Grass Roots Publicity

Recently, a friend asked about press releases. She wanted to know whether spending a few hundred dollars to use a wire service to disseminate her release was a good investment. The bottom line answer is, "It depends."

I encouraged her, if she had the time, to create her own grass roots service. The way to do this: send the press release personally to all the journalists with whom she's developed a relationship. It's better to put the release in the body of an e-mail--many reporters won't open an unsolicited attachment. As a journalist, I'm much more likely to open the e-mail of someone who's a respected source than just consider a press release randomly sent by a service. In fact, unless the subject line is compelling, I'll delete the e-mail from a service without even looking at the release.

However, on a slow news day, news professionals are eager to consider every story idea. Reporters will look at trends, issues and more to see if they can combine a couple of newsmakers to come up with a unique report.

So try it both ways and see what kind of response you get.

Bonus Tip: Always post your press releases to your website's "pressroom." Reporters will read them when they're researching.