6 Ways To Get A High ROI From Your Press Release Distribution Service
There are a number of ways to get a high return on investment (ROI) from your press release distribution service. But first, you have to determine your goals for each press release. Only by setting a clear goal can you then determine whether the press release is a worthwhile investment.
1-Setting your goals
Do you want to:
- Sign up more subscribers?
- Increase the reach of your brand?
- Get more sales?
- Launch a new product?
A clear call to action will help increase your ROI.
2-Create a call to action for every release
Decide on your goal as above and be specific about exactly what you want the readers to do. Then track your results.
3-Determining your level of investment
Every press release should be viewed as an investment with a particular cost associated with it. By being clear about the cost involved, you can better determine ROI.
Each release will cost:
- Time
- Effort
- Money if you use a paid release service
Once these things are spent, you need to try to get something back. Money is easy to measure: If you pay $100 to send out a release and get $200 back, that is a good investment. If you get $20 back, this is not so good, though you might end up with more traffic and subscribers.
If you spend a lot of time setting up press release distribution service accounts, copying, pasting and tweaking, and get no media pickups, that is not a good ROI because once your time and effort are spent, you can’t get them back.
4-Choose sites with good reporting
You can’t determine good ROI unless you have good reports that tell you how well your press release has performed.
5-Check your reports regularly
Checking the reports for each service you use is an essential part of determining ROI and which services to keep using, versus which you should skip. Expect a big surge when you first publish it, but don’t underestimate the long-term value of a press release. After the first week, when you will check every day, check once a week for the next month or so to see if you’ve gotten any more pickups. Then you can calculate your true ROI.
6-Understand the numbers
There are a number of metrics that you need to look for in any report:
- Views and penetration
- Inbound traffic
- Subscribers, sales and other actions
- social media shares
In terms of views, check the statistics at the distribution service you are using. Make a copy of your traffic logs before and after the release is sent out. Make it easy to track inbound traffic by creating a landing page specifically for that release. Track the number of subscribers if that is your call to action or sales.
If the distribution service offers social media share buttons, check the numbers if the buttons have counters. Don’t forget to share it yourself.
Finally, understand that not all ROI can be measured precisely. Anything you do to boost brand awareness can make sending out a press release more than worthwhile.
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