Sending out a press release requires a lot of attention. Sending a statement to the wrong people is a waste of your brand’s time and credibility. Properly segmenting your mailings optimizes the chances of seeing an article appear on your product, your concept or your company in general when you know that only one out of 8 emails is read by journalists. Here are some tips for properly distributing your press kit or press release and hoping for good results.
Table of Contents
Create Segmentation For Your Shipments
From now on, the sending of press releases is done mainly by means of e-mails. Thus, some Press Relations platforms list journalists, their preferred field, the name of the media, the audience targeted by the latter, etc.
We advise you to use these sites, public relations agencies, to make your mailings. You will be able to create sending groups and modify your press releases according to these criteria .
A press release sent to a journalist specializing in writing for the general public will not be the same as one sent for B2B. Also adapt your press release to media expertise to increase your potential purchasing targets according to consumer interest.
The same product, for example a beauty product, can:
- Have a B2B interest: get people talking about the brand, find partners, potential customers (resellers) to make money.
- Have a B2C interest: get your brand talked about and offer consumers a product that is sorely lacking in their daily lives and that meets their needs. This new beauty product is the must-have of the year.
- In a celebrity magazine: Beauty section, current trends;
- In a beauty magazine: A complete article, an interview, the presentation of the product from A to Z;
- In a psycho magazine: How to take care of yourself, the well-being interest;
- In a health magazine: Does the composition of your product have something that the others do not have?
Depending on the media chosen, you can optimize your chances of impact by creating variations of your press releases.
Personalize Your Mailings
Whether you decide to send your press release via a platform specialized in press relations or whether you send it from your own mailbox, it is advisable, as far as possible, to personalize your email .
It takes time, and you miss it, however, the opening rates are much higher when the sending email is tailor-made. It is unpleasant, as a journalist, to receive hundreds of emails every day that we know are identical for each recipient.
Thereby :
- Vary your email subjects;
- Adapt the polite formulas according to the interlocutor (man or woman, status, surname and first name);
- Recall an article written by the journalist, related to your expertise, for example;
- Say a few words about the medium for which the copywriter works.
These few elements tend to inspire confidence in the journalist, who will find himself humanized in a few minutes and no longer the object of all desires to get people talking about a brand.
Make Your Press Release Mailings Impactful
As mentioned above, one in eight emails is opened by the journalist . How does he skim the shipments? It relies on the first impression which is then the subject of the email, as well as the pre-header . The pre-header is the small text that follows the subject of the email in your mailbox, without opening it.
The subject of your email must first be attractive , make you want to be read. It must allow the journalist to determine:
- The nature of the mailing : novelty, exclusivity, big announcement, store opening, store closing, fundraising, growth, etc.
- The product in question / the target environment: the name of your brand, the name of the product or at least some shocking terms explaining it if its name is not clear (Examples: for cosmetics, there are often names type “Fake it” (Banana Beauty), “WonderLux’ Volume” (Rimmel London), which, without explanation, do not allow us to know what it is).
- Pay attention to your attachment: it should not be too heavy to be opened easily.
- Attach a media kit to your press release : horizontal visuals, links to obtain the product free of charge or test part of it, website, press contacts, etc.
Plan Your Mailings And Reminders
Sending your press releases requires respecting a few standards to maximize your chances of being opened.
Shipping Days
- Avoid mailings on weekends: it may seem obvious, but an entrepreneur does not always have the notion of time and thinks, wrongly, that the journalist will be able to open his mail from the early hours on Monday.
- Avoid mailings on Monday morning: the journalist returns to the office. He received an incredible number of emails between Friday evening and Monday morning. Also, it will filter the mails received. You risk going through the feed without your press release being opened.
- Avoid shipments on Wednesday and Friday afternoon: On Wednesdays, some journalists do not work to spend time with their children. Avoid this day of the week. It is the same on Friday afternoon: the professional is then soon on the weekend and finishes his important tasks.
Sending Hours
- Avoid sending your emails at round hours (10:00 am, for example): Indeed, it is a habit that many people take. You will get more results by standing out and planning your sending at 10:34 am, for example. Your email will arrive after the others.
- Send your press releases mid-morning (between 10:00 and 12:00):. A little after the arrival of the journalists at the office, the time they filter their many emails and before they take a break. Also remember to send emails around 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. The journalist will have looked once again at his emails received at lunchtime, will have sorted them. He will then move on to writing his content.
