Q&A
How many Press Releases should I publish each month?
There is no real limit, however we recommend at a minimum 2 per month. The factors we look at and tested are with views and more importantly are editor’s actually publishing the news. 2 per month you’ll find they get picked up within industry news outlets and views are high. If you pushed a PR every other day, you’ll notice that editor’s will limit what actually gets published and views will decrease across the board.
What if I don’t have a news section on my website?
A new page whether it be static or generated through a CMS is easy to implement. A link under your Company Info can be added. Format for listing PR’s is Date : Title <link>.
I heard some people use embargoed releases — should we do that?
If you’re not sure what an embargo is, Steve Kovach of Business Insider explains it here, but an embargo is essentially an agreement between your company and reporter that you will grant the reporter a sneak peek at a product or announcement in advance of the actual release. In exchange, he or she will agree to hold the story until the scheduled date and time of the release itself. Typically, embargoed releases and announcements are reserved for significant product launches or announcements (think: Apple launch). In general, if you are just getting started building your presence in the press and are still building relationships with reporters, avoid embargoed material altogether and just focus on timing the release, blogs, and associated promotional content in one big swoop.
What if I don’t have a huge budget to create visual content?
That’s okay — not all unique press outreach requires significantly design dollars. A product image if often all that is needed to easily highlight your story.
My blog doesn’t quite have the reach I want yet, do I still have to create a blog entry in addition to a release?
Yes — even if only your relatives see it for now, it will help you with search traffic moving forward. If you’re concerned your blog won’t magnify your message enough, consider creating a blog post for guest placement for an industry or influencer outlet that might attract the attention of prospects or customers. When doing so, first research whether or not the outlet accepts guest posts and if so, if there are editorial guidelines you should follow in crafting your post. In addition to following the rules of the road for their content, make sure you’re contributing a new and different perspective to their site: Respect their audience and their angle and assemble and pitch your content to them accordingly.
No one picked up my release — now what?
First things first, if you have a broader promotional plan, you should still get some social lift and some good traffic from the assets you created. However, that doesn’t take the sting out of doing so much hard work and not getting the coverage you really wanted. If you’re truly convinced your story is newsworthy, try a few different outlets with a different take on your message and storyline. If you’re still striking out, ask a friendly local reporter to take him or her to coffee and ask for honest feedback on what you could do to stand out from the pack the next time around. Do not cajole or coax a journalist or producer willing to do this; if you want their opinion and feedback, accept their insight and incorporate it next time you do a launch or announcement.
How do I set reasonable internal expectations around PR within my organization?
This exercise is one of the most challenging endeavors in growing your brand, but it is imperative to learn this lesson early, as it disciplines your team to be respectful of reporters’ time and honest about what truly merits front page news and what doesn’t. Typically, the best way to achieve this goal is by aligning your PR plan to core business objectives and by focusing on long-term enterprise value versus short-term wins on the board. We typically create quarterly calendars with events and milestones built in so people know what we are pitching when, what content we are creating to support each announcement, and where we expect it might run. Doing so means there are fewer surprises each time we do a launch.