What You Need to Know When Sending a Press Release to Newswire

A newswire or a press release distribution service helps businesses in improving their online visibility and web presence. If you haven’t used it before, there are many things you need to know prior to using any platform.

What is a newswire?

Newswire or wire services syndicate your story across different sites and locations. Journalists, bloggers, and influencers subscribed to its newsfeeds receive your news directly. The platform is a great way for your news to appear on Google News and get indexed on the search engines.

How does it work?

A paid wire service sends a story to various channels (newspapers, magazines, TV, radios, and trade journals). It offers different sets of plans where a brand can choose from.

Some services provide a single, monthly or annual distribution plan. Others offer a customized distribution if the brand doesn’t find anything that fit its needs.

Since the news reaches different sites and locations like journalists and media outlets, it gets wider exposure. You reach people and locations that are impossible for you to reach without using the platform.

These distribution services have a wide network that means that your news is seen by a lot of people. Sharing it on social media is easy, so your news can get viral quickly. You don’t need to research your target media because the service offers Geo-targeting and industry-specific list.

You’ll receive analytics reports that monitor the outcome of your releases. Through the report, you’ll have insights on whether you meet your goals or not. It helps in improving your future campaigns and eradicating the mistakes of your communication.

Benefits of sending a release to a newswire:

1. You become a thought leader in your industry.

When you use a newswire to distribute your news on a regular basis, you’ll be on top of the minds of your potential customers. Issuing newsworthy releases that highlight your expertise, such as linking your story to a trending issue, providing solutions to the problems of your audience, or reporting the outcome of a study can position you as an industry expert.

However, you can’t just issue a release without a unique angle. Your news should stand out. Do it often.

When people see you more often, they will notice you. Soon they will trust you. Once you earn their trust, you’ll build credibility.

They will begin to inquire about your products or services and make buying decisions. Keep in mind that once they trust you, you don’t have to convince them to buy your products. You become a great brand compared to your competitors. They are going to choose you over them.

Potential investors can easily spot expert brands. No investor is going to put their investment at stake. If you are contributing great content, they will be interested to collaborate with you.

2. It improves your online visibility.

When you use a distribution platform, you can choose a plan or subscription that can boost your visibility. There are monthly and annual subscriptions that can distribute releases more frequently each month.

Choosing a reputable press release distribution service that offers great features like social media integration can boost your visibility. There are social media sharing buttons that can encourage users to share it on social media channels.

Since a newswire has a network of journalists, bloggers, influencers, and media outlets across different online and traditional publications, your news can spread like wildfire. It is seen by more people in different locations.

This means that your news has the tendency to go viral. In just a matter of minutes, after it goes live, it can reach people who are interested in your offer.

As your news becomes visible, journalists can easily find you. Your news is indexed in Google News, which gives it more exposure. Although you may not land placement at once, they will notice you.

If your news is interesting and relevant to their readers, they will go back to you from time-to-time to use you as a source of information. With increased visibility, they can mention you in the stories they are working on, which can boost your authority.

3. It helps build brand awareness.

It’s expected that when your news is seen more often by your target readers, you’ll establish your branding. Issue releases that highlight you as an expert many times in a month.

When people see you frequently, they will have the interest to know you. They can learn who you are, what you offer, what makes you stand out in the market, and why they will engage with you.

It takes a while to build a brand. You can’t do it overnight. After you have established your brand, make sure that you’ll maintain communication with your audience.

Distribute releases and other types of content to promote your message. Use a uniform voice so that they will know that it’s you and not any other brands. Be consistent.

4. You get a placement for your news.

When you use a press release distribution site, journalists subscribed to the feeds will receive your news. It gets to the eyes of relevant media who are more likely to cover your story.

These are journalists, bloggers, and influencers who opted to receive stories related to their niche. It gives you an opportunity to be seen by journalists who may mention you or place your story in the newspaper or a magazine.

What’s good in using a distribution site is that you don’t need to build relationships prior to distribution. It’s the role of these sites to send your release to relevant media. Whether you choose to reach the local, regional or national journalists.

5. You attract potential customers and investors.

When you issue a release via the distribution platform, you are easily visible to potential customers and investors. You’ll have more opportunities if you are using a platform that is connected with popular media outlets.

Just imagine your news getting picked up by “New York Times” or “Newsweek.” Investors seeing your news in a popular publication will get you more offers. Since you land publicity from a media outlet, an investor can express their interest to collaborate with you.

More collaboration is good for your brand. It helps you in growing your brand.

On the other hand, you’ll attract potential customers who can later jump into the buying cycle. As mentioned earlier, trust goes hand in hand with credibility. If they find you a trustworthy business, they will be more than willing to engage and purchase from you.

