The “Magic” Behind PR Wire Distribution
PR Wire Distribution is Magic
I get asked all of the time about my thoughts on PR distribution. My answer is usually this: If you think you need to distribute your story to journalists, first, consider your goals.
The music industry used to rely solely on record labels for distribution. Then, artists and consumers realized there were alternate ways to discover and purchase music. Sound familiar? PR wire services, like record labels, are the “deciders of news.” Not only do they decide what’s newsworthy by vetting the content you produce, they also own the content you publish on their sites. Then, they resell it to financial news sites and other third party outlets.
Another little-known fact is that ALL of the wire services utilize the same distribution mechanism (it’s called, Comtex) to publish stories on downstream sites. It’s questionable whether your audience reads any of these downstream sites, which typically display your release in places hardly visible to anyone.
Here’s an example:
I paid a quick visit to the homepage of Marketwire, the Canada-based PR wire service. I chose a random press release: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Xicato-Announces-New-Spot-Module-Range-1392361.htm. Then, I “Googled” the headline. I found a couple of those downstream posts, like this one: http://finance.bnet.com/bnet/news/read?GUID=17063812.
At first glance, you’re like, “Cool, there’s our story on BNET!” But, with a little deeper investigation and a visit to http://bnet.com, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything on the brand, Xicato. Yes, Marketwire did what they said they would do by publishing on news websites. But, was your goal to get indexed on random sites, or to reach people? Was it worth the bill? That’s a question you’ll have to answer yourself. And I’m not just singling out Marketwire – all of the services do the same thing, since they feed their vetted news through Comtex.
Usefulness aside, for decades many public companies were required, by law, to utilize a wire srvice. The SEC required what they defined at the time as, “simultaneous distribution”. Now, however, we can all distribute content simulataneously and alert people faster than practically any of those services. To their credit, the SEC has started to loosen those requirements and companies like Expedia, Google and others have followed suit, choosing to publishing their earnings information and press content on their own sites rather than via a PR wire service (We launched our Embedded Newsroom to enable brands to put their news on their own sites with this in mind).
Because I founded PitchEngine, doesn’t mean I can’t be objective to what’s happening in the industry. I was blogging about these topics long before PitchEngine and I will continue to. The reason PitchEngine is thriving is because communicators are discovering and having success with the alternatives. They’re starting to ask “How can I enagage with our customers” instead of, “Where does my press release go.” We see the future of PR as Brand Journalists creating Consumer-Facing PR content.
I’ve met some smart people who work at each of the wire services throughout the past couple of years. We even brought on former PR Newswire President, Dave Armon, as an Advisor. What I’ve learned is that people know what’s happenning, but they’re in a tricky spot. Regardless of the monitoring services they buy, or the social share buttons they add to press releases, their business model relies on distribution. And that model is not sustainable. This is why they won’t just, “build a PitchEngine,” as I’ve heard people mention before. Shifting from their distribution model is like turning the Titanic. That is assuming their planning to turn.
New Distribution:
One of my favorite examples of “New Distribution” happened a few months back when the iPhone 4 launched. Here’s the story of how a pitch™ and a tweet propelled massive distribution to more than 1.3 million people – who actually cared about the content. And here’s an exampleof how the press release of tomorrow can be a sales tool as much as an information source. Want to hear more? Just ask me, the list goes on for days.
I’m all ears to hear your take. What do you think the future of distribution looks like? Will you continue to spend the same amount on wire services as you did in the past? Journalists, do you rely on PR wire services for content, or do you head to Google or Twitter like the rest of us?
Jason Kintzler
@jasonkintzler and on The Facebook
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- A New Battle Emerges: Journalists v. PR Pros : Jason Kintzler | January 17, 2012
Interesting take, Jason. I suppose you could call syndication magic, but in reality, building a distribution network is hard work. In addition to big content syndicators like Comtex, PR Newswire (my employer) works with thousands of sites directly, creating bespoke news feeds that fit their audience interests. We also vet each journalist and blogger who applies for access to PR Newswire for Journalists, and work with each news room that receives our news feed directly, to ensure they are getting the content that makes sense for their areas of coverage. Media relations and content syndication are high-touch, and require time, energy and dedicated professionals to do well. It would be much easier, I’m sure, to abandon these efforts, but in reality, the personal outreach I’m describing is “the last mile” for commercial newswires – it’s where the “magic” happens.
I’m with ya, bro. But there’s still two factors that exist that buoy the wire distributions: Unless the story is compelling, you can’t be posted/POTENTIALLY reach that many eyeballs faster; And the underdog reason: they still provide some SEO value and links you can’t get without cheating the system.I’m currently busting my ass doing one-on-one outreach for a client who is frustrated with the lack of speed in spreading the word about their thing. I can easily flip on a wire service and show them skads of results and their happy (or happier). Companies have been lulled into believing hitting the wires (like Marketwire) is akin to hitting the wires (like AP) and just being there means something to them.Until we can change the expectation, we won’t change the fact that it’s an easier solution than the grunt work of outreach.
Hi Sarah,Thanks for the comment!There’s no question that reaching journalists is important, but now it’s not the only avenue to getting your story heard anymore. I think some of the most effective PR practitioners have cultivated their own networks of journalists, bloggers and the like.This isn’t designed to “call out” any one service. It’s more in response to the misconceptions of some PR pros who call us looking for solutions.There’s simply more to be done now than there was in past years. To quote one of our users (whose name I admittedly can’t recall): “It’s like throwing a rock in the ocean…and hitting a fish.”
Falls – I hera ya. We talk a lot about measurement here. It can’t just be about advertising equivalency or impressions anymore. Plus, we have to provide more value to brands than just being their voice. We must be their eyes and ears too. This, coupled with creative storytelling and some “bust-ass” can help PR take a bite out ad budgets, something the industry should embrace wholeheartedly. Thanks for blessing this post with your mad skills.
Jason (both of you) good comments and well taken. In my mind, whether you’re talking about traditional media relations or social media, the best solutions many times aren’t the easiest. Someone has to bust their butt. Period. And you’ll never hear me say that using a commercial wire is the end-all be-all. There’s a reason why the jobs are called public *relations* and media *relations.* Cheers.
I’m not persuaded that newswire distribution affects direct coverage in any significant way. But my experience has been that it does have two important benefits. First, every time we go out on the wires, our clients move to the first page of Google and stay there for a little while; the guess is that because we’re being picked up by respected sites (CNN, Forbes, business journals, etc.), we’re seeing the advantage of quality link-backs. The other benefit is that our clients are getting media calls not necessarily about the content of the release, per se, but about issues in their respective industries. That suggests newswire distribution can play a role in expert development and expert content marketing.
Jason(s), I think the key here is knowing what you’re after, as Jason K mentioned in his post. It’s a question I always ask clients… what do you want to accomplish with this initiative? Then I ask them, “Why? Why is that important?” because that is what tells me whether the real goal is getting ready for an IPO, generating leads, finding quality employees or sales people, breaking into new markets, etc., etc. The answer is never really, “Get media coverage,” is is?