I always counsel clients to think of press releases as part of a larger marketing effort; and I encourage them to think of press releases in terms of an on-going technique for raising awareness of one's business; for improving search engine optimization of one's website; for driving more traffic to one's website; and of course to gather the benefit of media exposure over time.

 

But it's also useful to know what you can expect from a single press release. I've written scores of press releases, and have distributed them in numbers of ways. We can't always track results from each release, but PR Web provides detailed statistics that I can share. So besides any media pick-ups you may enjoy from our work together, here are some of my online successes (as of June 1, 2008):

 

Most Times a Press Release was Opened and Read: 4664

 

Average # of Times a Press Release is Opened and Read: 3020

 

Most Times a Press Release was Printed: 124

 

Average # of Times a Press Release is Printed: 74

 

Most Times a Press Release was Downloaded as a PDF: 1478

 

Average # of Times a Press Release is Downloaded as a PDF: 293

 

(Note that the # of times printed refers to how many times it was formatted for printing. One can print a release without formatting it, so the actual number is probably higher.)

 

So when working with me, if your press release is submitted through PR Web, you can expect that -- over time -- it will be read thousands of times, and that people will take enough interest in it to print it nearly 100 times and download it hundreds of times. Plus, with the right distribution package, you can boost your search engine rankings by linking your choice of keywords to your website, and you should drive a good deal of traffic to your website as well.

 

Doesn't that sound like a healthy investment?