The press release. One of the oldest tools of the PR trade. Some argue that in today’s media landscape, press releases aren’t as important as they once were. Issuing a press release over a wire service is great for potentially reaching a wide audience and driving traffic to a site. However, in what is now a crowded digital world, mass distribution does not equal guaranteed coverage.
When done correctly, distributing a press release over a wire service still has its benefits. Having a wire service included in a retainer keeps clients that are interested in reaching broad audiences, vanity metrics, and receiving a report with hard numbers (like the amount of click-throughs to their site) happy.
With multiple wire services out there, it can become a question of which service to go with. We broke down the pros and cons of two of the top services out there: PRNewswire and Business Wire.
PRNewswire
Pros:
- Simple upload process
- Affiliated with CISION
- Can include images, video, audio and infographics
- Offers media measurement and analytics
- iReach- good for garnering web links for smaller businesses
Cons:
- Cost is unknown until you get invoiced (unless you figure it out through the pages of pricing options)
- Options for different target audiences can cost a lot
Business Wire
Pros:
- A LOT of choices
- Account manager is readily available and helpful
- Editorial team reads through your release and sends it to the target audiences that they think are the best fit
- Offers custom corporate profile with basic facts about your organization that’s distributed to their National circuit and linked from each of your press releases on BusinessWire.com
- Reader friendly reports
- Good for big businesses
Cons:
- Amount of choices can be overwhelming
- $110 extra fee for Global-Mobile-Social-Measurable Apps which is required no matter what
Choosing which wire service you want to use comes down to who the client is and what type of news you are sharing. Keep in mind that you don’t want to rely on a wire service as your only means of distribution since there is no guaranteed coverage with any service. Create your own media list, personalize pitches, share on social media and spread the word!