Press Releases

How To Get Free Advertising By Using Press Releases.

The press release is a powerful marketing tool. I can’t think of any better way to advertise than FREE, can you? The trick is writing a press release that gets attention and gets the media to do a story on you. How long should a press release be?

One page is best. If you can’t say it in one page you don’t have as good of a chance to get it read. Remember, the media people are swamped with press releases and most of them end up in the trash. A press release longer than one page is really pushing it, unless you have some very dynamic news to tell. If you need more than three pages, you may consider writing a feature story instead.

What To Say in Your Press Release

A press release needs to have something of interest to the listeners, readers, or viewers of the media you are targeting. It can’t be a pitch for your product or service.

1. Every press release needs a powerful headline.
2. Your press release should tell the reader who you are and why they should care about what you have to offer or say.
3. The first paragraph should have all the important information you have to talk about.
4. The second paragraph should have some sort of information that is necessary in credentialing you or your statements.
5. The third section should have the “sales pitch” and your contact information.

There is much involved in successful press release writing, delivery to the media and the subsequent interview process, much too much for me to put up on this page but here are some tips.

Press Release Help

First, if you need press coverage I can certainly help. I have over 30,000 media contact addresses and can facilitate the entire campaign or simply create press releases for you and turn them over to you. It all depends on what you want to achieve and your budget.

If you want to do a nationwide blitz it will take 6-10 weeks and cost around $5,900 dollars. That includes me personally contacting at least 1000 targeted media contacts and sending press releases nationwide.

You tell me what your budget is and exactly what you need done, and we’ll go from there. Although I strive to get immediate results, It can take 90-120 days for print media coverage to appear, and 30-60 days after it appears before you can quantify sell-through. For broadcast media, radio coverage will take 10 to 45 days; national TV can take 90 to 180 days to get you through the guest pipeline.

You should be able to assess sell-through within 30 days of your appearance. Yes, do measure ROI, but keep your PR going long enough to measure! It takes time for publicity seeds to germinate, and still a bit longer to sprout profits. Combine Press Releases With Marketing and PR efforts are cumulative Combining PR with direct selling helps — Here’s what you do:

• First, create your press release and line up free publicity.
• Next, call and fax retailers in the area your publicity will appear, telling them what the publicity is and when it’s going to happen. Mention that customers will be coming in looking for the product. Better yet, if you are doing radio, talk to a large chain store and tell them you’ll send customers to their store, so they need to stock up.

Give stores enough lead time to purchase, and conform to their purchasing customs (if you sell a book, have it listed in Ingram).

Press Release Math

1. Hit Ratio: Count how many “hits” you get with initial publicity contacts. Divide by number of contacts. (A “hit” is when someone expresses interest in covering you)
2. Placement cost: Count how many placements you get. Divide by dollars spent. (A placement is coverage that comes through)
3. Advertising comparison: Compare cost of each media placement with cost of advertising in same media. Add up total advertising value, compare with total PR cost.
4. ROI (Return on Investment): Figure out how many products you need to sell per placement, on average. Divide average cost per placement by the amount you make on each product.
5. Figuring ROI: Calculate production cost and wholesale discounts, but not development costs or central overhead when looking at break-even on PR. Your goal is to sell enough product to cover your costs. Then, enough more to cover central overhead. And finally, to recoup development costs. (“Production costs” are the variable costs associated with producing each product. “Central overhead” is your fixed operating cost: rent, payroll, utilities)