.
If the headline does not appeal to a journalist then it may never get to the intended audience. Reporters and journalists may get potentially 1,000 to 1,500 emails per day. If your headline doesn’t stand out from that crowd then it’s the same as you being the best player in the world but you weren’t allowed to play in the game.
With the headline you need to very quickly get to the point: what’s the story about? Why would I want to publish it? Is the time appropriate? While figuring out the right formula for this may be hard – it also give you great food for thought even before you jump into writing your Press Release and helps you organize and structure your thoughts.
Rick Newman, Columnist, Yahoo Finance says this about relevance of the Release : “Get to the point right away and let me know what it is in the subject line. Look up my last 20 stories (they’re all in one place, on my Yahoo Finance author page) to get a feel for what I cover, and send relevant info. Send them only once. If it’s a bald appeal for publicity without much substance, don’t bother because you do more harm to your reputation than it’s probably worth (unless of course the client is paying enough to justifying trashing your reputation).”
Derek Thompson, Senior Editor, The Atlantic has this to say about improving your Press Release headline :
“I delete most releases after about .5 seconds spent on the subject line. Make the subject line personal, the way you would if you were asking a friend a favor. Not ALL CAPS or Super Formal but casual and knowing. “yo” has worked before to get me to open the email. ‘Hey Derek, wonderful piece’ has worked (flattery often does for journalists!). Other than that, you have to know me and what I write about, not just pitch me a story because it’s about business.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/02/24/what-journalists-really-think-of-your-press-release/2/#8f73afd13b26
Must Read: 7 ELEMENTS OF PRESS RELEASES
Seeking news through social media is commonplace now, writing your headline can be evaluated against a Tweet that you would send out – Brief and to the point and has all the emphasis on the message being shared. Would you share your headline with your friends and relatives? If no then it would be safe to assume that even the journalist or reader would not be interested in it. Getting an honest outsiders perspective on your Headline is crucial. The truth of the matter is that your Headline and Secondary Headline (if you choose to use one) will make or break the success so you probably should spend most of your time refining it if you want to catch your readers attention. . Having a secondary headline is a great way to give more information without taking away from the main headline.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2016/06/13/how-to-write-a-press-release/#490a73a03b93
There are a few tried and true ingredients to make your headline a success. A pinch of each of these tips will go a long way to getting your headline (and release) noticed :
Make it Short and Direct
Long headlines get truncated in many readers and search engines. Plus, readers and search engines aren't the only ones who get bored with long titles. An engaging headline that hooks readers provides an immediate scope of the release's content.
Make it Twitter Friendly
This concept falls in line with keeping it short. However, your social media audience is ever more conscious and appreciative of tight wording. When you create your headline, make sure it will be easy to promote on social media.
Make it High Impact
Using passive voice can be... well.... kind of... weak. You get the idea. The truth is: Using passive voice weakens your message (That's better, right?). Active voice writing is much more powerful and makes you sound like a leader.
Here are a few more steps you need to look at for your headline
– To the point and sharp message – Press releases go to journalists and reporters who are busy; even the average target audience has so much marketing coming their way that they spend very little time on anything not directly concerning them. So make sure the Headline really speaks to them
– Revise your Headline multiple times – Every day, thousands of press releases get distributed. The real problem is that not a lot of people read them. Yet, one minor change can make a huge impact. That change is creating an interesting headline that people idetify with and want to read.
– Attention Grabbing – Only 20% of the people who actually stop and read your headline – proceed to read the actual Press Release, this is assuming your headline was able to captivate their interest. This tells you the fact that an attention-grabbing headline is necessary.
– Short and Relevant – Not only do your readers lose interest if your Headline is too long it also impacts the way electronic readers, serach engines and email providers display your message. The longer your headline the more chances of it getting truncated and having a limited impact due to the message not being clear. Do a check – Will your audience know exactly what they are going to read once they read your headline?
