The Ultimate Guide to Press Release Distribution
You know how important PR is, and you’ve crafted a succinct, yet powerful, story. All that’s left to do is share it with the world.
But journalists have to write up to seven stories per day[1] — so how do you ensure your press release is one of those stories? And just as importantly, how can you make your distribution email stand out in a crowded inbox?
Follow this five-step guide to learn how.
1. Find journalists who might be interested in your press release.
When you want to share some news, I’ll bet you’re tempted to tell as many people as possible. You want everyone to hear about it, right?
However, that’s not always the right thing to do — because not everyone is interested in your story.
(Brutal, but honest.)
Along with crafting a press release that journalists are interested in, you’ll need to be super-specific with the people to whom you send your pitches.
You can do that by searching for journalists who’ve already written[2] about your topic or industry.
For instance, let’s say you run a car parts business. You’ve conducted some research around potholes, gathered some interesting data, and turned it into a killer press release. But mailing every journalist under the sun is probably going to be a waste of time.
Instead, it’s worth seeking out journalists who’ve covered similar topics before.
To do this, fire up Google, type in your topic (potholes), and navigate to the News tab:
As you can see, there are plenty of recent articles on this topic, meaning journalists are more than likely interested enough to cover it.
Next, read some of the articles on Google News and make a note of the journalists’ names.
A simple spreadsheet with the journalist’s name and the publication they write for is a good way to keep a log of your distribution plan:
If you have the budget, you can also use a media database such as Cision[3] or Muckrack[4] to find relevant journalists and reporters.
This method is much more likely to get you responses because you’re only pitching the release to journalists who’ve demonstrated an interest in your topic already.
2. Get the journalists’ contact details.
Next, it’s time to find some contact information for the targets on your press release distribution list.
This could be as simple as clicking on an author’s bio on their publication’s site.
… and making a note of their email address:
But, just like anything else in the world of PR, it’s not always that easy.
You’ll often have to do a little digging to find the contact details — starting with a simple Google search such as “[journalist’s name + email]”.
If that doesn’t do the trick, you could also use a media database like Muckrack[5]:
Don’t have the budget for paid databases? Harness the power of social media.
LinkedIn is an excellent place to discover contact information for professional contacts (AKA, your journalists). Simply search for “journalist” and filter the results by selecting your target publication as “company”, then plug their name into Hunter[6] to find their email address:
Twitter can also be a quick and easy way to get in touch with your target journalists, too — especially considering 46% of journalists are open to receiving pitches via Twitter[7].
3. Craft a killer pitch.
Email is the most effective way to send your press release quickly.
Don’t believe me? Cision’s 2017 State of the Media report found an overwhelming majority of journalists prefer to receive press releases via email[8]:
However, there’s another obstacle you’ll need to overcome here — many journalists receive up to 200 pitches a day[9].
There are two factors you’ll want to consider when crafting a pitch. First — keep it brief.
Don’t waste the journalist’s time with a long-winded, self-absorbed introduction to yourself or your business. They probably don’t care.
Instead, get straight into the purpose of your email: The story, and why they should cover it in their publication.
Journalists are time-poor, so they’ll appreciate a nice, succinct message that sells your story in a few words—like this:
Image courtesy of Janet Murray[10].
As you can see in the example above, the entire story is sold in the first sentence, with a direct question asking if the journalist is interested — rather than just assuming so.
Follow this up with a couple more sentences to give the journalist some additional information about your story, before adding a line spacer and pasting your full press release.
Note: Avoid adding your press releases as attachments. Journalists don’t like opening attachments in fear of viruses or malware, so eliminate that problem by pasting the body of your press release below your pitch.
Second, it’s critical you personalize your pitch.