When it comes to getting started with marketing a lot of people default to issuing a press release. It’s a simple way of getting information distributed about your company but not the best option for all companies at all times.
Here, we’ve broken down everything you need to know about issuing a paid press release from what types of companies should pay for press releases, questions to ask before you pay to publish one, and for who paid press releases make the most sense.
What is a press release?
A press release is a short news story written by a company’s marketing team member highlighting key company updates or announcements. They are typically written in a very direct, no-fluff-type manner and are published on a PR Newswire-type site that aggregates press releases, published on an industry-specific news site, or included as part of a press kit that is emailed directly to media companies.
For the sake of this article, we will focus on paid press releases.
This is when a company pays a news site to publish its press release. Regardless of what industry your company is in, paid press releases are almost always present.
What are the benefits of paying for a press release?
Paying for a press release offers numerous benefits to marketing teams.
Speed of distribution
One of the main benefits is speed of distribution. When it comes to getting information published quickly you can either publish it on your own blog (if you have one) or you can pay to have it published elsewhere. By having it published on a reputable news site, you increase the likelihood that others will find it organically.
A lot of industries have PR distribution platforms that help you get featured in media outlets that are specific to that industry. For example, here are some PR distribution services for the crypto industry.
You can control the story
Because press releases are typically written by a member of a company’s marketing team or agency, the marketing department has full control over how the story is written. This often offers peace of mind to the team that they will be represented correctly.
It’s very time-effective
Growing companies usually have a limitation on their time. The time cost of publishing a press release is just the time it takes to write the press release and choosing where to publish it.
What types of companies should pay for press releases?
It’s important to remember that paying for a press release in a news publication is often “vanity strategy”. What this means is companies shouldn’t rely solely on one paid press release to drive traffic to their website or product unless they are Google indexed, Keyword optimized, and published on a high authority website.
To find the authority of your own website check here.
Companies that it makes the most sense to publish a paid press release are companies that want to establish credibility. Meaning, if you own a company that is looking to look more reputable for the sake of attracting investors, then it may make sense to publish an article in industry-specific publications.
Questions to ask before paying for press release publication:
Before you pay to publish a press release make sure you ask the publisher these questions:
- What is the site’s distribution?
- How many monthly readers does it have?
- Will the release be shared on social media?
- If so, how many followers does each account have?
- Will the release be shared in an email newsletter?
- if so, how many subscribers does the newsletter have?
- Will the PR be indexed by Google?
- Will the PR be published on Google News/
- Where on the page will the PR be visible? Is it on the homepage?
- Does the article publication include a do-follow link?
- What’s the domain rank of the site (use Moz.com to find out)
Before you publish a press release
Having a press release issued about your company can be an exciting and positive experience but, still, its important to make sure you have an understanding of the purpose of a paid press release and how to optimize your release to maximize the usage of your marketing budget.
If you have any questions regarding best practices for press releases feel free to reach out to us.
About Coinbound
Coinbound is the leading Web3 marketing agency. Coinbound works with major crypto brands like Gala, Immutable, eToro, Cosmos, Litecoin, Tron, and, OKX to boost brand growth through influencers, publishers, PR, SEO, social media management, community growth, and paid advertising.
