I decided to write up a Press Release to promote our new magazine Life and Fitness, and announce that it will now be available in Northern Ireland as well.
For ideas and guidance I consulted Adrian Weckler’s post and Emily Tully’s ‘5 things you should know when sending out a Press Release’.
When complete I uploaded it to some press release distribution sites. One I had been using regularly for sourcing articles, IrishPressReleases.ie which as the name suggests is specifically for Ireland and the others I found through Google. I have used the links to my press release rather than to the home page of the various sites to allow you to see how each one looks across the various sites. I’m sure there are loads more out there and a professional PR would most likely know about them. They all had free uploads, but with www.1888pressrelease.com, maybe due to a better sales cycle, I opted for the platinum package of $25 which offered better promotion of the release than the free option. A quick look at site stats first thing this morning showed this one actually had send the most traffic through to the site (which will hopefully be looking a lot better very soon). So maybe it was worth the extra expense.
The other sites I uploaded to were PressReleasePoint.com (They have a list of options for you to bookmark on all the popular sites) and PR-Inside.com (who nicely display whatever picture you supply beside the release)
As yet, I haven’t sent to any journalists, newspapers, magazines, TV or radio stations. That’s next on my list. Again a professional PR should have all these contacts. Some would argue that you are better off doing your own PR
Like anything you take upon yourself to do, it is time consuming. But I like a challenge and learning something new. At least now I have the registration part with the various sites out of the way. It has also made me more aware of the need to have something newsworthy to write about, and if I don’t, to go and find something and make it newsworthy.
While writing this I came across these blog posts which have more information on the whole PR thing:-
Whether the press release makes the mainstream news or gets published in any medium remains to be seen. But please do let me know if you see it in your local or daily favourite.
And if you have other ideas on DIY PR please leave a comment
Hey Derry
Thanks for this. Brody Sweeney’s ‘Making Bread’ book is keen on sending out Press Releases. He reckons it is all about sending our releases consistently over a year.
Thanks for the links.
James
Thanks for stopping by James. Brody Sweeney is actually giving a talk entitled ‘Achieve Business Success’ in Limerick on 7th May through the Limerick Enterprise Board. To book places use this link http://www.lcoeb.ie/online-booking
Thanks for the link Derry. Best of luck with Life and Fitness. Did the releases get picked up on the search engines or did you get any queries on the back of it?
Thanks Eoin. At the moment I don’t know if they have been picked up or published anywhere. But they have driven more visitors to the site, with the paid for option 1888pressrelease.com being the most successful. They also submit to other press release sites so you get extra exposure that way. Having said that I just checked the link from IrishPressReleases.com and it doesn’t seem to work properly. Also it is located beside the press release and not embedded within the body copy, which would affect the number of clickthroughs.
I think I picked up a copy of the magazine after the BUPA 10K. Interesting read.
Yes Eoin, we gave away around 4000 copies in Phoenix Park that day
Thank you for the awsome post. I am going to keep an eye on your website, i allready bookmarked it to own list 🙂