I’ve Written a Press Release, Now What? Follow Up Tips and Advice
Writing a press release is only half of the job. There are still several steps that need to be taken care of. How you manage the following steps can help ensure the success of your press release today and future press releases. Let’s take a look at some steps tips and advice.
Distribution Service Matters
The first step is obviously to choose a press release distribution service that provides the features that you need for your press release marketing goals. These features may include social media press release distribution, analytics, and the ability to reach the media outlets that you’re targeting. Once you’ve chosen the right press release distribution service, publishing and sharing your press release is really about as easy as clicking a few buttons. But that doesn’t mean you’re done.
Schedule Your Review
The next step is to open up your calendar and schedule a time to take a look at the relevant data. You want to look at how many people have viewed, reprinted, shared, or clicked on your press release. You want to look and see which social media sites your press release is doing well on, too. Schedule time to review the analytics shortly after your press release has been distributed. Also review it within the next couple of days, once the excitement has died down.
Spruce up Your Media Page
If you haven’t already, head on over to your blog or website make you sure your media page is up-to-date and ready should any journalists need additional information. Jot down a few key pieces of information that you can use to follow up with journalists who have received or showed interest in your release. Word of advice; don’t simply follow up with a “hey did you receive my press release?” Instead, follow up with key pieces of information that might help journalists enhance their story and may actually make them a little bit more interested in running a story about your release.
Meeting Your Goals
With today’s press releases, grabbing media attention may be a secondary goal. Perhaps your primary goal is to drive traffic to your website, to achieve brand awareness, or to attain sales goals. Make sure you have metrics in place to measure your success. Also, make sure the metrics tie directly into your call to action.
Don’t Reprint or Repurpose – Write a New Release
Should you find that your press release isn’t quite achieving the goals that you’d set forth, you can write a new release and distribute that with the idea that it will be more successful. Don’t simply make small changes to your original release and resubmit.
Finally, organize the relevant analytics and information so that when you get ready to write your next press release you have the notes and the data to work from. Use the information from your past releases to achieve and build on success.