– Use font, formatting differentiation – Keep your headline in either bold or a different font from your main body of the press release so it can stand out and is easy for users to scan through. Depending on the platform you are using it may or may not be within your control but use this technique wherever possible – specially on your own social media channels. Always keep it at the Top of the Release layout. If it is separates from the body it is easier for the user to identify it and read through it without getting to concerned about the rest of the text. Typically if a bunch of text is clumped together the eyes tend to glaze over it and no reading actually happens.
– Social Media friendliness – Like we mentioned earlier – is your headline Twitter friendly? Sort of similar to keeping it short but definitely check that none of your characters will get truncated and also know that you will need space for hashtags etc. when you share this headline. Promotion on social media can lead to instant virality if done right and the kind of visibility you get for news can really skyrocket. It also enables others to pick up your headline and a comment or an opinion – giving it more fuel to drive message to their connections.
– High Impact – Using the right language makes a huge difference. In general your headlines should be more in an active voice than passive voice. Every little bit can give your content the edge when competing with many others. The passive voice can dampen your message and also make it seem to the reader that it is dated news. By using the active voice you are able to make your content sound like you are directly conversing with the reader.
– Statistic and Numbers – It’s very simple the human mind responds to numbers, its able to quantify and relate to them – being direct and using numbers makes for a more interesting and curious read and that’s the reason you need to find the numbers which will work to garner more interest with your audience. Let’s take a simple example : If the Press Release Headline reads “CompanyPQR launches platform to help you reduce your monthly expenses.” – It probably doesn’t make me want to read it, my mind already is starting to assume that it’s probably only going to save me a small amount of dollars and i’m already bored and think it doesn’t apply to me. Now lets look at the next example “CompanyPQR launches platform to help you reduce your monthly expenses by 85%” – Now I’m definitely intrigued – that percentage helps me relate, it encourages me to calculate and think about how much I would save – Engagement with the headline is already happening and I will probably spend some time reading it.
– Now lets look at one more example “Reduce your monthly expenses by 85% and save up to $2,500 using CompanyPQR’s platform”. Using these 2 numbers really gets me thinking – can I really save that much – this sounds awesome.
Now not all Press Release may lend themselves to this kind of headline – but the important part is to really think about your headline and see if you can fit in a similar setup to entice the user to read your Press Release.
Similarly using statistic and demographic data can really give your Press Release a high level of authority, Credibility and once again evoke curiosity from the audience. Words such as many, a large amount, huge, more, most etc. can be very relative to who is reading the headline, what may be big to a certain person may be considerably smaller to another and both of them may walk away from your headline feeling like its not for them. By defining your scale through number or statistic you can truly showcase your news and show the scale of impact of what is being said. So use percentages, dollars, numbers and other statistic to create a high impact headline.
– Use the right “Lingo” – Using the right buzzwords and hashtags specially the ones that maybe trending during the distribution of your Press Release can give you the extra push and make your content read by a lot more people. The keywords which are popular can lead to a high social sharing. Each specific elements will have a popular version and a not so popular version ensure you do your research and pick the one that has the higher trending and virality factor.
– Appeal to the core emotion
Everyone has an emotional side and it’s what we feel when we read something that evokes curiosity and the need to read further. Engagement on a Press Release can only come if your headline can bring about a certain emotional response, the “wow” factor or a certain sense. By understanding and knowing your audience you are able to identify what is important to them. By knowing what is important to them, what interests them you are able to clearly evoke a response.
Using language that helps them visualize the benefit of what you news is about. To paint a picture so to speak is critical. The same thing can be said in a dry way and a very visual way through the choice of your words.
Look to convey a strong and clear message which can either elicit humor, surprise, curiosity or even strong opinions.
For example, XYZ’s New Software Makes Your Money Safer Than Ever Before is better than XYZ Rolls Out New Software to Improve Banking Protocols. The former headline creates personal value and stirs up feelings of confidence and curiosity.
