Top Tips For Measuring & Improving The Effectiveness Of Your Press Release – 10 Yetis Insight

When I first started in my role at 10 Yetis Digital four years ago, and even during my time at University studying Public Relations before that, the importance of the press release in the modern-day PR industry has always been a hugely debated subject.

Whilst some PR practitioners insist that the traditional news release is a dead institution and there are much more effective new technologies that help you spread the news of your client’s latest campaign, product, stunt or story to the press, others still rely on them heavily.

Here at 10 Yetis we still use press releases (alongside other methods) as part of our client campaign plans, and we stick to a set of guidelines and rules to ensure that we can effectively measure if the story has really done the job we intend.

Here’s how we do it…

1. Be aware of your goals

There are fundamental goals associated with every press release you send out, these could include link building, making Google news and an increase in overall search traffic related to your client’s brand name and key search terms.

It is also important to look at the bigger picture and understand some of the long-term goals that you’re hoping to reach through the distribution of each press release; be it securing publicity through certain mainstream media outlets that cater to key audiences, or longer exclusive write-ups on your client within niche media sites or publications.

2. Identify niche sites for clients

Moving on from the above point, it is important not to underestimate the power and influence of what one might consider to be a niche or less important website.

If your client has a particular audience or target demographic that it is attempting to outreach to with a story, then it’s worth researching and identifying blogs or websites they’re likely to be reading on a regular basis. Whilst it may have a relatively low circulation figure and domain authority in comparison to more national news sites, the level of engagement and brand interest with those that see a more niche article or piece could be far more beneficial to your client in the long term.

3. Try to develop relationships with journalists

There are a multitude of different reasons why a press release that you were convinced would generate a high level of coverage for a client achieves very little or none whatsoever. Huge breaking news stories dominating media coverage, a similar story being released during the same week as yours, or even specifically targeted journalists being on holiday, can all contribute to this annoying occurrence that the majority of PR’s will undoubtedly sympathise with.

Having said that, an un-published press release is not a total lost cause for us PR’s, and more often than not a press release targeted specifically towards a particular publication or specific journalist can actually spark off a conversation that can lead to opportunities for your client in the long term. This is why it’s so important to include background information on your client within editor’s notes, as well as details of any key spokespeople or experts they can offer for media opportunities.

4. Don’t over-complicate or promote clients

As a PR newbie, it can be all too tempting to cram a news release full of links and heavy promotional content, but this is a huge no-no when it comes to ensuring an effective release. All too often clients – especially those new to the world of PR – confuse a press release with an advertorial piece, and forget that whilst their brand or product might be the greatest thing since sliced bread to them, journalists will need a little more convincing.

5. Understand the social potential of your release

Those of us lucky enough to work on digital cross-platform campaigns for clients are beginning to make the most of social media news releases which, as well as traditional text, contain videos, images, GIF’s and anything else useful for helping influencers discover, share and write about your story online.

Rather than circulating your releases via email to media outlets, social media news releases live online, and can be found by journalists and influencers through Google searches. Multimedia content that can be included in a release like this will put you head and shoulders amongst your industry peers who haven’t yet embraced the modern technology, with a recent PR newswire study discovering that releases with videos or images get as many as 9.7 times as many views that those uploaded with text alone.