Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Paid vs. Unpaid Press Release Distribution
Those of you who post press releases to Business Wire and PR Newswire know that the first replies to hit our email mailboxes are rarely press inquiries. Yes, we all know it takes more PR muscle and persuasion than that, but if you're like me you still eagerly jump to every email ping that follows your expensive transmission.
But isn't it true that we are almost always disappointed by the legions of solicitations from the "free" newswires that seem to be in perpetual supply these days? It would be easy to conclude that they are the only ones out there reading our releases off the wires. We know that's not the case, but gosh they sure are responsive.
Who are these guys, anyway? Why should we trust them with our news? I know a lot of people are wondering the same thing because there's always inquiries on PR listservs asking what others think about the freebies.
You'll recognize some of the services that have been around for awhile -- PRWeb is one. They've got the art of viral marketing down. PRWeb even has a convenient link you can click from their home page to "Tell a friend about PRWeb," I know because an acquaintance recently sent me an email via the link. Interestingly when I clicked on it tonight all I got was "The page cannot be found." Hmmm.
Anyone remember Internet Wire? It was big, and really aggressive in its follow up to the countless releases I put out during the dot-com boom. The first of the genre, I think. I just googled it and came up with this old Clickz article that brought all the memories flooding back. If you follow the link in the article for Internet Wire it leads you to Market Wire. It looks like it morphed and these guys have found their kitty jar, and guess what? They're not cheap! Lest you balk, they provide a convenient table on their site that compares them favorably to PR Newswire and Business Wire.
Transworldnews -- never heard of them before -- was the first to send me an email today after my latest press release went out over Business Wire for Ridgecrest Surveys and Computer Troubleshooters USA . They wanted to tell me in their html email solicitation:
"TransWorldNews is currently preparing for its launch. During this phase, TransWorldNews invites you to post your news stories FREE." Yeah, right! And exactly what newsrooms and trade publications subscribe to their service?
All these choices are rather mind boggling, and would take more time than a working stiff like me has to unearth. I'll leave it to more inquiring minds to sort out, and continue posting my releases to Business Wire and PR Newswire because I know they have major newsrooms that subscribe.
But isn't it true that we are almost always disappointed by the legions of solicitations from the "free" newswires that seem to be in perpetual supply these days? It would be easy to conclude that they are the only ones out there reading our releases off the wires. We know that's not the case, but gosh they sure are responsive.
Who are these guys, anyway? Why should we trust them with our news? I know a lot of people are wondering the same thing because there's always inquiries on PR listservs asking what others think about the freebies.
You'll recognize some of the services that have been around for awhile -- PRWeb is one. They've got the art of viral marketing down. PRWeb even has a convenient link you can click from their home page to "Tell a friend about PRWeb," I know because an acquaintance recently sent me an email via the link. Interestingly when I clicked on it tonight all I got was "The page cannot be found." Hmmm.
Anyone remember Internet Wire? It was big, and really aggressive in its follow up to the countless releases I put out during the dot-com boom. The first of the genre, I think. I just googled it and came up with this old Clickz article that brought all the memories flooding back. If you follow the link in the article for Internet Wire it leads you to Market Wire. It looks like it morphed and these guys have found their kitty jar, and guess what? They're not cheap! Lest you balk, they provide a convenient table on their site that compares them favorably to PR Newswire and Business Wire.
Transworldnews -- never heard of them before -- was the first to send me an email today after my latest press release went out over Business Wire for Ridgecrest Surveys and Computer Troubleshooters USA . They wanted to tell me in their html email solicitation:
"TransWorldNews is currently preparing for its launch. During this phase, TransWorldNews invites you to post your news stories FREE." Yeah, right! And exactly what newsrooms and trade publications subscribe to their service?
All these choices are rather mind boggling, and would take more time than a working stiff like me has to unearth. I'll leave it to more inquiring minds to sort out, and continue posting my releases to Business Wire and PR Newswire because I know they have major newsrooms that subscribe.
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Our firm, Ridgecrest Surveys, believes that the value of a paid news release via Business Wire or PR Newswire far exceeds the cost. We want to possibly be noticed by the major newsrooms that subscribe to these services. We learned that they apparently do not subscribe to the free services. And just as importantly to us as we grow, we want to be recognized as professional in all respects by our customers and prospective customers. We used Business Wire in our recent press release, and used JAG Wire Group to draft and publish it. We're pleased with early results.
Thanks for your column on this, Julia. I actually happen to agree with Ridgecrest -- I've been a PR professional for a long time, and have probably used every newswire service there is, the free ones, the expensive ones and everything in between. Indeed I have found that newswires are a trusted source of delivery for many journalists. I have found a report that might interest your readers that reinforces this notion that the media trusts newswires. It can be found at www.mediareporter.org. What is interesting though is that the report also indicates that the media doesn't have a brand preference for 'which' newswire they receive news from. I found that interesting. However, I do think there's a balance to strike between "free and fee". Example. About a year ago, I started using Market Wire - one of the companies your entry describes. Having been a dyed-in-the-wool PR Newswire customer for years, this was a 'stretch' for me. But, what I found was that not only was Market Wire more competitively priced (important for those of us with tight budgets), but distribution was at parity and client service was leagues ahead. The ease-of-use of their interface and the add-ons that I could apply to deliver greater impact with my release were great, easy-to-select and so on. The best part of the service I found though was that before I clicked upload and was 'charged a fee'; I received an estimate (right there on the web site) that told me what I was going to spend before I ever clicked "submit". This was a welcome relief. I no longer had to worry about an excessively expensive invoice landing on my desk after the damage was done. This is little. Very simple. But definitely a deal maker for me. Cheers, Everett
# posted by 
: August 17, 2005 12:36 PM
: August 17, 2005 12:36 PM
TransWorldNews whilest recently started has already surpassed many newswire sites in the Alexa rankings and distributes newsreleases to 700 newsrooms and 8,000 journailsts. They also allow up to 5,000 words unlike many of the costly sites that you hope a journalists reads your release and then decides to write about it. The differance betwwen those sites such as PRnewsire and businesswire is there page views are minimal. Very few spend time on thos sites reading the news so for most you can only hope a journalists writes there opinion about your release. With TransWorldNews there page views are in the double digits per visitor making the reality that people actually read the news that is on TransWorldNews. Oh and you can pay now for your newsrelease on TransWorldNews which may make you think better about submittimg your news because it is now a paid for service. Still much more cost effective than PRNewsire and Businesswire. Don't be scared to change so many companies already are on TransWorldNews it's the ego that gets in the way, make the switch and watch vistors read your news, instead of hoping someone does.
TransWorldNews and Finditt-To make sure your readers are clear, TransWorldNews, is an SEO press release service that had had GREAT results for QualityStocks.net.
They have help us with our press and thet are picked up in Google news in minutes.
They are in the top 30,000 sites on the planet via Alexa.com.
If your a Public company you need BW, MW, or PN. The BIG 3 for symbol ticking, but if you want some REAL bang for your buck, try TransWorldNews and Finditt.
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They have help us with our press and thet are picked up in Google news in minutes.
They are in the top 30,000 sites on the planet via Alexa.com.
If your a Public company you need BW, MW, or PN. The BIG 3 for symbol ticking, but if you want some REAL bang for your buck, try TransWorldNews and Finditt.
# posted by : April 18, 2007 7:29 PM
: April 18, 2007 7:29 PM Links to this post:
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