Polarizing press releases?

[Nat]

I've heard about press releases forever, but I've never quite understood them. I 'get' how they work, but there are lots of companies/services that seem to offer the same thing. And with the number of spammy SEO press releases I can't imagine that many of these services send shitty SEO'd releases to many places that actually read them? Maybe I'm wrong?

It does seem to me that if there was a press release service that actually sent releases to editors or blogger who really looked at the release that it could be very valuable, especially if it was somehow polarizing. Can someone fill me in on how automated press releases work, if anyone actually reads them, and if there is a way to actually submit a release that could generate a lot of traffic (due to polarizing title/content)

 

[Steve Brownlie]

If PR and great coverage could be nailed time and time again just by dumping something cool or interesting out on the newswires, or maintaining an accurate press database and firing it straight to journalists and editors there wouldn't be so many expensive PR agencies about .

Not many people read the stuff that goes out as a basic press release. They can, however, rank by themselves which can be useful locally (where ranking them is easier). If you're actually pitching a journalist they do tend to do things like google your company etc... and your release may well show up in news if you just fired it out.

So basically if you want traffic for a release, make the title so that it ranks for something (pro tip-- long tail). If you want press coverage, pitch good stuff to actual journalists. There are tons of PR services that provide contact details/beats etc... so it depends on your budget, but you won't ever find anyone getting amazing results just firing and forgetting template releases. Unless you just cured cancer and were published in 4 peer-reviewed journals. In which case go ahead ... the NYT will still cover you then