In our popular
Press Release Wire Service whitepaper, we recommended a PRWeb.com package with BusinessWire. PRWeb recently discontinued this package.
Over the past few weeks, I've gone back to using
Marketwire with great success. Media pickup, online news service and search engine rankings were much better than PRWeb. I also noticed many small to midsized high-tech companies were using this wire service.
Media coverage is far superior to PRWeb and pickup from MSNBC and Marketwatch also show up on Google page 1 for key phrases in your release title. Their editors are also very good at catching even subtle typos.
The only drawback to Marketwire is you have to call their customer support if you need to make a change after posting. With PRWeb, it's a simple matter of making the change online and then resubmitting. However, that's the difference between a wire service and a distribution service. I've found Marketwire's customer support staff to be fast, efficient and helpful.
Cost savings hint: If your business only serves a local market, try Marketwire's state distribution service. Rates start at $145 and for less than $250 you can get a release with anchor text links of your key phrases. The excellent part from a search ranking perspective is sites such as MSNBC and Marketwatch usually picks up the cheaper one state releases.
Labels: marketwire, msnbc, press releases., public relations, wire services
Press Release Wire Service Comparison
Which wire service is best for small business press release distribution? Like so many things in small business marketing, it depends. Here is my take on the top press release wire services and the best use for each.
1) PR Newswire - when I first started in PR, this was THE wire service and all we used. It's the oldest,largest, and most expensive newswire service. However, their delay in adopting new SEO technology was a big mistake. Also, the Account Managers assigned to us were not helpful and turned over frequently. We rarely use this service anymore unless it's a co-release with a large corporation that still uses this wire.
2) BusinessWire - the other Tier 1 wire service. BusinessWire is large but progressive. Through their partnership with PR Web, you can get one of the best deals on the Web. For $399 you get distribution on PR Web and BusinessWire's US 1 distribution. For B2B companies with the budget, we go directly to BusinessWire. For smaller B2B companies and startups, we use the BusinessWire package with PR Web.
3) PR Web - probably the most well-known online wire service, distributing over this wire gets you LOTS of links, although the quality is not always the best. We do get amazing results on this wire for special interest B2C press releases such as travel and tourism offers. They also have great offers every once in awhile like free Podcast interviews when they first introduced the Podcast service.
4) Marketwire - We tried Marketwire's SEO press release package last year. They have very competitive rates compared to PR Newswire and BusinessWire. While their SEO console is not as polished as PR Web's reports, we did get great media pickup on a local Michigan story. We recommend Marketwire for local market releases that need SEO on a budget. You can get Michigan-only wire coverage plus SEO features such as reporting and anchor text links for $150, significantly below PR Web's $249 entry-level SEO package. We also get great friendly support from our Account Rep.
Some PR companies are advocating releasing over multiple wire services. This choice is not an option for many small businesses on a tight marketing budget. My advice - try a different wire each time until you find the one that works best for your business or industry.
Copyright 2007, Clarity Quest Corp.
Labels: marketing, Michigan marketing, Michigan PR, public relations, wire services
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