Truth is, despite the fact that my profession is public relations, until a relatively short time ago I (and most of my peers) didn’t actually deal with the public all that often.  My job, and the job of most of the vast majority of PR professionals out there, was to either solicit media coverage, handle incoming media inquiries, or to manage the media in a crisis.  In each case, we didn’t take our news directly to the public. Sure … we would sometimes organize an event that was open to the public, but in most cases the main reason for the event was actually to draw news coverage.

It’s no secret that the world has changed due to the social media tools we now have at our disposal.  Now we can blog, we can grow an audience on Facebook or Twitter, we can create our own online videos, and we can even distribute our news release directly to the public rather than politely asking reporters to write about it for us.  While taking this news directly to the public, we’re actually communicating with them one-on-one in a way that wasn’t possible just a few years back.

While the media is still an important tool for disseminating news from my clients, it’s hardly the only way to go about it.  Now, it actually makes sense to call our profession PUBLIC relations.

Note: Part of what got me thinking about this was a blog post from colleague and friend Jon Newman, on how PR can capitalize on winning the “battle” over social media within organizations.  Good read.  Check it out here.

If you look on the EndGame PR services page, you’ll see a pretty long list.  There’s a reason for that.  I want to be able to do everything I can to help my clients.  I’m talking about not only social media, social networking and traditional PR tactics such as media relations, but also search engine optimization (SEO), web content creation, and even web design.  Imagine these skills and tactics as part of a never-ending “circle of life”.  Quality media relations campaigns can equal links back to a web site, which helps search rankings, which in turn can help a social media audience find you, which in turn can help you promote your quality web content, which can add links back to a web site, which can help SEO …. lather, rinse, repeat.  All of these strategies and tactics work well together, and should not be stuck in silos, as they are in so many organizations.

Perhaps the best part of thinking about PR in this way is that you’re not reliant upon one single tactic. If your media relations campaign isn’t going as well as expected, perhaps another portion of the “circle of life” will kick in and help you.

While I’m not suggesting that all PR professionals should know what a 301 redirect is or what to do with the .htaccess file (I do, but I’m a geek), they should know the basics of SEO.  They should also know how (or have access to someone who does) to create a basic web video.  They should also have the writing skills to be able to write an entertaining and thoughtful blog post.  Feel free to judge whether I possess that last one or not .. I won’t assume.

I am going to assume, however, that most everyone reading this knows at least a little bit about social media.  You ARE reading a blog, after all.  Not near as many have knowledge of the SEO basics.  Here are a few, with an example at the end of how the circle of life works:

• Keywords: The basic strategy for figuring out which keywords to use is to think of what words you WANT web searchers to use on Google in order to find your content.  Then, work those words into your title and copy (in a natural way, please .. no keyword stuffing).  If you want to get more precise about which keywords to use, try playing with the Google Keyword Tool.  Most important, however, is that you include those keywords in the headlines and copy of your news releases and other online content.
• Backlinks are king: One of the most important things you can do to improve your site’s search ranking WITHOUT digging into web site code, is increase the number of other sites linking to your site.  From a PR perspective, this can be done two ways.  First, create original content that people will want to link to.  In other words, people will enjoy it and want to blog about it or post about it on Twitter or Facebook.  Another tool in the SEO PR toolbox is online news release distribution.  Check out my sort-of-annual review of online release distribution sites for more information about this.
• Promote your content on social networking sites: Obviously this isn’t ALL you should be doing on Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and all of the others, but it’s one of the things you should be doing.  Obviously, the more people who know about your unique content, the more people who could potentially link back to it from their sites.  See?!  Circle of life!

What it comes down to is that PR pros need to learn everything they can about these tools, even to the point of teaching themselves a little bit of HTML and even how to use CSS.  These skills come in handy much more than you would expect, and can improve the service provided to clients or employers.

And, don’t blame me if you walk away from this blog post humming an Elton John song from a certain Disney movie.  That’s your problem, and I accept no responsibility for it.  It’s less annoying than Hakuna Matata, at least!

This post has been a long time coming.  Client work and family life keeps getting in the way, but the online distribution universe changes so fast, and I’ve received so much goodwill as a result of the previous two versions of my online news release distribution reviews that I had make the time to write this update.

