

Ask HN: Press Release Effectiveness? Advice? - mstefff

Hey,<p>I'm considering on issuing a press release for a web-app I launched last week. I'm curious to hear everyones opinion on the effectiveness of press releases and prehaps what to expect upon issuing one. Can anyone suggest a service, maybe a free one, any of tips might help? Etc..<p>Thanks,
Mike
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aaroneous
If you have something legitimately news-worthy then I've found a press release
can be the "in" to getting attention from big blogs you don't have an
existing//personal connection with. Check out businesswire and marketwire
(especially Marketwire's "Tech Hotspots") to help get your release into the
hands of people who want to write about exciting stuff.

Otherwise, I think the core of your question is more about marketing. My first
recommendation is to have the link to your co in your news.yc profile + link
to it in your story submission. Second, I'd suggest your best strategy should
be to find the 2nd and 3rd tier blogs that the bigger blogs look to in order
to find new companies not on their radar.

Big blogs are like corporate radio: they both want to be responsible for
"breaking" a hot new [band//company], but both are unlikely to make that call
without others in the "underground" having said it first.

An extension of this would be to find who the big bloggers follow on Twitter,
and then figuring out ways to get those people talking about your product
positively.

It's amazing how quickly rave reviews trickle upwards with little
intervention.

Good luck! :]

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pg
When was the last time you were influenced by, or even read, a press release
about a newly launched web app?

~~~
staunch
Quite frequently we read them indirectly through Techcrunch/Mashable/GigaOM,
etc. They read the press release and then summarize and add commentary. I
suppose that usually it's the PR company issuing the release that is also
bugging them to pick up the story, so that's probably the more important (and
expensive) part. Without a PR company you're probably better off sending them
a more casual email.

~~~
pg
Those sites might pay attention to a press release from a company they'd heard
of. If you're newly launched you're better off just sending them a short,
personal email.

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froo
Hi Mike,

Press releases are also thought to be useful from an SEO perspective if you
want to help garner some inbound link juice in that manner. I know of a few
SEO guys that utilise the various sites in that fashion (I think they use
PRweb, but dont quote me on that).

My suggestion is that if you are going to write one, try and create some copy
that includes some of your key phrases for your particular niche - and
remember to make it sound natural, non spammy :)

Good luck.

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zacharye
As someone who writes for a blog with a relatively large reach, all I can say
is do it and circulate it as best you can. You never know who might pick it up
and what kind of links may ensue.

As to circulating it, a [reputable] PR company is a good bet but hardly free.
There are services such as PRNewswire that are comparatively cheap - and
assembling a mailing list of your favorite (and other relevant) blogs / news
sources is free!