6. It makes your news visible for a long time.

When you use a service to disseminate your news, they archive it which makes it easy to search for your brand, or through the use of keyword or symbols. The process of archiving makes it possible for searchers to find your story even after it was published online.

7. You can manage your reputation.

When your business thrives online, sometimes you can be caught off-guard when an unsatisfied customer or a competitor will leave bad reviews, comments or feedback about your brand. What’s worse is that within seconds, it can ruin your reputation.

If you are using a press release service that has a network of tens of thousands of media and publications, you can ensure that your release reaches far and wide. More people will know your story.

Issuing a release during a crisis is a great way to show that you’re seriously handling the issues. Working with a newswire can help you issue a release immediately.

8. You gain more traffic for your site.

A release distributed by a press release service is optimized for the search engines. This means that they make sure that your content uses relevant keywords for optimization.

Not only that, they ensure that it is properly written, and is newsworthy, relevant, and interesting for the readers. Keep in mind that your content will not attract readers if it is not interesting, even it’s optimized.

An optimized release can boost site traffic. People will see you on top of the search engine result pages (SERPs). When more people are going to your site, you’ll have more leads and sales.

Moreover, newswire make it possible for your content to be on social media channels. Your content can be seen by more people using social media. If your release contains links, they will be driven to your site.

It leads to more people visiting your site. More visitors are good for your business.

9. Better ranking on SERPs.

When your release is optimized for the search engines, you’ll land on high ranking on SERPs. Using a distribution platform can help you achieve this.

An optimized release contains keywords and relevant links. These elements can help in optimizing your content.

They have an editorial team that checks releases. Editors ensure that your content is optimized and is interesting and relevant for the readers. Google rewards sites that provide quality content to the readers.

Google positions these sites on top of the SERPs. It can give a lot of benefits if your site is found on the top ranking. You’ll have better visibility, more traffic, and sales.

How journalists use Newswires:

Understanding how journalists use press release distribution platforms gives you more reason why you should be distributing your release via this channel. Not only it is used by PR agencies and marketers to spread their stories.

In one study, it was found that 37 percent of journalists use a press release service every day, 30 percent use it on occasion, and 21 percent said they never used it. When asked why they use it, 78 percent said it is used for news stories, 56 percent for feature an article, and 56 percent for tracking trends in the industry.

There is only one issue in using the platform. Since stories on newswires are available to all, there is no exclusivity. It can be a big issue for freelancers and some journalists who benefit from exclusive stories.

It is an effective tool for journalists who are beating the deadlines. They use the platform for fact-checking or verification of information. It saves them a huge amount of time researching.

They found it easier to access the platform that contains brief but precise information than searching for the company’s site. Since a release contains visual elements, links, and other important information, they find it useful in crafting a story.

A lot of media also find wire agencies accessible. With just a single click, they can access the information on one page.

Press release distribution sites are not ideal to connect with the media. If you really want to grow relationships, you should start building a connection with them via social media. Research the stories they write, interests, and any future projects they are interested to write.

Gather information related to their beat. It will later help you in personalizing your pitch.

If you are reaching out to the press and getting no calls for media coverage, you may be wondering what’s wrong. Go back to basics. Write a newsworthy and relevant piece of content, craft an interesting headline, place a unique story angle, avoid acronyms and jargon, and focus on your target audience.

However, you shouldn’t stop there. You need to analyze what really makes up a great story. Examine what journalists really are interested in and what turns them off.

They want more connection. They appreciate releases. They want you to build a connection by constantly calling and emailing them.

The use of newswires may have declined in recent years. However, don’t think that it is no longer an effective tool for your PR.

Although pitching directly to the media is the best practice for distribution, using the platform is useful when you need an immediate distribution of your story. Since they have a network of reporters and media outlets, you don’t have to worry about relevant contacts or putting up a targeted media list.

To make the most of using newswires, you need to understand how the media use it. Journalists are the ones place your news in front of your target audience. So, although you don’t directly pitch to them, make sure that you understand how the media are going to use it.

There is a ratio of 4.6 PR people for every journalist. This means that there are a lot of stories out there. If your story doesn’t resonate, it will be hard for you to get noticed.

Assess your story carefully. If you think that it doesn’t sound as newsworthy as it should be, don’t rush.

You invest time and resources in the distribution. And most especially, you spend money on distributing it. Make sure that paying a platform that will distribute your news is worthwhile.

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Janeth Kent

Licenciada en Bellas Artes y programadora por pasión. Cuando tengo un rato retoco fotos, edito vídeos y diseño cosas. El resto del tiempo escribo en MA-NO WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT.