SENDING OUT PRESS RELEASES HAS BECOME EASIER THROUGH THE INTERNET

Gone are the days when PR companies have to go through distribution services to ensure that their press releases will reach the intended parties. Gone are the days when practitioners have to literally kiss the butts of people in the media in hopes of getting something written about what they have fed. Email has completely changed the way PR professionals distribute news releases and other items. Today, instead of going through the conventional distribution channels of print, television, and radio, they can send out press releases through email – a new distribution tactic that basically offers a virtually unlimited reach.

In addition to this, there are press release distribution services that a PR practitioner can tap for free. Unlike before when you have to pay top dollar just to get your information out, you don’t need to spend a dime on anything when going through such services. Examples of online press distribution services include:

· www.i-newswire.com

· www.prlog.org

· www.free-press-releases.com


The social media explosion helped PR practitioners reach more audiences.

Say, a PR agent handles an account for a doughnut chain at some Southeast Asian country. She puts up a Facebook page for the brand and links it to the official US page of the doughnut chain so that her target audience would also be acquainted with the business in the US. She starts sending out invitations to her friends. Months later, she gets to handle another account; it’s for a bread spread this time. Without necessarily having to link the previous account she’s handled with the current one she’s working on, she could use the same set of people (a.k.a., her friends) to get the first few invites out and promote the new product.


Practitioners are wooing the new opinion-makers (bloggers).

Before, PR professionals had to reaffirm their relationship with the press or media from time to time by sending gifts (monetary and otherwise – admit it) and by constantly leaving voice mail messages on these people’s inbox-es.  Today, PR agents are soliciting a new kind of support from a new breed of influential people – the bloggers. They are the new opinion-makers. They play a big role in the proliferation of news.


Once you invite a blogger to an event, expect to see a promotion-based article on your offering hours later. With a publication, you have to wait until the next day (or the next month, if it’s a magazine) before it comes out. With a TV outfit, you have to wait for the next news broadcast (maybe the late night news?) and a feature on your brand is only expected to last within a two-minute report. But with bloggers, you get tweeted, re-tweeted,posted, re-posted, and they can give birth to a long-winding discussion on your product that can truly be valuable in the long run.


Arguably, the PR world is getting more and more exciting with the introduction of new trends and practices brought about by new technology.