Public relations is an incredibly powerful tool entrepreneurs can use to build credibility and gain exposure.  By appearing in various media, consumers immediately assume you're an authority in your field and that translates into more business and less competition.

Public relations is driven by writing and sending out press releases.  There's a whole topic in writing press releases and it's beyond the scope of this article.  But the focus of this article revolves around sending them out.  Of course, the most effective way of getting press releases out there is to fax them to a journalist you've developed a relationship with but you can only develop relationships with so many people.  After a certain point, it's just not an effective use of your time.

There are services out there called wire services.  A few of the notable providers are PR Newswire, BusinessWire and PRWeb.com.  For a fee, each of these companies will send your press release out to tens of thousands of journalists, publishers and editors.  In an instant, your story can be delivered electronically to every corner of the media universe.  But there's a problem.  Your story is buried in a pile of thousands of other stories.

Well, your fears are true.  The probability of getting any real coverage for your story when you send it out over the wire is slight.  There are some websites that automatically and electronically accept every single story that comes over the wire so it does end up somewhere but no actual humans find it.  It only exists in the dark corners of the internet.

There are certain situations when it makes sense to send your story over the wire so let's take a look.  First and foremost, it has to be tied in with the current headlines.  I suggest looking at the headlines every single morning to see if there's a prevailing story you can tie your announcement to.  You have to be a bit creative but the rewards can be huge.  Think about an angle you can use to tie your press release to the major headlines and you could easily get picked up.

A lot of this has to do with your title.  Make sure it's catchy and incorporates both your announcement and the headline you're piggy backing on.  When you write a press release, you're essentially providing the journalists with a prepackaged article they can use in their media.  Write your title with this in mind.  Think of title that would peak your own curiosity in a newspaper or a magazine.

If you have a really good angle, I suggest hiring a professional copywriter.  I've always considered myself to be a fairly good writer but the professional copywriters have a unique skill set.  They're used to the media environment and they can put little details into your piece that can dramatically increase the probability of getting your story picked up.  It'll cost you a couple hundred dollars but its money well spent.

Tactical Execution provides a lot more information about building credibility and gaining exposure.  Please visit the website to take advantage of the resources available there.  The process is a lot more fun when you know what to do.

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