ARTICLES ON WRITING AND DISTRIBUTING PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases: Not Dead, Just Evolved
How to Write a Media Release That Wins You Coverage & Exposure
How to Generate Free Publicity for Your Product, Service, or Cause
How To Submit Articles For Massive Traffic

OTHER ARTICLES:
Distributing your Press Release
Get the Greatest Mileage from Your Press Releases
Creative Ways to Make Your Press Release Work
Your PR Doctor's Tips for Getting Media Attention on Radio
How to Rev Up the Media Engine

To bypass information on affordable press release distribution click here to post your release to dogonvillage.com or click here forDogon Village advertising and publicity options.

Dogon Village advertising and publicity options.

AFFORDABLE PRESS RELEASE DISTRIBUTION

With all of the press release services online we thought we’d offer a little insight on how to get the best coverage at an affordable price. There are so many companies popping up blasting the media with inappropriate news items many of the services are becoming ineffective. An editor told me that he actually receives over one thousand releases daily. Following are a few services we have found to be effective, and will save you a couple of $ in the process. Dogon Village offers a service - based upon your budget - that would integrate a number of these services. But taking out a little time, you can get your release out there yourself.

FREE SERVICES

Most of the free distribution services have gone by the wayside, however, there are several services that offer free posting on their sites. You should take advantage of all of these services. You can start by posting your release at the Dogon Village. We will not bother you with emails or sell your information, as long as it’s newsworthy feel free to post. Post your release here.

One popular free press release distribution service was prweb.com, (www.prweb.com. PRWEB.com is no longer free but they have reasonable prices. Prleap.com and pr.com are still free. If you do a search for “free press release distribution” you will find dozens with the same service – post, post, post. The free services do not guarantee media coverage but it makes the message available to your public and wasn’t the objective of the release to get your message to the public? Of course posting to these services can be time consuming. Dogon Village has a distribution plan that includes posting to free services online.

Don’t forget to service email lists that target your audience. Go to yahoo groups to find a couple of lists with members who would be interested in your news. Yahoo groups (http://groups.yahoo.com/) allows you to perform a keyword search to identify groups. It includes name and purpose of the group, frequence of posts, and the number of members. Try to find lists with over 1000 members.

The last suggestion is to include social networking (myspace.com) and social bookmarking sites (dig.com) and forums in your public relations efforts. You get to meet and network with people that have similar interests using these sites.

LOCAL STATE OR REGIONAL NEWS

If you have a small budget you can use one of the wire services – PR Newswire or US Newswire – for local distribution only. If you want to save a few $ you can go to NEWSEARCH and identify the local newspapers in your town, give them a call and find out how to submit your release. Actually, if you're servicing a small city, the latter would probably be more effective.

PR Newswire and US Newswire also offer state and regional packages a small fee $80-$125 depending on your state.

***If you are servicing a regional release in the Washington, DC area, we strongly suggest using US Newswire’s Washington Circuit or the DC Pack. (US Newswire has merged with prnewswire.) www.usnewswire.com.

NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

For national distribution combining the free services with the Newswires is optimal but pricey. National distribution starts at around $400 for the first 400 words. PR Newswire and US Newswire are excellent services.(US Newswire). The mainstream services do hit some Black media, however, if you want to thoroughly service Black media you need additional distribution. Although the newswires services now offer distribution packages to Black media as an add-on for about $100, we recommend using Blackpr.com if you want to service ALL Black media - print, radio, TV, and online. The larger wire services are not as comprehensive, and honestly, I have a problem paying them extra for Black media. I still do not understand why Black media is not a part of the media serviced in the $400 package. (another issue)

NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION TO BLACK MEDIA ONLY

If you have news or a column that would be of interest nationally and you would like to service ALL Black media we suggest Blackpr.comThey service ALL Black print, radio, and TV for the price of sneakers these days - $150.00. (Tell them the dogon village sent you).

EURWEB.com

One other suggestion, if you have news that would be of interest to urban youth 18-25 we suggest you buy an ad in the EUR Report, Eurweb.com’s listserv goes out to thousands of subscribers and is run by veteran radio personality Lee Bailey. If you want to target a diverse, hip, youth demographic contact eurweb.com. We’ve had more success with their listserve than any press release could garner. Let them know dogonvillage.com sent you.

TRACKING COVERAGE

There are a number of companies offering comprehensive clipping services. Two excellent services we’ve used are Luce and Burrells. However, none of the services we’ve used in the past have offered full coverage of the Black press. If you want to track your coverage in Black newspapers nationwide Blackpr.com now offers a clipping service to track coverage in Black media, (Blackpr.com Again tell them the Dogon Village sent you.

A NOTE ON YOUR PRESS RELEASE

Before you decide to send your release make sure it: (1) is newsworthy, (2) is clearly written with correct grammar and no typos, (3) includes who, what, when, where, and how someone can get more information and (4) targets the correct audience. By having a clear understanding of your target audience, you can target media and editors better. For example, if you are having a bake sale in Baton Rouge, LA, I doubt that anyone in California would be interested, so don’t do a national blitz with your news even though you may think it is important that you’re raising money for homeless people. Click here for a few articles on press releases.

ARTICLES ON WRITING AND DISTRIBUTING PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases: Not Dead, Just Evolved
How to Write a Media Release That Wins You Coverage & Exposure
How to Generate Free Publicity for Your Product, Service, or Cause
How To Submit Articles For Massive Traffic

OTHER ARTICLES:
Distributing your Press Release
Get the Greatest Mileage from Your Press Releases
Creative Ways to Make Your Press Release Work
Your PR Doctor's Tips for Getting Media Attention on Radio
How to Rev Up the Media Engine