– When to write your headline
While the headline provides the best form of structure and guidance to the content of your Press Release, there is also an immense impact of refining it once your piece is done, which is why the headline should be evolutionary in nature as you go through the process of creating your Press Release. This means starting and ending with the headline.
o Come up with a headline at the start of your brainstorming session, and not just one play around with atleast 5-6 headlines, give them due consideration and thought and based on all that we have talked about evaluate which one works and how it can be made better. Check against all the parameters. Make your headline the last thing you create and you’ll see how to better incorporate your thoughts into one well-honed headline.
o Get feedback early – Ask your coworkers your team and your friends and family to tell you which one appeals to them more and why – Would they want to read it if they did not know you. Do you think they align with the principles and values that your organisation or the content stands for? Does it give them an idea of what they might get to read? Modify, revise and update based on the feedback you receive
– Be honest with yourself – Ask yourself would you want to read it? Would you take out the time to go beyond the headline based on the headline you have presented. Brutal honesty can really help you in the long run towards sharpening your core message and making your Press Release a success.
Focus on the reader not the organisation or the writer of the Press Release, what does your reader want, do they want to know more about the information you are providing, does the headline really appeal to them? It’s easy to make an entire Press Releases content personal, but its not you need to look at it objectively and that is what your readers will do. Keep refining till you have received the appropriate feedback that you need from your readers.
– Look around for inspiration – don’t copy but going through successful Press Releases in your own niche or domain and what made their headlines work is a crucial aspect of the research that you need to do. While there is no fixed formula but if you spend enough time identifying what works you are bound to come up with a Press Release headline that does just that – work like a charm.
– While we cover SEO in detail in this guide – from a headlines perspective ensure that your primary Keyword the one essential to your entire online footprint is definitely represented in the title of your Press Release, while your focus is always the reader – it absolutely serves you to also give the Search Engines exactly what they need to be able to recognize the great work you have done.
– Compare with your competitors – Who would your Press Release headline be competing with – on the day the distribition starts – what is the probability that you’re competitor maybe also messaging something similar, look at the competition and what they have been putting out, does your headline compare, will it be able to compete or would a user rather read the competition’s Press Release.
NewsVoir Tip
Test out several headlines on audiences both in and out of the industry to see what resonates. If there’s any expression of confusion or boredom, take it back to the drawing board to spice it up.
The First Line
Now that the reader has actually picked your Headline from all the competing messages that he was bombarded with – you now have to take him on a journey which rewards his choice. This journey begins with the very first line.
The success of a Press Release is about linking together individual elements seamlessly, if any part of that chain is weak you will have users drop off. In essence this is the second level to your Press Release funnel and the strength and conviction with which your first line is delivered will determine how many readers actually go through to the next phase of the funnel.
Now even with the journalists this line is very important – If your introduction doesn’t tell a reporter what they want to know, they probably won’t read on to the second paragraph. As established they get a plethora of press releases every day. So if you want to make sure your press releases are being read through to the end, ensure that your first sentence really hits the mark.
Your Press Release is a news story – understanding that is very important – it is not a mystery novel with a long build up and then a climactic reveal right at the end. With News the big climax and meaty part of the story comes first and everything else is there to build up the background information and context.
This has a very practical aspect to the Release also – since if a journalist or an editor wants to use your release but has limited space – they can just use your headline and first paragraph and run with the story. Now this happens quite often and if you have left out key details for the end of your Press Release you will lose out.
So in a nutshell Highlight Your News and do so through your first line. You want to communicate why your story is newsworthy in the first line. Do not send the journalist or the reader on a treasure hunt – let them have the prize which in this case is the key news you want to share immediately.
Once your press release demonstrates why your story is newsworthy, you immediately improve the chances of it appearing in the media. Share all the important bits first. The first sentence of your press release should be a summary of your story. Highlight all the key details about this news. Make sure your opening includes the five Ws: who, what, where, when and why.
For example: The CEO of xyz launched a global initiative in Mumbai this Saturday, to increase manufacturing jobs by 50% through an innovative hiring policy.
Put as many of these five Ws as you can in the first sentence, but don’t exceed 25 words.
Direct is the name of the game – clear, precise, direct and everything that needs to be known. Similar to what we mentioned in the headline an active voice always works better than a passive statement, for the news.
With your headline and first line well written, structured and thought out, you have already power packed your press release and increased your chances of getting relevant people to read your news. From the second paragraph onward, you can fill in the core details, the basic background or build up information and relevant quotes. Keep in mind that short sentences are important throughout your press release, not just in the first paragraph.
There are always exceptions to the rule, but if you want your story to appear in the news pages or on news programmes, these are the guidelines you should follow.
NewsVoir Tip
The success of a Press Release is about linking together individual elements seamlessly, if any part of that chain is weak you will have users drop off.
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The first paragraph and body of the Press Release
Now we move further down the funnel – If you have managed to keep your audience engaged and interested in your Press release enough, then they will present you with their time to read through the news that you want to share with them. This is where you have to be direct and straightforward with your reader. You have been giving them information till now, it is now time to back it up with evidence, supporting details and establish the credibility of the information shared. The reader wants to know more, ensure that you give them all that they want to know.
- There is a difference between what you think your audience wants and what they really want to know. A round of testing will help you refine this. You can get feedback on whether a particular piece of information is necessary, complementary or arbitrary. Sometimes we think that a fact is of high relevance whereas based on who the Press Release is structured it may actually be out of place.
- Consolidate on what you have said in your headline and the 1st line, do not add new information which will require its own explanation and might end up taking up most of the words in your Press Release.
- Write your Press Release the way you want it represented in the news. A journalist does not have the time to research and recreate your story so give them something they can pick up do minor edits and send to the presses. Whatever you want them to say, this is where you put it.
- The press release body copy should be compact. Avoid using very long sentences and paragraphs. Avoid repetition and overuse of fancy language and jargon. Strive for simplicity, and no wasted words.
- Decide a theme and specific reason for every paragraph you use, each paragraph should have a specific subject and reason to be in your Press Release. It is always good to have not more than 3 paragraphs in your Press release and typically stick to about 1,000 words.
NewsVoir Tip
With all the DIY tools for graphics and multimedia available today it is barely a half an hour time investment to get a supplementary image or a video relevant to your press release and the benefits are significantly higher.
The multimedia
This is an opportunity many organizations truly miss out on. Research proves that Press Releases with a multimedia add on do better, are more shareable and generally have a wider appeal to the targeted audience. Yet most companies do not take out the time to build a relevant multimedia outreach and add on to their Press Release. Suffice to say, if you aren’t adding visual content to your press releases, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Reporters and Journalists look specifically for multimedia to add more variety to what they share with their audiences. Their focus is to get engagement and add value to their readers and multimedia does just that for them. Most news distribution companies also recommend a multimedia element to your Press Release. At NewsVoir our platform is built specifically to handle a variety of multimedia content, whether it is a simple image, a video or a sound byte. Over the thousands of Press Releases we have distributed it is clear that those with atleast an image definitely receive a much higher circulation than those with only text. The data proves that it works.
The thing is that it isn’t even difficult to do – with all the DIY tools for graphics and multimedia available today it is barely a half an hour time investment to get a supplementary image or a video relevant to your press release and the benefits are significantly higher.
Sign up here to DOWNLOAD 5 industry specific press release templates proven to be effective
Images
This is the basic requirement to make your Press Release attractive, an image which is customized to the Press Release, whether it is an image of the brand and a model it is implementing, a photo of an event that was successful, or even the photograph of the spokesperson or key personnel can really add value and give the reader a visual experience and help them relate to the story. Images are easy to get if there is a requirement for stock photographs, basic background for overlay over personnel or spokesperson photos. Doing this bare minimum activity is of absolute essence if you want your Press release to stand out amongst the crowd. The more the visual appeal the better your Press Release can be viewed.
In the digital world today most platforms or social media sites focus heavily on the visual or imagery around the updates that are put out there, anything that lacks a visual tends to get pushed down through their algorithms and can lead to it never being read.
