How to Send a Press Release | Top 6 Ways | Guide to Sending Press Releases

Guide on How to Send a Press Release that is Noticed By News Media and Reporters

Once you’ve gone through the steps of writing a press release for an upcoming news announcement, you need to know exactly how to send a press release and where to send press releases.

You can write a great news release, but unless you know all the options for where to send a press release for distribution, you won’t get the response you’re looking for.

In our guide to sending a press release,” we will go through the top free and paid online options for sending out a press release, and also take a look at the more “old school” methods of email and snail mail, which can actually be very effective when you’re looking for targeted PR coverage.

Source: How to Send a Press Release

The key to sending out press releases is to format them correctly, include the relevant information, and use as many outlets as possible when deciding where to send a press release.

You also need to understand that some online methods used to send press releases will give you better coverage than others, expecially regarding free services. In our guide on how to send out a press release, we will take you through each of these options and also teach you a few secret tips from the pros.

How to Send a Press Release Guide | Proper Formatting

Before we start on the top six tips for how to send press release, it’s important to have all the key elements included in your press release. All your efforts might go to waste if the news isn’t picked up when you send press releases because you are missing a key component.

When writing and before sending a press release, make sure these key components are included in your release:

Headline – should inform, but not be a sales pitch
Dateline – provides important data: city, state, day, month, year
Lead Paragraph – should give the who, what, when, where, why
Body and Summary – paragraphs that tell more of your story detail
Boilerplate Statement – this is the “About Us” section at the end
Contact Information – name, title, company name, phone, email
The statement “News Release – For Immediate Release” – Used when not sending through an online press release distribution site.

1. How to Send a Press Release | Free Online Distribution

If you’re short on marketing dollars or just want to supplement other options of how to send out a press release, free PR distribution websites can help you get your news out to multiple outlets in a short amount of time.

However, you do need to do your homework; the old adage “you get what you pay for” still applies to certain sites. Some will do a great job to send press releases, while others may not be sending out press releases to many media outlets at all.

We’ve provided several options below for places to send press releases that are free with details on how they did according to a month-long study by VITIS Public Relations on sending a press release.

Where to Send Press Releases for Free:

Online PR News – While their site may look a bit dated, VITIS called them the #1 free place for sending out a press release that gave a top Google News ranking.
Open PR – This site came in as a runner up for getting Google News rankings when learning how to send press release distribution.
PRFire – They came both as the winner in the VITIS study for appearing in Google web searches and a runner up for Google News rankings when sending out a press release.
News Wire Today – Came in as a runner up in the VITIS study for appearing in Google web searches when sending out press releases.
PR Zoom – Another good free place to use when asking where to send press releases, that also was a runner up for Google web search appearances.
BigNews.biz – They show up for Google web searces, but the study did not find their releases in Google News.

2. How to Send a Press Release | Paid Online Distribution

If have some room in your budget, when you send press releases, you can find a lot of distribution at once with a paid service. You may be paying from $100-$800 or more for one release, depending upon your word count and the distribution that you choose.

Many services have tiered options based upon where to send press releases, and whether you want local, national, or international distribution.

You also need to watch for the financial distribution options, which often cost extra, if you’re sending news for a public company that needs to send out press releases to financial disclosure sites under a specific company ticker symbol.

There are a lot of choices with the paid options for how to send out a press release, so you should review each to see what fits your budget and distribution needs.

Where to Send Press Releases – Paid Options:

Source: PR Web Pricing How to Send out a Press Release

Don’t Miss: Top 8 Best Press Release Distribution Sites | Ranking | Paid and Free Press Release Sites

PR Web – This firm offers affordable options from $99 to $369 for sending a press release.
New Media Wire – One of the most affordable options when you want to know how to send out a press release with financial disclosure. Their financial disclosure option is $299. Their other releases range from $99-$299.
PR Newswire – One of the larger services with more distribution options and higher costs by word count, including an annual membership fee of $195, according to this 2015 Quora post.
Business Wire – Another larger service like PR Newswire that does not list pricing on their website. They also charge per word count, with extra costs past the first 400 words.
GlobeNewswire – Pricing starts at $150 for their self-service option and goes up to full service publishing, with U.S. National starting at $560 for sending a press release.
eReleases – They have three options for sending a press release between $299 and $499.

