Years ago, a press release was the best tool to use if you want your story to be picked up by the media. This is still what many new business owners believe, which is why your first thought when marketing your business is to send out a press release.

The question is, do journalists really read them today? People rarely read these days, so it might be time to consider new ways to market instead of using press release services.

The competition for the attention of journalists is pretty tough, almost everyone is vying for the coveted pick up by news reporters and to be used as their next big scoop.

There are DIY methods that are also effective in getting media mileage. Let’s take a look at some of them.

You need to build relationships with your target journalists and publishers. Start thinking about proposals that are personalized. Doing this will show the journalist that you did your homework in researching them and their post. It takes time and effort to do this and journalists appreciate it being done for them. A release that is targeted at your posts audience is a blessing because it makes your job so much easier.

Find out the name of your target journalist and make a pitch that is personal to him or her. Please do not submit copy-paste proposals that are impersonal. Learn more about the journalist and how their content will help them and the publication they’re working for. Show interest in her work by submitting an introduction that you have read her work.

Use a subject line that can grab attention. Do not use the generic “For Your Information” or “To Whom It May Concern”.

You can format your email as a blog post or article. Break the ice by talking, try to tell a story. Tag your email with keywords and include a link to your business website.

Before you email your pitch, try to engage the journalist by tweeting. You can also turn your email content into one or two tweets. After you send your tweet material, you can follow up with your email submission.

You can also try sending a message on Facebook. Add well-known journalists and influencers to your Facebook friends list. Get started by following them, liking their posts, and commenting.

If you have the guts, you can call a journalist to see if they are interested in your release. This will save you a lot of time and effort, getting a positive or negative response will help you focus your efforts on other journalists or build on what you have already started.

Why not go one step further and meet the journalist for coffee and make your face-to-face presentation? There are journalists who would take advantage of this invitation as a way to get out of their offices.

If you’ve built a relationship with the right reporter, you can reap the benefits of that relationship by providing an exclusive story. Reporters love getting exclusives that are relevant and newsworthy. Once they write your story, there is a good chance that it will get publicity in many other publications. You can achieve PR results without having to write a press release.

There is a trend of people who prefer watching videos to reading. There are more than 500 million people watching videos on Facebook every day. A quick video can replace the free distribution of a press release and get better results. You can start sharing your video on the various social media platforms for better exposure.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *