Online press releases are one of the most effective promotion methods to get the word out about your business. But it’s not enough to simply write an informative press release. It’s also important to ensure that your optimized press release has adequate distribution and online staying power. Those goals require having an effective press release distribution strategy in place – long before your release hits the Web.

Your press release distribution strategy should start with answering two VERY important questions:

1) Press release distribution: horizontal or vertical?
2) Who are more important: reporters or customers?

Now you may think, distribution of optimized press releases can’t be that black and white, it’s more gray. Well, sure, you’d like to have everything, but that’s not how it works. There is a reason we call them “target” audiences.

Let’s tackle horizontal vs. vertical press release distribution first. And the best way to illustrate the difference between the two is with a few examples:

* Selling online = horizontal
* Reaching a business to business audience = vertical
* Targeting a specific industry sector (like technology) = vertical
* Geo-targeting a specific region: city, state, or country = vertical
* Appealing to multiple regions and countries = horizontal

With distribution of optimized press releases, you can even adopt a horizontal vs. vertical perspective when it comes to targeting reporters or customers…

* Reaching local business community and media reporters = vertical
* Reaching customers directly = horizontal

The reporters vs. customers dynamic will also impact the decision on which press release distribution service provider you select. Some are better for reaching customers directly via search engines, while others do better with journalists covering a specific topic. (Often via emails sent directly to a list of reporters on that topic.)

Distribution of optimized press releases: the one-to-many benefit

The distribution of optimized press releases is a real time saver. You upload a release to an online press release distribution provider and it’s sent out via RSS feed to thousands of web sites, journalists and media sites.

Press release distribution reality check: this is NOT the press release of old.

In the old days, the phrase “press release” was a fitting term, since the news was being distributed to those who powered newspaper printing presses. But in this age of New Media, “news release” or “media release” are also used to more accurately communicate how news is being spread by a variety of media: television, radio, magazine, and Internet.

Press releases are no longer just a collection of words on a page. They can also include video, audio, and images, as well as connections with social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn. In fact, you’re likely to find that bloggers will distribute your news faster than a newspaper ever will.

In the end, you may find that both horizontal and vertical distributions of your online press release are necessary to ensure maximum impact. And the greater your impact, the better your results are likely to be.

Author Bio: Got PR 2.0? Visit http://www.30minutepr.com for the latest Online PR tips, trends, tools and techniques – on a time budget. Marc Harty is an Online PR expert, professional speaker, Internet marketing strategist and CEO of MainTopic Media, Inc.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: marketing,online pr,web pr,internet pr,publicity,branding,public relations,pr