Business Wire or direct submission for a press release?
A professional organization I work with wants to send out a press release announcing a new board member who is somewhat distinguished in their industry. One member suggested using Business Wire, but I think that is overkill. There are only about a half dozen trade publications that may be interested, if any. Given the price tag for Business Wire, shouldn't this organization simply send the release to each of the news outlets directly?
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Aug 30, 2019
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Apr 16, 2015
If the individual Board Member is a reconized leader as well as a thought leader in his or her industry, the normal channel will do. Others will pick on it and amplify your annoucement on there own. Something likeh the Staples "easy" bottom!
Apr 9, 2015
I would agree with all the replies here that the direct distribution of press release is more cost effective. However if your client has a bigger budget for this occasion you can always consider a press luncheon with the target publications where they can meet with the new Board member and have direct Q&A in an informal setting. As most specialised industry publications appreciate networking opportunities and to have their own report instead of a standard press release this may be money well spent.
Apr 7, 2015
You do indeed have the answer within your question. If there are only a handful of pubs that would be interested in this news release, then the release should be sent directly to those mag editors. The objective should be building relationships with that handful of editors (and therefore increasing chances of editorial coverage down the road for other things. Business Wire is definitely overkill. You'd be hitting organizations with no interest, thereby wasting time, effort and dollars -- not to mention annoying editors. As a field editor for two trade magazines (one in the wood industry and one for the floor covering industry), I can tell you our news inbox often gets releases for lifestyle items….and that always makes me wonder if people are actually investing any time in building a targeted media list. Building a targeted list is always your best option.
Apr 4, 2015
Genie,
There are alternatives to Business Wire. Consider PR.com or PRLog.org. Both of these are free. Submitting the release to the news outlets probably generate the results because the story is not "meaty" enough for the stations. However once you tag the release with the relevant keywords and industry, people will find it online. If you have any other questions or need assistance, let me know.
Apr 4, 2015
Good thinking. As someone who has worked both sides of that fence, I'd send the pr direct to the media that you know will be interested. Then send it out through an outlet like Briefingwire.com, which will do a (admittedly limited) free distribution of the pr. The latter also will give you an update on how many recipients have viewed it for the past month since you initially released it. Obviously, this isn't the only (or necessarily) the MOST effective in terms of use the media, but people in your industry will likely see it, media types who peruse the various services online will, too. And, it will save your company's media $$ for your bigger stories. Just a suggestion.
If you can come up with a bigger story angle on this board member, then you might justify combining that angle with the announcement, so that it's worthy of release to Business Wire and/or PR News (among other paid outlets). Word of caution: I bought into one of those, "We'll distribute your pr to all outlets for $35.00" firms online. No results, no report from them, won't answer my messages. Except -- they do send me more email wanting me to buy more of their crappy, scammer service. BW and PR News have pretty good reps, so you should be safe there. And I've had decent results with Briefingwire.com as well. I hope some of this helps you.
Apr 3, 2015
If you already have a list of news outlets which will be interested for your press release - go directly. You don't need Business Wire. BW don't guarantee that this publications will publish your PR so if you go with BW you might find yourself disappointed.
Apr 3, 2015
I would definitely go for direct contact with journalists even - at least. If your sector is quite specific in nature and the amount of publications covering it is small, then I see no reason not to build personal relationships with the journalists writing on it. Beats any newswire anytime.
Apr 3, 2015
Seems unanimous.
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Apr 11, 2015
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Apr 2, 2015
Direct contact with your target publication editors is always better, no matter what. In your scenario, where there are only a half-dozen relevant publications, it would seem to be a no-brainer!
Al Shultz alshultz.com/
Apr 2, 2015
It appears you have your answer within your question. Business Wire is excellent if you want your press release to reach all the significant news wires, otherwise it can be costly. (Aprox $450 for 400 words) . If you believe your release will only interest a small, select group, you might try a different method. Some of our clients use free press release services to get some exposure on the internet, and use their social media groups and profiles to post the releases as well. For small markets, many of my clients, compose the press release and then send it email or snail mail to their industry. Wishing you success.
The one thing that's missing from all these responses is the fact that there is additional value to releasing your news other than direct publication in a half dozen trade journals these day--SEO. So I would definitely send the release directly to the target pubs--after building a relationships with the editorial staff, hopefully. But I would also release it over the Internet. There is a way to do it more cheaply than $450 for 400 words, even using BusinessWire or PRNewswire, etc. But they probably are overkill, so find one of the cheaper methods (some of which have been mentioned) to make sure the release is indexed in Yahoo News, Google News, etc.