The press release business is hard and simple at the same time. I mean, all you really have to do is put words on a page and email it to a media list. That’s all well and good in theory, but in reality, a press release campaign needs to follow a very precise set of guidelines. When choosing your press release company to announce your news, ask them these 5 questions. You should be able to determine the value of their process as a result.

1.  Question: “How  do you distribute press releases?”
If the answer is “only through email and rss feeds,” you will miss out on quite a bit of potential publicity, particularly because faxed press releases still get the most attention.

Press Room Alert Answer: We combine the effectiveness of fax and email with every press release campaign. We’ll still promote to thousands of RSS feeds and online newswires, but that’s free of charge when you have us send to 100 or more geo-targeted fax and email media contacts.

2. Question: “Do you help with the press release writing process?”
Most agencies will be happy to help but they’ll charge $500 minimum or more to write your press release for you instead of just giving you the guidelines for creating it yourself.

Our Answer: We can be as involved or as little involved as you want us to be. We can write the press release for you or you can send it to us totally complete or we can just give pointers along the way. We don’t charge for help or writing press releases; only for the fax and email media contacts we distribute to.

3. Question: “How often is your list updated?”
Avoid press release campaign companies to sell you on how up-to-date their media list is when they only update it every year or 6 months.

Press Room Alert Answer: Our list is updated every single time we send to our media contacts. We know immediately if and why a press release doesn’t make it through. That same day, we track down the media contact and verify any change of fax number or email and resubmit the press release again at no additional charge to you.

4. Question: “How long does it take to start distributing a press release?”
Unless you have your pr firm on some kind of retainer sending out press releases every week, most press release providers are a little less than expedient for turning around press releases. It’s like they’ve forgotten the urgency of getting the right information into the hands of the media within a short amount of time.

Press Room Alert Answer: Our favorite time to send out press releases is 4-6 a.m. so that the fax arrives just before the day begins or sometimes even late the night before. Our cutoff is 4 p.m. (Mountain Time) on weekdays where we can still get your press release in the distribution lineup for the next early morning.

5. Question: “How much do you charge?”
Many pr firms will not simply write a press release for you and distribute it. They want to sell you a whole package with multiple public relations tactics as a combined package. This is not a bad thing to do if you have a budget for it, but expect to pay anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000 for most pr packages. Other online systems will give you a basic press release distribution for free! But, then up-sell you to something that actually works for a few hundred dollars.

Press Room Alert Answer: We would rather be up front with you and just charge a standard rate without the up-sell bait and switch routine. Our main umbrella company, HereNextYear.com, offers Internet marketing services including Web site design, SEO, Google AdWords management, article marketing, social networking and a slew of other programs designed to help you increase your leads and sales online. Press Room Alert, however, does only one thing; it promotes press releases.

In summary, we use the best of all worlds to get you recognized in the press room. We’ll send your press release to confirmed media fax numbers, email addresses, list serves and rss newswires…all for one low package deal price of just $2.25 per U.S. fax number AND e-mail address combined…Period! NO other hidden costs:

• Writing your press release for you = No additional $
• Consulting with you to write a better press release = No additional $
• Helping you format your press release = No additional $
• Submitting to newswires = No additional $
• Syndicating your press release to thousands of newswires and rss feeds = No additional $

…When you hire us to send your press release to 100 media contacts or more.

And, yes, we do offer significant discounts when you get to the 1,000 contact mark or higher.

Your Next Step:

Send an email to Info@PressRoomAlert.com or call 303-743-0832 to talk to our “English-speaking” Denver Colorado-based press release experts and tell us about your project. After initial dialogue to evaluate if your project is within our scope of focus, we will take the next steps to arrive at a project cost.