How to choose a press release service
I recently wrote a guide posted on Problogger about how to turn a blog post into a press release. If you’re ready to take the next step and promote your release, what are your options?
Even experienced PR people debate the best way to publish a release and the best service to use. Some press release services provide great reports that are excellent for showing to clients. Others provide better SEO results. Some have services that send releases directly to journalists that requested them (can be great for niche/B2B companies).
What any press release service provides:
- Distribution of your release to a wide variety of websites that will publish your release verbatim
And that’s about it. You can pay for more services, which I’ll note below.
What press release services do NOT provide:
- Guarantees that journalists will write stories about you or your company
So what you will get is a bunch of copies of your press release on the web. You may get additional pickup from social media (mentions of your release on Twitter, for example), but it would be up to you to manually leverage those mentions to build lasting relationships.
Distributing your release for free
Many clients choose to NOT use a press release service at all. Sometimes you just don’t need one, especially if you’re a local or niche business with regular media contacts who will publish your news. Here’s what I’ve done for those clients:
- Post the press release on the client’s website
- Email the press release to relevant journalists and news outlets with a pitch letter and follow-up phone call.
What you get from this method:
- No distribution cost
- Targeted, one-on-one outreach to best prospects
- Excellent chances of generating news stories or mentions in legitimate (and highly-ranked) news outlets
There’s also a number of free press release services. Some of them include ads, and some include paid options. Check out the list of free PR services from EndGame PR, which also has an excellent review of each of these free press release distribution services.
My own experience: PRWeb vs. PR Newswire
Below is my review of two press release services. Most of my experience is with either PRWeb or PR Newswire. The biggest difference is cost.
PR Newswire
PR Newswire has been around forever, is well respected, costly, and produces great reports for clients. The reports show you every place the release has run, including top news sites. If people are searching Google for your exact subject, they’ll probably find your release. The last release I put on PR Newswire got more than 200 of these news website hits, plus more than 90 Twitter mentions.
The cost is what’s most prohibitive. Even though pricess start at less than $200, that’s for a press release of 400 words (press releases are rarely that short) and limited, local distribution only. Add-ons like more words, national distribution, distribution to targeted journalists, anchor text links, and multimedia like photos or video quickly drive the cost higher. My average cost for PR Newswire press releases runs about $1,000.
To sum up, PR Newswire advantages:
- Well respected
- Good for investor relations (probably not needed for most businesses, but for large, public corporations this is a legal must. Getting your information out publicly in a timely manner, and also getting it to the SEC is something that PR Newswire and other top news services can assist you with)
- Excellent client reports
- Strong lists of industry journalists who request press release information. Some will call you based on the press release, but if you buy names from PR Newswire, they provide you with contact information to follow up.
- Good customer service – you can call and talk to with questions
Disadvantages:
- Costly
- Not sure if distribution is better than PR Web
PRWeb is a newer press release distribution that has options as low as $80, regardless of length. For $200, you can specifiy anchor text links (great for SEO), plus images.
Advantages:
- Much less expcensive
- Excellent SEO features
Disadvantages:
- Not as prestigious
- Reports are not as robust
I haven’t used PRWeb’s customer service, so can’t comment on whether they’re as responsive as PR Newswire.
Bottom line: PRWeb
I would regurarly recommend PRWeb over PRNewswire because you get much better SEO tools regardless of the cost, which happens to be much, much less. I would only recommend PR Newswire if a client was announcing national breaking news, or the client was a multinational corporation and people might be surpised the corporation can’t afford PR Newswire.
Do you agree with me? What press release services have you used?
Joel
May 12, 2011, 8:26 amThanks for the tips, Erika. I’ve used PRWeb and been pleased with their results as well. Thank-you for the comparison!
Todd William
August 14, 2011, 8:11 pmI have used PRWeb for clients with excellent results. For minor announcements or local events, free PR distribution services are a good choice.
Boise Idaho
August 19, 2011, 6:18 pmI just posted my first press release on PRWeb. Looking forward to seeing what results I see.
Trey
Erika
September 14, 2011, 3:31 pmGood luck! I did one recently too, and got good results. What I did notice, though, is that last time I put one on PR Newswire, I got about 20 times the number of Twitter hits. Not sure if that’s worth $1,000, but maybe social media experts can tell us.