Infographics
Simplicity, clarity, and good data are the keys to a successful infographic. Start with the question, “What impression do I want the reader to take away from this data?”, and design your infographic around the answer. Every organisation has great industry data that they can share, by adding an infographic on potential impact of the news you are sharing or the trends which influence the key actions your organisation is taking or even a business model representing the changes, you can potentially spread the word about your news purely through the infographic. It makes your news extremely shareable and clear to understand.
Soundbytes
Audio of the spokesperson or the sound of approval from customers related to the news or even podcast interviews or conversations are quite widely circulated and listened to by users. This is the best form of news consumption on the go and users are more than ready to listen to a sound byte to get an understanding of the key message that you want to highlight. Once again with our smart phones always handy there is no cost and small time investment required to get this piece together and share it with your Press Release.
Videos
Video has become very big, almost all marketing activities and customer outreach programs use video in some way or form, it has become essential to capture the imagination of your audience through a visual and auditory appeal. By simply capturing the spokesperson speaking and saying the quote you are able to add a video element to your Press release and this is a minimal to no cost option that can be easily utilised.
From a 15-second shot on Instagram to professionally shot commercials, there’s a reason viral marketers love video – it’s arguably the world’s most effective storytelling medium, eliciting powerful emotions and memorable narratives in just a few seconds. Videos add a human, relatable component to your press releases that’s difficult to capture with text alone. They’re also great for explaining ideas that would be complicated to write out, such as a new software release.
All that being said if your Press Release is lacking the multimedia element then you are definitely losing out on a mammoth opportunity to cut through the saturation and get your news to the right audience.
Your Press Release and SEO
Keywords are the order of the day, focussing on keywords is the basis to SEO. What needs to kept in mind while creating your Press Release specially from an SEO standpoint is whether you are using the right keywords effectively – are they part of your headline and suitable represented in the body, have you made the right decisions with regards to the links you are including in your press release, do you have a visual with recommended alt text and do you have metatags ready to go with your Press Release?
Check out our quick tip infographic for Press Release optimization for SEO
Sign up here to DOWNLOAD 5 industry specific press release templates proven to be effective
1) Keyword research is critical – have this ready before you start writing
Since keywords are the foundational building blocks for SEO, they remain just as important when creating your Press Release. Use the keywords carefully and cautiously without stuffing the keywords into the content for the sake of it. The reason to have the keywords before hand is so that you build your Press Release around these words or phrases and keep it relevant for your readers.
If done properly, the keyword research activity can lead to identifying the exact terms your customers are searching for to find the products or services you offer. Do not assume the keywords and try and guess the right ones – always spend your time with the various keyword research tools and look at the kind of traffic being generated from each one. This research is critical to ensure you know what you are targeting and optimizing for. List the priority keywords which are most related to your business and have a medium to high amount of traffic or searches related to them. Pick a combination of 2 or 3 of these keywords or key-phrases to optimize for. Build your Press Release headline and content based on these. By doing this you make it absolutely clear for journalists and audiences alike who are looking for specific information on that topic. Not only should these keywords appear across your Press Release, they should be also represented in the URL, page title, meta description, and in the alt tags of images. Now if you distribute your press release not all these variables will be within your control, but try as much as possible to include all these elements wherever your Press Release is posted or distributed. This tactic is a great supplement to your overall SEO efforts for your website, content marketing and social presence. By doing this you can strengthen your presence against these strategic keywords and reap long term benefits.
Testing, analysing and evolving your keyword usage is something that must be done. Once your first draft inclusive of keywords is ready ask your colleagues, friends and family to see whether the keywords seem to be in their natural usage form and don’t feel contrived. Also keep a clear track of the keyword density – the ideal recommendation for this is in the range of 3-5%.
2) Where to place your keywords – Not only is having the right keywords in your Press Release important their placement is also a high influencing factor in how well your Press Release will rank. Now making your headline with the keyword in mind is essential.
Try and place the keyword early in the headline, this may sometimes be difficult but experiment with a variety of versions of your headline with the keyword at the beginning (first 4-5 words) – create 3 or 4 high impact headlines with the keywords and then pick the one you think puts across the message with the highest impact. If there is only one thing you do with your keywords then this should be it, it directly tells the search engine what the topic is about (also ensure the headline is tagged as H1) and gives you a much higher chance of ranking your Press Release.
