So you’ve been spending a ton of time writing press releases, but you haven’t been hearing back from any outlets saying they want to use your piece. What’s wrong?
Well, numerous factors influence what a journalist thinks about what you’ve written. When you ignore any of them, it gives them a reason to move on to the next press release in their massive to-read pile./p>
This guide will walk you through the top press release distribution mistakes and provide you with suggestions to help you steer clear from them.
1. Ineffective Title
Yes, your title is what hooks the reader, but you shouldn’t need any fancy jargon to do so. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is they create a headline that isn’t straight-forward and doesn’t indicate to your audience how your news affects them. Incorporate highly-searched keywords to increase the number of people who read your press release.
Although it should be informative, avoid giving away everything in the headline. If the reader feels as though their curiosity has been satisfied before getting to the body paragraphs, they won’t feel the need to click on the article.
Furthermore, the title is the first part of your press release that a journalist reads. If they find that it is too long, sounds boring, or irrelevant, they likely won’t use it in a report. You don’t want to tarnish your companies reputation by making any of these mistakes, as it will become challenging to convince journalists to use your press releases in the future.
2. Failing to Customize Your Press Release
Not all journalists are the same. Therefore, they shouldn’t be receiving the same press release. While it may take more time to revamp your headline and lead, you’ve got to target an audience.
Before deciding who to send your final draft to, though, you need to do your research. Which journalist commonly run stories about your industry or the work you do? Who is their audience, and how do they go about revealing information to them?
When you reach out to them, don’t just send your press release and ask them to run it. Instead, pitch your company to them. By developing discussions with journalists, you might end up creating a relationship with them, and they could run your press releases more frequently.
3. Not Incorporating Multimedia
To make your press releases more digestible, include photos, videos, hashtags, GIFs, or memes. It’s always better to create your own content, as it will give the reader extra insight into your company and shows the effort you put into this piece of writing. Journalists will also find this helpful because they would need to add these digital mediums to their stories anyway, and by providing them, you’ve saved them time.
4. Using the Wrong Press Release Writing Style
Because you want your press release to get picked up by news outlets, you need to write in the same style they use. You want to avoid making your writing sound like an advertisement. Journalists might mistake it as spam, or they’ll dislike how long it takes to get to the facts.
To make it sound like a news article, write in the third person, drop the Oxford comma, and follow all the other guidelines the Associated Press has created. When pulling quotes, use ones that don’t restate the information you’ve already given.
Instead, provide an inside perspective about how your news will benefit your audience and the company moving forward. While interviewing CEOs and other top executives is a smart choice, getting quotes from unbiased sources will increase your credibility as a brand.
5. Forgetting to Reoptimize for Other Sites
Spread the word about company news by posting it on multiple places on the internet. You can either repurpose your press releases and rewrite them in a blog format or create a “Press” header on your company’s website and reoptimize them for that location. Having one spot for the company’s news makes it easier for invested customers to check-in and potential future employees to research the brand before applying.
Furthermore, don’t forget to post your news on social media. You can leave this up to the reader by creating share buttons on the press release article, or you can tease snippets of information on your accounts. That is where multimedia and hashtags come in handy because you can use them to create chatter around your announcement.
6. Ignoring the Analytics
To better your content, you’ve got to know what people are enjoying about your press releases and what’s not working for them. If your company has a designated team of people dedicated to researching the stats around your topic and your press release, ask them how you can achieve better SEO rankings and gain a larger audience.
Analytics tell you a lot about your target demographic and see how well the audience engages with a post. Compare and contrast each press release’s content to what is boosting views. Setting the goal of getting picked up by more news outlets or gaining more traffic on your site will give your company more reason to use these analytics.
7. Ineffective Call to Action
You don’t want to butcher the end of your press release by not creating a general call to action. Never take the reader to your home page because they might not care to look at your site further. State what the anchor text will lead the reader to if they should click on it.
If you’re taking them to a product or service, mention it. If you want your readers to sign up for a newsletter, tell them that.
The point of a press release is to be as transparent with your audience as possible. Why not apply that rule to your call to action?
Avoid Press Release Distribution Mistakes by Hiring Help
There’s a lot to keep in mind when you are writing your press releases, but with these tips, your company is sure to be successful at getting its news out into the world. There’s one last thing, though.
If you want to be sure not to make any press release distribution mistakes, use a distribution service. At eReleases, we offer an array of services that will help expand your media coverage, working to take your business to the next level. Get in touch with one of our team members today.