Let’s take a look at a some good reasons to distribute your news releases online:

1. By including a link in your release, you’re building inbound links to your web site.
2. Your news is being spread beyond the boundaries of your web site, increasing the odds of it being seen by your audience.
3. There is the possibility that it will be seen by new media or traditional media, leading to coverage from these outlets.  This isn’t something I ever count on, but it does sometimes happen.

Disclaimer: There have been occasions where I have been given free “try out” release distributions. I do accept these because they allow me to sample different services, but I do my best not to let them sway my judgment in the review.  I consider it the same as a product reviewer accepting a sample product.  Disclaimers about specific services can be found within their reviews.

So, which is the best place to distribute your news releases to reach your goals? Below is a review of what I consider the best of the best, both free and paid. Feed free to add your own via comments!

Premium News Release Distribution

PR Newswire (PRN)
Cost: Varies, starting at $170 for a 400 word release
Review: PR Newswire has been around in one form or another for more than 55 years.  They market themselves as being a mainstay among reporters and news organizations, and are recently pushing their ability to get news to bloggers via their opt-in distribution lists.  They also do a good job of distributing your release for use on other websites.  Your release will rank well on Google News for your keywords, and you’ll get plenty of quality backlinks.

The problem with PR Newswire has always been cost. They have a yearly fee that you have to pay for the privilege of paying more to post your releases.  They have been known to waive that fee for small businesses, so be sure to ask if you qualify.  Releases start at $170 for distribution on their city or state wire, with an additional charge for every 100 words after that. That’s for a short release of 400 words, though, and they charge you for each word after that.   At that price, the distribution to the media is limited.  If you want distribution to nationwide media, you’ll pay almost $650 for a single release.  With all of this said, I do think PR Newswire does a great job getting the word out to the media, and as I’ll say in a number of cases during this review — you get what you pay for.

BusinessWire
Cost: Varies, starting at $180 for the first 400 words, or $175 for EON distribution
Review: Business Wire has become my “go to” service for clients who have the money to pay for premium distribution. As with PR Newswire, their service is not cheap.  A basic citywide distribution will cost you at least $180 for the first 400 words, with an additional charge for every 100 words after that.

A basic release from BusinessWire will generate quality links for your release, and plenty of them.  The version of your release on the Business Wire site will rank on Google and Google News, but I’ve never been overly impressed with how well it ranks.  Generally speaking, the sites they distribute TO will rank better than the actual Business Wire version.  The good news is that Business Wire has a long list of sites that automatically will run your release, and after your distribution they will send you a link that will show you all of those sites.

One thing I should also note is that releases I have posted on Business Wire HAVE resulted in legitimate coverage on blogs and other new media sites.  What I mean by this is that rather than just posting the release verbatim, the bloggers or new media journalists have rewritten it or contacted me to learn more.

New for 2010 from Business Wire is a different pricing plan for their EON release distribution.  The EON platform, launched several years ago, is designed with social media and SEO in mind.  EON releases rank well on Google and Google News.  You can include images and videos, and style your release using HTML.  Previously, EON was an add-on to standard geographic distributions, but starting January 1, 2010, you can purchase it separately for $175.  A word of caution, however: with an EON release, your release is NOT distributed to Business Wire’s online partners.  It will only be posted on Business Wire’s site.

PRWeb
Cost: Packages range from $80 to $360
Review: When PRWeb was launched in 1997, its owners seemed to realize that releases would become more than a tool for sending news to the media.  They were correct, as releases are now a means of pushing news to your audience and pulling them back to your web site.

The two benefits of PRWeb are SEO and price.  Your release will rank very well on Google and Google News, and they do distribute to many of the same sites as PR Newswire and Business Wire.  While you may not receive as many backlinks as with the two services reviewed above, you also won’t pay as much.  Distributions on PRWeb start at $80, and range up to $360.  My personal favorite is the $200 package, which offers a nice mix of cost and features.  Additionally, they don’t charge per word, so a longer release will cost the same as a short one.

All PRWeb releases include live links, feature quotes, and a framed view of your web site below the release text.  Starting with the $200 distribution, you can also utilize anchor text links, which help greatly with your site’s search rankings.

