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Category Archives: Effective press releases

Topic archive: effective press releases
A press release is pseudo-news story, written in third person that seeks to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product.
Press releases are often sent by e-mail or via a newswire. They can also be part of a full press kit, or may be accompanied by a pitch letter. Journalists or bloggers may use it as a standalone story, for reference (file) or as part of a larger article.
What makes news?

Timing
Subject of news stories
Innovation
Significance
Prominence

Below is a list of our articles and thoughts about effective priess releases, like what to put in a press release or how to get your story noticed by the press.

How not to screw up analyst relations: PRs beware!

How not to screw up analyst relations: PRs beware!
From positioning a company as leading with no proof to being rude and dismissive, what are some of the biggest PR no-nos when working with analysts? We spoke to Teresa Cottam, a highly experienced telecoms analyst at Omnisperience and she reflects on her own experience to provide an informative and at times cringeworthy (when considering…
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The impact of PR on the bottom line

The impact of PR on the bottom line
In response to the question about PR affecting the bottom line, I have put together this information. When trying to understand the impact of PR, you need to understand the main business goals. For example, "our overarching goal is to increase visibility outside the US with a focus on the UK" for a retail software…
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6 reasons why your press release is garbage

6 reasons why your press release is garbage
Writing content for your business isn’t easy. This is particularly true when it comes to press releases. Many people may think that it is a simple case of writing up an article that gives some more information about your business, but it is more complicated than this. In fact, it is easier than you would…
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How journalists use newswires

How journalists use newswires
Newswire services are big business and are used by companies and PR agencies to spread news stories to journalists/bloggers and online. These services often make much of the size of their journalist databases and offer their ability to reach these journalists as a key selling point. We regularly use newswires and believe that we understand…
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Free Press Release Sites – 2013 test results

Back in 2011 we tested 60 free press release sites to see if it is worth posting your news to a free press release site to get your message out to influencers, or whether it's worth using the service to build links as part of your SEO efforts. 

We thought it would be interesting to revisit these sites 18 months on to see if the results were the same. 

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Which newswires do journalists actually read? 80 journalists surveyed.

Which newswires do journalists actually read? 80 journalists surveyed.
Newswire services are big business and are used by companies and PR agencies to spread news stories to journalists/bloggers and online. These services often make much of the size of their journalist databases and offer their ability to reach these journalists as a key selling point. We regularly use newswires and believe that we understand…
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B2B news round up Q2 2012 – what we’ve been up to

B2B news round up Q2 2012 – what we’ve been up to
We can hardly believe it’s almost July. I guess you could say we’ve been too busy here to even look at the clock – especially considering this is our first update blog post in a while! One benefit of keeping on-the-go has been the amazing coverage we’ve achieved this year. Instead of resting on our…
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Paid press release sites – are they worth the money?

Paid press release sites – are they worth the money?

We think so….

Following our research into the most effective free release services, we decided to share the paid-for distribution sites that we use. There are lots more of course, but sometimes we will only use them a few times and then we don’t bother again as they aren’t quite right for us.

These are the ones we would recommend based on our experience, paying particular attention to the size and quality of the media database they boast and how much it will cost to get your release(s) out to relevant media targets.

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60 free press release sites tested – a detailed review

60 free press release sites tested – a detailed review

23 January, 2013 update: before going any further, you may want to review our 2013 version of this press release site test!

Ever wondered about free press release services? Is it worth posting your news to a free press release site to get your message out to influencers, or perhaps you're hoping to use the service to build links as part of your SEO efforts? In this, the first of our regular reviews of free press release services, we looked at 60 different sites to find out which are the best and worst. We issued a series of press releases using the sites and evaluated the results in terms of both PR and SEO benefit. Read on to find out which sites deserve your attention.

Update: if you're interested in our thoughts on paid-for news wire sites, check out our mini-review of paid-for press release distribution services, alternatively read our survey about how and why journalists use press release distribution services.

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Free press release sites a detailed review

To mention:

  • Most releases seem to take a few days to go live on the sites, though sometimes a release would go live straight away - there seemed to be no discernible pattern as to why that was.
  • At least one of the sites caused our xxx to raise a warning about malware - xxx said the site contained content from a known malware source so we didn't progress with it.
  • We used our first release as a test to get a feel for the sites, having formed an opinion (and to avoid wasting time on sites that didn't meet our goasl), we carried out subsequent tests on the top twenty or so sites.

Ever wondered about free press release services? Is it worth posting your news to a free press release site to get your message out to influencers, or perhaps you're hoping to use the service to build links as part of your SEO efforts? In this, the first of our regular reviews of free press release services, we looked at 83 different sites to find out which are the best and worst. We issued a series of press releases using the sites and evaluated the results in terms of both PR and SEO benefit. Read on to find out which sites deserve your attention.

Read more