How to Get (Legit) PR

It’s no secret that business people use the media to promote their business. One can argue that 75-80% of ‘news’ is really a thinly veiled promotion. Article marketing has become the rage and can be very effective.  The issue starts when article marketing becomes article spamming and the whole thing blows up in your face. 

For whatever reason people create an article, find every free PR site possible and then blast the article to the masses with the hopes of getting it picked up.  Here is one thing you may want to consider, some paid PR services will distribute your article over many sites (what a plus), but we’ve found that might be a waste of money and a potential problem if Google thinks you’re spamming with duplicate content (that would be a minus).  Therefore a good rule of thumb is to pick a few- say no more than 5 - (larger) article submission sites and upload your article there since most of the smaller sites will pick up and distribute the content from the larger sites without going through a direct submission anyway.

That said and before we get to the heart of this article, let’s negate a common misconception.  The market is flooded with ‘How-to’ manuals that create the illusion of article marketing propelling your business to the stratosphere.  One book I read suggested that one well placed article made him big bucks.  Ok, for the sake of argument let’s say that did happen but, at the same time let’s stay grounded.

Media outlets are not your marketing partners and should not be treated as such.  Or in other words, don’t fool yourself into thinking you can leverage them into plugging your business.  From my perspective any article you write should be for the benefit of the reader.  So when writing your articles keep that in mind (please).  Ok, now let’s switch gears and talk about how to get some ‘real’ PR.

1. Choose a free press release service. The trick is to find a service that will add the release to search engines.  Here are some choices

• 1888pressrelease
• freepressrelease.com
• PR.com (I like this one)
• PR zoom
• isnare

2. Try your local newspaper (or similar outlet with some local flavoring sprinkled in).  Here is the way the game works, newspapers need stories- you contact them and give them one (yours)

3. Send the release to industry (read: niche) outlets.  Please avoid getting lazy.  The trap people fall into is that people will find your release via Google will do the legwork. 

4. Give Social Bookmarking a whirl.  Social Bookmarking is when you step up to the plate and say this content is so good I will stand behind it so therefore it is ok to tag/ link their own online bookmarking accounts.  Here are some sites:

• Digg
• Furl
• Reddit
• Del.icio.us

5. Take the shot and contact the Associated Press.  What is the worst that can happen, they say no?  Go to AP and look for the regional office.  Send the release via fax or email, you never know. 

6. Don’t forget the obvious.  Once your release is posted add it to your site.  If you don’t have a media section please add on, ok? 

 So there you go.  Save your money and by-pass PRweb, PR Newswire and 24-7 Press Release. Enjoy!!!