Revolutionize online press releases...

David,

I've tried what you're talking about and have not found it to be particularly worth the effort. Maybe I am not doing it right.

Yes, I think you can get small local paper coverage on occasion, but I have struggled to justify the effort it takes with the results it gets. And it is very difficult to track results.

If you try to get interest and attention from medium to large newspapers/magazines, it seems like they are very difficult to reach by mail. Editors are very busy folks and prefer, I believe, to screen their incoming mail by computer online.

Opening snail mail and responding is as easy as tossing an envelope in the trash. Even if the secretary opens your letter - the editor rarely sees it.

Again, maybe this is just my lack of knowing the best way to approach the practice, but after several attempts, I have found that it pays to hire a reliable service that can broadcast your PR digitally to those who regularly expect to see releases coming into their inbox.

Steve

I understand what you are saying. As with everything these days, the idea may be simple, but success will depend on the nuances effecting it.

I remember seeing some statistics on one of the newswire sites of their most popular headlines. Their most popular headline 'ever' was for a financial announcement from a motorcycle clothing company!

The truth was that it wasn't the headline that had made it the most popular. Once the company had posted the release they had then continuously promoted the press release itself - so that now it continues to receive clicks just because it is now seen as the 'most popular'.

When I've achieved my best results from press releases it's because I've personally targeted specific journalists with specific interests. That's not always possible. In cases where it is, this approach certainly works.

If the editors aren't picking up your press release offline then you need to be a bit more targeted. When I have submitted press releases I always tailor for the specific publication. For example, I had a client that was launching a new restaurant. We submitted a press release to various organizations, each with a different slant:

Local Newspaper - Jobs in the local area
Hospitality Magazine - research that shows the hospitality market is still booming
Tourist Magazine - New restaurant in the local area with different cuisine
Food magazine - showcasing a different style of cooking

That was just an example. It will never work if you submit the same press release to everybody. If you really think about who you want to send to, and tailor to suit, you will get a lot more bites. I can average around 8/10 'bites' (although this has fallen down to about 6/10 depending on the niche). In the games industry you can get 10/10. All depends on what you are trying to do.