Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have a wonderful press release writer I found at elance.  But, when it comes to distribution, I always wonder how much is too much or if I`m doing too little.  I usually email it to half a dozen people at my local paper - everyone from the community news editor to the arts and entertainment editor to the business editor.  I assume that they don`t share press releases with each other so I send it to all of them.  I have also used PRWeb with some success.

Does anyone have any tips for press release distribution?  I am in a very specialized industry - Scrapbooking - and I send it to all the industry mags and have a casual relationship with most of the editors.  But, I also send it out to Entrepreneur magazine and other business related publications.  I seem to have more success OUTSIDE the scrapbook industry (The Costco Conection did a story on me, a lifestyle magazine interviewed me for a future story, etc).  The press releases are FABULOUS (and REAL news), I just need to get Martha Stewart to call me to join her advisory panel for her new papercrafts line or Oprah to make my business one of her FAVORITE THINGS    Is that too much to ask???

THANKS!  I really love this forum!

~Kim

Try PRNews Wire - there`s a significant cost ($500 - $1200) per release, but it can get you nationwide exposure.  

Also send your releases to radio stations - pretty easy to get 5 - 20 minute interviews if they like your topic - they`re always looking for interesting interviews.

If you`re lucky, you can get picked up by the major wire services - AP, Reuters, Scripps, etc.  Two weeks ago we did a 5 minute radio interview with AP about our Home Office From Hell contest & it ended up being distributed to hundreds of publications, including radio & TV.  We were on CNN Headline News 3 times in one day.  Not bad for one five minute interview!!

BTW, Costco Connection is great - they have 5 million readers.

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Offices2share.com® operates a Web site that focuses exclusively on short-term, ready-to-use office space nationwide, featuring thousands of offices in hundreds of American cities.

Hi Kim--

 

I`ve used PRweb (www.prweb.com) with good results.
It cost about $80 for a release.

Matt

I`ve been working for newspapers for 25 years and have received tons of news releases -both good and bad. I`ve also written plenty of them. I gave some hints for sending news releases to local newspapers on Ginny`s "Free Press" topic. I would be happy to answer any more questions.

If anybody wants help writing news releases I`d be happy to give you a quote. I would do them for people on here for free if I could, but ... ah, I just don`t have the time for that. Have a great day!

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VickiJ
www.freshairjournal.com

Hi Vicki,

I would love to take to take you up on your offer to help with a press release.  I`m sure I`m not unique but it seems that I`m struggling "angle" for my business...that hook that would attract the attention of an editor.

I`ve heard so many people mention that writing press releases for your websites is a great way to generate traffic and one way links. However, I`m clueless as to how to actually write one. Anyone have some examples I could see or know of some sort of tutorial or guideline I could follow? Any input/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I am interested in this as well. I would also like to know if people have found it to work in their case to generate more traffic, and in turn generate more business.



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Brandon Eng, Owner, Lead Studios

Play sports? Find other Toronto players @ www.sportaholik.com

There are plenty of people you can hire to write press release. But you need to understand it yourself - even though you may not actually do the writing one day. A good site to study and follow and susbcribe to her newsletter is Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound. A very well-known and respected person in this field of work. She is a wealth of knowledge. Check her out.

Publicity Hound site

R@

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Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

This is a link to a previous forum thread.  Jeff from LogoMotives has a very informative article linked here that you may want to take a look at:

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts.asp ?TID=871