Fiona Friesen
October 20, 2011, 11:15 pmThanks for the comparison. I was wondering if there was a good reason to switch to PRNewswire and I think you answered my question!
Deidra Alexander
December 23, 2011, 12:11 pmI have a humor blog, not a news blog. My tagline is I have people to kill, lives to ruin, plagues to bring and worlds to destroy. I’m not the Angel of Death, I’m a fiction writer. I’m getting ready to launch the Angel of Death blog for syndication. Are either of these services something that would be of value to announcing this type of release or are these for real news?
Sherri McLendon
February 16, 2018, 8:19 amThe key words in your question are “syndication launch.” So yes, consider a press release for your newsworthy event (launch) that has a media/business news angle (syndication). Even fiction writers need a market for their work. Press releases are a part of any good content strategy for selling your fiction.
Lis
March 12, 2012, 11:01 pmThanks for writing this article. I actually learned about PR WEB before PR Newswire because of their extensive advertising and involvement in social media. I think that I’ll stick with it after reading this post.
Macel Legaspi
May 21, 2012, 9:25 pmThanks for the tip. I was going to try PR Web but I tried to check what some companies are using (Salesforce, for example) and saw that it had a release via PR Newswire. However, I was skeptic and so I stumbled on your post. We used to use BusinessWire which is quite costly — there are other options and since I’m really intent on making a big SEO impact, maybe PR Web can help.
Erika
May 22, 2012, 9:12 amSometimes it’s a reputation thing. I’m not surprised that Salesforce is using PR Newswire — if the didn’t they’d seem “cheap.”
Calgary security companies
June 20, 2012, 4:12 amThanks for the info. I just went with PRweb.com.
Lisa
July 10, 2012, 1:28 pmThanks for the info. We use PRWeb and I’m in the process of researching whether PRNewswire would offer any additional benefits. Nice to see the comparisons from someone that’s used both!
Ray Wyman
September 19, 2012, 10:32 amI used PRWeb for private corporations and nonprofits for several years – found that the direct dissemination model (via targeted news portals) is smart and ideal for clients with limited PR budgets. Moreover, the releases produce better direct response results than from BWire and PR Newswire. I recently began using PRWeb’s financial services (switched from PR Newswire) and was initially very pleased with the results. PRWire redistributes via Global Newswire, by the way, so I though, “How could i lose?” However, I recently discovered that PRWeb doesn’t do a very good job with OTC issues, especially for “penny stocks” – which is a huge market for practitioners like me. I’m trying to bully them into fixing the problem. Jury is still out. May have to switch back – at least for financials.
Dav
December 22, 2012, 11:02 amHi and thanks all for sharing opinions.
Concerning PR Web “Stars” for Enhanced Placement ($40 / star), what would be your best advise ? none,1,2,5 or all of them ?
Kim
August 2, 2013, 8:57 amHey Dav,
What did you end up finding out about PR Web stars for enhanced placement? Worth it?
Dav
August 12, 2013, 2:53 amHi Kim. Havn’t tried PR Web yet. Commercial from PR web on the phone told me to use all of them would work better, which I could have guessed myself 😉 So, no real answer on that one yet ;(
PressReleasePoint
March 19, 2013, 12:12 amIf you are interested in free PR websites you could try this sortable list of free pr sites here.
http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/paid-and-free-press-release-site-list
Karl Bantleman
March 21, 2013, 5:28 amI don’t think a press release, however good it may be, is worth $1000! I always choose PR Web because, as people have already said, it gives some great results
Lainie Anderson
April 7, 2013, 10:52 pmWas looking into PRNewswire but this article gave a great review and I will now consider PRWeb as we are a start up online business! Thanks again.
Jen
April 22, 2013, 11:07 pmPRnewswire and PRWeb ranks lower than NewswireToday.com for newswire distribution
I have been using newswiretoday.com since over two years now and very glad. Plans are affordable and deliver a fair amount of traffic. You need to submit compelling announcements if you plan to use them, those guys are very picky on content.
Kip
August 15, 2013, 8:14 amI have a question, I think I have made up my mind to go with PRWeb for my press release. My question, is what plan with PRWeb would you recommend, and is it necessary to purchase extras stars or points to move your press release up closer to the top? What about the search engine purchase of words, it can really start to add up in cost with all the additional purchases. Thanks for any information you may have..
