[Marketing 101] – 10 Tips For Distributing a Press Release

So, you’ve written a press release, and you’re ready to get it out to the public. But you don’t have a lot of media contacts, and you’re not sure who’s going to pick up your news. What’s a small publisher to do?

First, you need to consider how you want to put your releases out. I’d suggest email, since it’s inexpensive, though e-mailed press releases can get caught in spam filters. Your most important sources should also receive hardcopy releases, whether they’re in the form of a fax or a press kit. And you should most certainly post any official announcements on your company’s website, if for no other reason than so that the search engines will pick them up.

Once you’ve determined your plan, you need to find a way to get people to actually see your release. Here are 10 tips that will help you get your press release out in front of the public. And while they might not all be practical for your promotional plans, the more of these tips you employ, the better exposure your news will get!

1. Build up a publishing industry release list. This includes sources such as Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Book Reviews, Booklist, and Publishing News. You can find a fairly comprehensive list of sources here and here. Additionally, many of these sources host blogs for niche categories; for example, Publisher’s Weekly has writer Heidi MacDonald run a blog about comic books and graphic novels called The Beat. Do your research with each source and see if they have a specialist who covers your category, and make sure to add that person to your list.

2. Build up a blogger release list. There are many bloggers out there who are struggling to find daily content on their topic. Help them out by sending them press releases that are relevant to their blog. For example, if you’re publishing a book about kites, be sure to let any bloggers who specialize in news about the kite industry know about your book. Not only will this help you reach consumers who are potentially interested in your product, but it may help you reach consumers who might not have heard about your product if you had talked about it through traditional channels.

3. Build up an independent retailer release list. Many independent retailers do not pay close attention to small publisher news. They just don’t have the time. But they do tend to read any catalogs or press releases that are sent their way. Booksense.com has a database of over 1,200 independent bookstores, complete with contact information. You might want to narrow the search down to your specific niche before you start sending press releases to all of the contacts involved, but you’ll be glad you kept these retailers in the know when they start placing orders for your books.

Let me add here that while it’s not necessary to obtain the permission of these retailers to send them materials, it’s not wise to slam them with a large volume of junk mail, since it may make them less likely to read what you send. Also, make sure your press releases include availability information (especially if you have an exclusive distributor) and an ISBN so that these retailers can place an order if they’re interested in your book.

4. Build up a newswire release list. There are many newswires out there that exist so that multiple media sources can receive information on different industries. There are publishing industry newswires as well. Some are maintained by distributors, and some are maintained by retailers. But be careful when you sign up for a newswire, because many, like PR Newswire and BusinessWire, want to charge you for distribution of each release. I also question their effectiveness, since both send out thousands of press releases every month. Your news is a part of their database, true, but it’s something that members actually have to search for. And if someone is eager to find out more information about your small publishing company, they’re more likely to start with Google than with a pay service. Big services might seem prestigious, but often, they’re a waste of time and money.

Fortunately, there are plenty of free newswires out there that specialize in publishing news. There are also communities to be found in places like Yahoo! Groups that distribute news to enthusiast media. For example, the comic book industry has a group called SuperHeroNews that’s free to use. Ask around and do your research – chances are good you’ll find a few. Just make sure you don’t join a group for fans of a particular topic and then start spamming them with your product news – it’s a good way to build ill will.

UPDATE: Here’s a list of free press release distribution sites I just found. Use it well!

5. Build up a librarian release list. Librarians, much like independent booksellers, are known for reading hardcopy items that are sent their way. Since librarians are responsible for purchasing books for their libraries, they are a key market to target with your news. You can meet librarians at trade shows hosted by the ALA, or you can find them through an internet directory. But definitely plan to include them in your overall press release plan.

6. Build up a customer release list. Who is more likely to be more interested in your products than your existing customers? Every time you visit a trade show or event, collect email addresses. Every time you sell a product to a customer, ask them to opt-in for a weekly or monthly newsletter. Have a signup form on your site. Use those email addresses to send out weekly or monthly news about your company’s products, including content from your press releases. This so-called “grassroots strategy” is one of the most efficient and effective ways to get the word out about your products, and it allows you to control everything that is said about your company.

7. Set up a blog about your products. This is one of those little “marketing tricks” that many small publishers use to take advantage of the blogging community’s infrastructure. Blogs are easy to set up, and often free – I use Wordpress myself, but Blogger is also very nice. Once you get a blog set up, you can go and register it at Technorati and Feedburner so that every time you post up a new article, members of the blogging community (particularly those who have added your blog to their newsfeed) will be notified.

Some really savvy publishers put up blogs that appear to be fansites and write under aliases so that they can generate unofficial buzz about their books as well. Others pay or reward bloggers who write about their products and who post their press releases. Ethically, it’s a gray area, and since I’m a big believer in transparent business practices, I’d recommend not hoodwinking your customers this way. But be aware that it is an option.

8. Set up a Myspace Profile or a Facebook Group. Social networking is a big thing right now, and while advertising on these networks is costly and questionably effective, setting up a profile or group can help you attract fans and quickly get the news out to them. My wife happens to be a huge fan of the author Sherrilyn Kenyon, and she’s constantly pointing out to me how involved the author is in these communities, posting frequent items (sometimes, in the voice of her characters!) and answering questions from fans. Every time Ms. Keynon sends out news, all of her fans who are “friends” are notified via email. You can’t beat that direct level of publicity.

What’s really nice about Myspace is that your profile can be customized to match your own website, and it gives you the added bonus of being able to track you exact number of fans and learn more about them by viewing their profiles. This is valuable for quick marketing research.

Facebook offers the option of creating groups, which don’t seem to be as popular as the groups or product profiles on Myspace, but they shouldn’t be discounted. You can also encourage your authors to set themselves up to have “fans,” which is basically a way of allowing Facebook users to showcase their favorite musicians, actors/actresses, artists and authors.

9. Set up a podcast. A regular podcast (a term used to describe internet radio shows) about your products isn’t that hard to produce, and you can literally just read your press releases if you want to. Users can subscribe to podcasts so that they’re notified every time a new one is available, and they can even set their portable devices to download their favorite podcasts automatically. You can also set them to play directly from your webpage or blog. Podcasts don’t need to be long, but should be interesting. I’d suggest interviewing your authors and talking about the creative process behind products, or inviting authors to give readings. Podcasts should definitely be registered with iTunes, since it’s one of the main places websites pull feeds from.

10. Set up a video podcast. A video podcast is simply a short video recording of around 5-9 minutes where you talk about your products. These are incredibly easy to set up via a site like Youtube, and all you really need is a web camera. I’d suggest filming these around your office to give them an air of authenticity, and focusing on talking about the content of your press releases. The nice thing about these videos is that they will stay up forever, searchable by anyone, and they can also be embedded in your webpage so that users can easily watch them. It’s yet another smart way to present your information directly to consumers, and if you can be interesting or entertaining enough, users will look past the video quality.

So, there you have it! These are some of the techniques I have in my own bag of tricks, and I hope they’re helpful to you. And if I’ve missed something, feel free to post your own techniques below!

Writing Scraps

by Sean J. Jordan