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How to Get Your News Out There

 

News releases are a great way to promote your organization, your event, your book or your product. But writing it is only half the work. The second half is distribution.

In the old days, we used to create media mailing lists and actually snail mail or fax releases to reporters, and then put the release on either BusinessWire or PRNewswire, both paid news release distribution services that are still around today.
These paid news wire services typically send releases directly into newsroom computer systems through dedicated channels; but some, like PRWeb only send the releases out to their own mailing lists. Media relations pros prefer to pay to get a release “on the wire” as it still generates more media interest and pick-up than social media or direct distribution alone.

List of electronic press release distributors

BusinessWire http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/

BusinessWire is the go-to news release distribution service for most companies, non-profits and government agencies. Putting a 400-word news release out on their news wire service to more than 1,000 news outlets in the United States starts at $325. Each news release gets its own measurement and tracking report. Their editorial staff formats releases, keeps an eye out for errors and makes distribution suggestions. BusinessWire has a large global reach, and also offers what it calls “full disclosure” releases that are commonly used by publicly-held companies to meet SEC requirements.

Cision http://us.cision.com/press-release-distribution/web-wire-distribution.asp

Cision’s main advantage is that it offers flat-rate pricing while delivering to all the U.S. and Canadian news outlets that the other services distribute to. They offer two packages–one delivers releases to some 3,500 web-based news services for around $150 per release, and the other to major wire services in the United States or Canada for as little as $350 per release. They also do custom distribution.

PR Newswire http://www.prnewswire.com/

PR Newswire offers a wide array of distribution services that expand news release offerings with photos, video and web placement. They even have a package that will put a picture on a big screen in Times Square. Sending a 400-word release to their main United States distribution list starts around $715.

PRWeb http://www.prweb.com/

PRWeb offers a low-cost way to get news releases onto web news feeds like Yahoo! and Google. Skip their Basic package, which gets your release on their website for $89. Spring for the Standard or Advanced packages which get your release out to their own list of bloggers and reporters who have signed up for their mailing list. Paying $369 per release for their Premium service will get your release onto the Associated News wire.

Shop around and look for discounts. A quick search online revealed discounts to PR Newswire fees.

 

 

1 Comment

  1. Hi Lynn – thanks for mentioning PR Newswire in your list. I do have one correction, though. Our services start at $129, not $715. You can choose from a wide variety of options, and can target different audiences to best suit the message and your goals. Thanks!

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