ECS Office
October 3, 2013, 2:09 pmI strongly prefer to use PRWEB for premium releases. They seem to get more traction.
Erika
October 16, 2013, 1:26 pmAs a quick update, a colleague just posted the following on FB:
“Biggest difference is cost and amount on links. PR Newswire is more expensive but you get 300+ links. PRWeb gets approx 200 links.”
Wesley Baker
November 12, 2013, 7:29 amI have used PR Web many times but I did notice that some of the major press articles with large newsgroups are on some subliminal website made to look like the main newsgroup website but on investigation of the address I noticed it was not. When I questioned this 3 seperate times after spending $$$’s over campaigns they never really gave answers to the fact that the news is not on the main newsgroups website etc… Take for example Boston.com it will show you have acheived the post, and you have a URL but when you actually go direct to Boston.com and check the website you will not find it, furthermore it is not within the database of the media outlet, this is the same for SF Chronicle and all the main newsgroups. The good thing is often Yahoo News will pick up the article and that is real.
Now I have a campaign that I must get a lot of coverage from as it is for a good cause and the fight against cancer and have enough budget for a few news distribution websites and I want to get coverage particular in some major newsgroups and also as a social buzz too. So the options I see currently are:
PR Web: $369
Web Reach Plus PR Newswire: $349
PR Newswire Normal: $199 + Release Charges ??? Could be upto $1000
Newswiretoday: $129
I-Newswire: $77
Send2Pres: $199
OnlinePrNews: $349
I could use all if I wanted to at a push and maybe I will, but I certainly dont want to blow the funds with PR Newswire for a hundred extra links…
It is a real difficult situation to predict as they all offer something, I think truthfully we would just all like honesty, and not false information.
SEO Webdesign Singapore
October 23, 2013, 1:06 pmhow about onlineprnews.com?
Sirap Limau
November 13, 2013, 4:34 amboth are expensive… is there anything cheaper than these two?
Pard1
January 3, 2014, 11:08 amWell, as press releases don’t have SEO value anymore, not sure that PR Web (or any PR service) is at all worthwhile, if SEO is the goal.
Laurie
January 5, 2014, 2:30 pmI am starting a home-based business offering Executive Admin services, graphic design & special occasion assistance to businesses and individuals… virtually &/or locally, in person… I thought distribing a press release would be a good first step to get the word out… Do you think it’s worth it for a business like mine? It seems rather inconseguential to media, but then again I am offering services that a wide range of people would like to know is available, you know? (and I’d use PRWeb due to the price, but now due to this review & the comments)
Dominic
January 5, 2014, 5:25 pmI specialize in making PR stunts that go viral. I use PRWeb because it is the best value when measuring cost vs reach. Using PRWeb’s advanced release, I’ve had 6 or 7 client campaigns go nationally viral (trending on twitter, reddit, front page Huffpo, Salon, Washington Post, NY times, politico, etc. and crashed servers from 5-6 million hits in a weekend). Some of my colleagues can’t make stuff go viral using the most expensive releases with the most distribution.
My point is that all reputable newswires do the same thing. Here’s the secret to viral marketing – SENSATIONALISM!
Dan Weik (pronounced wick)
August 25, 2014, 7:16 pmMy feels exactly… When I’m working with businesses cross country and only trying to index good content, it’s hard to believe who’s better for the price.. How does one really quantify that? Regardless, I believe NO MATTER what PR service you use, SEO results will diminish over time. True or False? Since I believe that to be the truth, the real question might be if you want prestige or not. SEO will come and go by any PR company, it just depends on your budget.. I “think” that PR Web is best priced, most bang for buck so that’s the way I’m going for what it’s worth…
låna utan inkomst
September 30, 2014, 8:23 amThis blog was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve
found something that helped me. Cheers!
Tony
October 2, 2014, 10:59 amPRWEB is “ok-ish” for things like SEO but for getting real coverage then it’s worthy doing the leg work your self emailing the journalists. if your looking to target the UK market then a company we’ve had a moderate success wit his http://www.pressat.co.uk – although as I’ve said if you’ve got the time to email yourself do it!
Pedro Pereira
November 6, 2014, 11:52 amWhat about PRBuzz?
Adam John
September 23, 2016, 4:36 amI was comparing to go with either PR Web or PR Newswire and you seem to have answered my question. I’ll go with PR Web and see how it goes. Thanks for the great post!