3. How to Send a Press Release | Email to Targeted Trade Publications

When people find an online distribution website when searching for how to send out a press release, they may think all their bases are covered, but you can actually do more to make sure your news gets just where you want it.

If you format your news release in an email PR template, you can send it directly out to targeted publications. For example, if you are announcing an app release that is specific to roofing contractors, there are a number of roofing related magazines and trade publications that you can research to find an editor email and where to send press releases.

The personal touch can often give you get a better chance of having your news picked up, and as a bonus you create a personal relationship with the editor, which can lead to more features in their publication down the road.

Things to include when emailing to send press releases:

Include the press release in the body of the email
A download link to one or two 300 dpi photos that can be used with the PR
Use “###” at the end of your release to indicate the break of the PR ending and your closing email text
Clear contact details where they can contact you for more information
A link to your website in case they want to do more research

4. How to Send a Press Release | Mail to Local Media

If you are announcing an event, a local store opening, or a new retail store product/service offering, then the best advice on how to send out a press release may differ from those announcing more virtual, non-local news. When you have something you’d like to announce locally, going “old school” and sending out press releases by traditional postal mail can actually get you more visibility in your local newspaper, television news stations, and radio stations.

Most people, including editors and media, are now bombarded with emails every day, so sending them something in the mail often will get their attention more than just another email.

If you want to know how to send press release announcements to your local media, Wikipedia is a great place to start for a listing that will tell you who your local newspapers, radio, and TV stations are and give you a link to their websites where you can find editor contact details.

Source: SheOwnsIt Sending Out A Press Release Kit

5. How to Send a Press Release | Send a Press Kit

A secret tip of PR professionals is the Press Kit, also known as a Media Kit. It is a set of PR materials about an event, store opening, movie/book/app release, or other significant news event that goes beyond just sending a press release that is a single page.

A press kit is often presented in a grander manner and nearly always by postal mail or personal delivery, although in recent years, Press Kits have also gone online. It can include a series of timed press releases, along with a gift or promotional item and video or other media that helps promote the news.

An example would be a “Taste of the Town” charity event where multiple one-page press releases are included about different facets of the event, all with different timed distribution and included in a basket of goodies from participating restaurants.

This is also a tried and true practice in the entertainment industry, where promotional items are included for a movie or television show within the press kit.

You can use this secret weapon to garner local media for your own event. Here are a few sites that provide tips on creating and how to send press release kits.

Cyber Alert – 10 Main Components of a First Class Press Kit
Shopify – How to Send Press Release Press Kit
Entrepreneur – Ingredients of a Press Kit
Branch – Where to Send a Press Release – 10 Things to Include in Your Media Kit

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6. How to Send a Press Release Guide | Automate How to Send Out a Press Release

This method will take a little more time to cultivate, but it can be incredibly helpful down the road to get your products, services, and events free PR at very little cost. It involves creating your own media database that will represent where to send press releases for your organization in the future.

While this method takes some time and effort to build up the email and mailable database, once it is in place, you can easily send press releases out to all pertinent media in a single click of a button.

Tips for building your database of where to send a press release:

Include the name of the publication and editor
Include all contact information
Include their preferred method of receiving press releases
Include any links to online press release submittal pages on their site
Segment them by your target markets, if you have more than one
Keep your PR relevant, i.e., don’t spam your media list
Include in your database news of yours that each has published in the past

Source: How to Send Press Release

How to Send Out a Press Release | Summing It Up

Knowing where to send a press release and how to send out a press release can make a big difference for your organization. The power of having your product, service, event, and other news releases distributed in multiple media can mean more visitors, participants, sales, or donations than you would’ve seen otherwise.

While there are multiple online outlets for sending out press releases, not all of them will give you the same exposure, so it pays to do your research.

It’s also smart to remember that when you’re wondering how to send a press release, you have other methods to send press releases at your disposal, like sending them by mail or email.

You can also get more exposure for your news announcement by investing the time and effort into a press kit, which has a good chance of drawing attention.

Our goal with this guide on how to send out a press release was to give you the tools and knowledge to help you make a big splash with your news announcements and also show you the secret tips and tricks of the pros so you know where to send press releases in the future for the most impact.

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