Are Press Releases Worth The Big Bucks?

By Braylon Brown

January 10, 2024   •   Fact checked by Dumb Little Man

are press releases worth it

The fact that press releases and their newswire services are still around should pretty much answer the question. No clue? Well, let’s look at it this way. Press releases have come a long way and have changed at least three mediums; newspapers, social media, and now dedicated PR platforms.

And to give you an idea of a press release’s resilience, how’s the fact that newspaper is still a medium used today to disseminate information through releases, despite print media shrinking both in visibility and relevance. Still asking if a press release is worth the spend?

However, resilience isn’t a trait looked for by businesses and corporations when shopping for a press release marketing service. It’s the ROI they want, and boy, do press releases give them the ROI. Plus, bigger corporations (especially multinationals) are still very adept at press releases, just not the way it works now in marketing.

Corporations like IBM or Pepsico use press releases as a way to keep both the customers and media updated about events, launches or news regarding the company. In short, press releases have carved out their place in the modern business sector and remain as relevant as they were back in the 1950s or 60s. And with relevance comes big business, which a press release can only serve to complement (if used properly).

But to actually gauge if press releases are worth the spending, let’s look at what they provide and claim to actually do for your business.

Press release – what it does

press releases worth it

Press releases, as stated beforehand, can convey news of a corporation to the relevant media sectors and also act as a marketing tool for products or services looking to expand their footprint in the digital marketing sector. As such, it lays claims to both mediums; print media and social media. Let’s take the purposes of the press release and understand them from the ground up.

As a news service:

Every business, from corporations to enterprises, regularly use press releases as their primary method of dispensing information or news regarding company launches or events. For example, whenever you go to Apple’s site or any other site for that matter, you can always find a dedicated corner for press releases that contains a ton of stuff meant as news items. Journalists, whenever in need of a story or filler material, regularly scour these parts of websites to find news that could fill in the blanks, thereby, guaranteeing press coverage of an event or a product about to be launched.

Similarly, whenever a legal matter is at hand for a major corporation, it is usually addressed and notified to the general public through a press release, which can be further utilized by news outlets as a way to gather aspects of a legal battle (i.e stance of the company or the proceedings of the case). To summarise, press releases double as news agents for corporations looking to release news about particular events or product launches.

As a marketing tool:

Now we come to the crux of the article. If your business utilises press releases, will it pay off? Are press releases worth the spending? As a marketing tool, press releases are a pretty potent method of getting your message across the board. And when it comes to answering the aforementioned question, it would be a big YES.

Press release marketing is considered one of the most cost-efficient methods of marketing there is. This is compared to regular advertisement campaigns, which promise the same amount of coverage as a press release but at a Herculean amount. Let’s look at a few ways press releases differ from a regular media campaign.

  • Dedicated releases to business hotspots like Silicon Valley, Wall Street, etc.
  • Releases to capital cities and metropolitans worldwide (London, Munich, etc.)
  • Inclusion of Virtual Digital Assistants (VDA’s) like Siri, Alexa or Bixby to increase spread and suggestions
  • Multilingual translations of press releases (for varying audiences and regions)
  • Distribution using RSS feeds

This is just the tip of the iceberg that is press release marketing. It contains several other targeting methods that are way better than a regular media campaign that focuses on TV and the internet. When a press release is marketed through services like ReleaseLive, it utilises every software and service at its disposal and makes it work to the tune of the press release, letting the algorithm work its magic and flood the internet with the release.

How much is it cost-effective?

are press releases really worth it

To get an idea of how much cost-effective a press release marketing strategy is, compare the numbers of a licensing and merchandising deal with a celebrity (like Travis Scott’s deal with McDonald’s) to the Super Premium plan of iCrowdNewswire, and you can immediately see why it is claimed to be the most cost-effective and is worth whatever bucks you can shell out.

The effects of both the campaigns are pretty much the same: they target a certain market, a certain audience, and bombard them with the relevant press release. The difference is the price and that difference is huge. As you might have guessed, yes, press releases are definitely worth whatever you spend on them. Maybe even more than what you spend. You could call press releases ‘criminally underrated’.

In a nutshell

Press releases are one of the uncut gems of the advertisement and marketing sector that are used widely, but have yet to be known by the general public as a viable method of marketing. While companies utilise it as a news distribution method and as a marketing method, it remains to be seen how much of its price effectiveness can be put to use by other businesses looking to expand their social media footprint.

As of now, press release marketing is up and coming and will be here to stay, all thanks to its one big pro: being cheap to run.

Braylon Brown

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