Many clients see press releases on PR Newswire, BusinessWire, or any of the other sub-newswire services that larger corporations and publicly traded companies issue and think that if a company as large and successful as those do it, that “this is the way.”
Just because it works for Disney, doesn’t mean it works for you.
What they don’t realize is when Coke, or Honda, or Autodesk use these services, their name recognition carries so much weight that they actually get pickup from that release in everyday trade and business publications.
When it’s your company, however, the most likely result is that you’ve spent close to (or over, depending on your word count and distribution options selected) $1,000 for a release that no one will ever see outside of you and your team. You’ll typically receive this in an impressively long email full of dozens of RSS auto-pickups on websites buried so far down in the depths of the internet that no one will ever find them.
Google’s algorithms specifically filter out that automated pickup. So your release will be visible on PRNewswire.com and that’s virtually it. Money well spent.
Typically we advise our clients to spend that money elsewhere. Social media buys, advertorials, etc. rather than the black hole of a newswire service until they reach a certain size (and of course publicly traded companies are required to issue releases on newswires).
We find it’s far more effective to have a public relations firm on your side willing to put in the hard work of creative concepting to find angles to work your news into the media cycle. Develop relationships with journalists who will cover that news when dialogued with directly, rather than depend on them seeing it coming from a newswire’s giant spam list for that industry category.
SO…when SHOULD you use a newswire?
Even for small to mid-size companies there are times when it’s worth putting a release out on a wire service. It can announce that a piece of news is just that newsworthy, or that your company has hit a milestone of growth or influence that warrants trumpeting your greatness among the big dogs.
Without a doubt, having releases on newswire can be an indicator of a company having some heft. It’s public, permanently placed, and expensive. But when everyone is trying to beat their chest, it still just gets lost in the weeds as opposed to real, earned editorial coverage.
Email us for a discussion on how we can work with your company, or with any general questions and we’re happy to help.