Of course by placing the keywords in the 1st line of the press release and then naturally using them across the rest of the Press Release you build up the usage of the keyword and start to get indexed and ranked for it.
NewsVoir Tip
Keep a clear track of the keyword density – the ideal recommendation for this is in the range of 3-5% and optimize your multimedia for SEO too
3) Do not worry about keyword density
Keyword density has always been the buzz around SEO, the fact of the matter is as long as you are using the keywords then you are safe to assume that you will get ranked. (assuming on page SEO factors are being met) While 3-5% is the recommended range – it is best to just honestly use the keywords based on the structure of the article – you will see that you will hit that threshold and if necessary and relevant you may go over the 5%. If everything is in context it will not get penalized – but if you unnecessarily stuff your content with the keywords then it may have a tendency of getting penalised.
4) Write a great Press release, don’t do it for SEO
SEO is driven by a core metric which is traffic, write your Press Release for the end user, the consumer of the information, the journalist and not the search engine. SEO practices are just guides for search engines to find the right content and show it to those who are searching for it. But consistent traffic only comes because your content is good. So ensure that your focus is creating a great and informative Press Release and then helping your audience find it by using SEO techniques.
Use the right number of links – Using a very high number of links take away credibility from your Press Release, using the wrong links or links which do not relate to the Press Release is even worse. Many times, you can include links back to your website within your press release. This lets readers get more information about your story, and it drives traffic to your website. But that’s not the only purpose of doing this. If you use keyword-rich anchor text in your backlinks, you can actually help improve the rankings of the pages being linked to. This lets the search engines know what the target page is about, helping to rank it accordingly.
Typically you should have a maximum of 3-4 links, ideally 2 strong key word rich and relevant links.
5) Optimize your multimedia attachments
With the amount of media being used across various platforms, it makes sense to be able to provide your audience some visual appeal, your press releases should not be simply text and links, add media such as pictures and videos to it. This gives you the option of optimizing this media with the right alt text and tags and gives you an opportunity to be visible on google/bing/yahoo image and video search. In our research it is also very clear that Press Releases shared with a visual or video have much higher click through rates. Look for a news distribution partner who offers adding multimedia as part of their platform and have the ability to boost it to get you more visibility. At NewsVoir we guide our clients to definitely use visuals and videos as part of their releases and are able to get them the kind of coverage they require. Make sure your tagging of keywords and phrases remains relevant to the press release content.
In conclusion
Once you are happy with your Press release and have covered all the aspects above your focus needs to shift to creating a Press Release distribution strategy and understand the channels that you can use to really get your Press Release the visibility it needs. There are different types of channels where you can share your Press Release and are typically classified into Paid, Earned and Owned.
Check out the various platforms you can use in this infographic we have put together and evaluate which of these channels are relevant to you, where is your audience spending most of their time and how can you build a strategy to leverage these.
CONTENT DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES
Press Release distribution on its own requires a focussed and consistent strategy to get your news to your audience, to journalists and to potential customers.
Key things you must do to keep all channels open and get great distribution over and over for all your press releases :
1) Develop and maintain relationships with journalists within your niche / industry
2) Identify a reliable news distribution partner who can make your news visible journalists, news sites, blogs and on social media instantly
3) Create strong owned platforms for yourself across social media websites like facebook, twitter, LinkedIN, Instagram etc. Continue to put efforts into building a following of readers and individuals who care about your brand
4) Build a strong email list of past customers, potential customers, interested customers. Press Releases with high impact can go a long way in making enquirers into customers
5) Establish yourself or your company spokesperson as a leader in the industry and get them to build a following, have speaking engagements and collect audience information to keep the updated about your progress.
5 Free successful Press Release Templates
Here are some awesome free templates for you to use – these are boilerplate examples from some of the most highly circulated Press Releases through NewsVoirs news distribution platform. We have collated and combined these for a quick and easy reference for you to look at and use to make your perfect press release.