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(NOTE: This is part 5 of a 10-part series. Index to this series.)

Many organizations distribute their press releases by fax, postal mail, or via services like PR Newswire. That’s fine. However, if you also have a web site you should post your press releases on your own site BEFORE transmitting them by other means.

Here’s why…

Often a journalist will hear “through the grapevine” (from a source, or another journalist, etc.) about breaking news from some organization. Usually, at that point the journalist will immediately visit that organization’s web site to find a first-hand press release concerning that announcement – not to a third-party service, or a fax machine. If a fresh release concerning that news is not immediately available, the journalist will probably just forget about it and move on. She won’t plow through PR Newswire. She won’t check her postal mail. She’ll probably just move on to the next lead that can be researched easily online.

Yes, it really does happen that fast. Unless a particular lead is compelling enough to warrant additional investigation (and most aren’t), organizations have only one fleeting opportunity to engage a journalist – the point when the journalist’s interest is first piqued. If you cannot immediately satisfy that initial flash of curiousity by providing the type of information journalists seek in the place and format they expect, you’ve probably missed your best chance for coverage.

Although you could supply news blurbs on your site’s home page, or background or stories in other parts of your sites, journalists are conditioned to check for a press release first. This is why whenever you have any potentially significant news you should immediately package the basics in press release form and post it to your site.

ANATOMY OF A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

A quick glance at PR Newswire today revealed this Oct. 25 press release: Finalists for the The 2004 CABC Business Achievement Award.

Now imagine this: In a busy Canadian newsroom, a journalist named Bill is frantically scanning the net for leads for easy, fast filler stories in that day’s business section. His cubicle mate, another journalist, strolls in with a cup of coffee and asks absently, “Hey Bill, whatcha doing?” Bill explains his task. His fellow reporter pauses and says, “You know, at meeting yesterday someone mentioned something about the Canadian-American Business Council awards coming up. That might be a business filler.”

Immediately, Bill uses Google to find the web site of the Canadian-American Business Council. Once there he heads straight to their news section. A quick glance there reveals that (as of this writing) the group’s most recent press release is several months old – dated June 24, 2004.

When Bill sees how out-of-date that online newsroom is, his reporter’s instinct tells him that the CABC probably would not be an easy source to work with – at least not for such a minor story, or on deadline. So he immediately moves on to pursue his next lead, and quickly forgets all about the CABC awards.

…Evidently, CABC wanted journalists to find out about their award finalists. They wrote a press release about it. They paid to have that release distributed via PR Newswire. However, they neglected to post it – for free – in the most obvious place: their own site. Hence, they lost at least one good opportunity for coverage.

COMING NEXT: Make your releases easy to link to…

PREVIOUS: What Every Press Release Needs

INDEX to this series.