How often should I send press releases?

Many business owners as well as those that work in marketing and public relations are aware of how important getting media coverage for their brand can be.

Media coverage can increase brand awareness, earn backlinks to boost SEO and drive traffic to your website. Increased traffic means more customers.

The main driver of media coverage is press releases, but business owners and marketing professionals need to figure out how often they should issue a press release that features their brand to get the coverage they desire.

The simple answer to this question would appear to be as often as you have real news to share.

But this opens up a further question: What constitutes real news?

Well, this is going to depend on the media outlet you are sharing the release with. It’s important to understand what content your target media want to publish. This is fairly easy to discover: do your research on the organisation and see what stories they have published in the past.

So now you have a better understanding of what stories your target media want to publish, but what if you don’t have news that fits with the content a journalist is looking for? And does this mean you have to sit and wait for that next product launch or business expansion to see if you can make this news fit with the content needs of your target media?

Doing so could seriously restrict how often you can send out press releases and therefore the amount of media coverage you can achieve for your brand. If you are waiting for news to happen before you can tell the world about your brand and are left hoping that the stories you have to tell will be what your target media want to publish then you are unlikely to achieve the level of coverage that will really drive your brand forwards.

Because if your goal is to maximise media coverage you want to be sharing newsworthy content as frequently as possible with certain caveats.

It’s important that your press release doesn’t read like an advertorial. Tap into the news agenda and what makes your brand and the story you have to tell relevant without overfocussing on the specifics of your product or service. Don’t use language more fitting for a brochure than a press release.

You want to be careful that you aren’t overloading journalists with content that isn’t relevant to them as it may mean they miss content from you that is relevant when you do share it.

The key is to know your target media and audience and produce press releases to a high journalistic standard that your target media will be able to copy and paste to the page if they wish. That is the level you should be aiming for.

With the right standard of press release in place containing content that is relevant to your target media, we can now revisit the question of how often we should be sending press releases.

This will be impacted by the type of media you are targeting - If you are targeting daily print or broadcast media then they will always be on the lookout for relevant, engaging content, but if you are targeting monthly print magazines it is worth knowing their lead times and when they will be planning each publication. 

If you are primarily engaged in digital pr to earn media coverage and backlinks into your website to boost SEO and drive traffic then to a point there should be no limitation on your media outreach providing the content is of sufficient quality.

I recently posed the question of how often I should send a client’s releases to a senior journalist at a leading UK newspaper and website. Her answer to me was to send her everything as she didn’t want to miss anything. She would rather have the option to choose from all possible stories than have a more limited pool of stories to choose from.

Digital media have an unending thirst for relevant content that gets their readers talking, clicking and sharing.

The media want the best stories and so ultimately the best campaigns are built on the foundation of a strong idea. They are written for and by journalists who understand how to structure a news story.

If you can consistently get these things right then you can be reaching out to the media with your press releases every single day. With the right quality and consistency of approach, you can achieve coverage like some of our biggest hitting campaigns. 

Click here to download Motive’s Greatest Hits to provide you with some story ideas to help you create the kinds of press releases that the media will want to receive from you every day.

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