Budget News Release Distribution

Online PR News (OPN)
Cost: $12 (free releases available)

Disclaimer: Since the last time I updated my review of online news release distribution, I have begun partnering with Online PR News on their podcasting service. I have also consulted with them on marketing in the past. In return for my consulting services, I receive complimentary distributions.

Online PR News is a relative newcomer to this stratosphere of distribution services.  Founded by two SEO content producers, the site naturally focuses on helping you publish a release that ranks well in the search engines.  The site has installed many upgrades for 2010, and has in turn raised its prices.  Free ad-supported releases are available that include one backlink, but with the low cost distribution beginning at $12, there’s no reason not to ditch the ads.

OPN has taken many cues from PRWeb in its release design, with each paid release receiving a pull quote and a frame below the release text that shows your web site.  Paid releases at the $12 level can also include user images, and releases at the $49 level and up can embed YouTube videos.  At the $349 level, you not only receive their maximum visibility and distribution, you also receive release editing services AND distribution via PR Newswire.

OPN does not yet have the push to other sites that Business Wire, PR Newswire, or PRWeb offer, but their prices are attractive and the OPN version of the release will rank very, very well on Google and Google News.  This service is definitely worth trying out.

PR Leap
Cost: Distribution starting at $49
Review: Started several years back as a free service, PR Leap has grown into a full service paid distribution site.  New for 2010 is a feature called PRTube that allows you to embed your release on a web site or blog using a code much like a YouTube video.  Additional services include Google News distribution, text links, and submission to (but not guaranteed usage by) outlets like the AP and UPI.  My previous experiences with PR Leap have been good ones, with their releases ranking well for my keywords.

PR.com
Cost: Distribution starting at $30 (free option available)
Review: The first thing you’ll notice about PR.com is the AWESOME domain name.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  The second thing you’ll notice is a slightly confusing web site set up.  I don’t normally distribute using this service, so I in writing this review I needed to go back to check pricing information. It took about 10 minutes to find the pricing page, which is about nine minutes too many.  The major issue is that the site has lost some of its focus on release distribution and is now also posting job listings.

Aside from the navigation and focus issues on the site, distribution from PR.com appears to be quite solid.  After running some Google searches for releases posted there, I found that the site does help spread your release to a number of other sites.  Distribution costs start at $30, but after perusing the options at that level, it appears that you’d really need to spend $50 to get much distribution to other sites.  A free option is available, but is ad supported.

PRUnderground

Note added 10/29/10: PRUnderground has recently increased their prices and changed the services offered at their various pricing tiers.  This review is updated to reflect that change.

Cost: Distribution starting at $19.95
Review: PRUnderground is one of the more successful of the sites using a social media approach to distribution.  At the $19.95 level, you get distribution to other sites, but not to social networks.  Your release will also have advertising on it.  At the next level, $49.95, you get distribution to other sites and social networking outlets, and the ads go away.

Distribution from PRUnderground focuses on channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and Moreover.  The technique seems to work, as the releases from PRUnderground that I tested by searching for them in Google did seem to get distribution beyond the PRUnderground.com site. You can also embed a YouTube video, and a preview of your web site is shown in a frame below your release text.

Other paid distribution services: Marketwire, PRBuzz, 1888PressRelease

Free News Release Distribution

Fewer and fewer sites offer quality free distribution anymore.  Here are some of the better options:

PRLog
Cost: Free (ad supported)
Review: PRLog has been around for years, and despite the unattractive layout of the site and its releases, it’s hard to beat the rankings they achieve for releases posted at this Romanian-based site.

A couple of years back, PRLog branched out from news releases and started offering job listings as well (is this a trend?), which cluttered up the site considerably.  Despite my cries that I’m going to stop using the site, I keep coming back.  If you can tolerate the look and feel of the site, it’s something worth considering.  It’s one of the last truly free release distribution services that isn’t neutered, as they include a user-uploaded image, some customization (bolding and italics), and the first three links included in your release will be live.

24-7 Press Release
Cost: Free (ad supported), with a $49 paid option
Review:24-7 Press Release is another of the sites with free options that I have on my roster for secondary distribution.  Generally for a client, I post on one of the premium paid sites such as PRWeb or Business Wire, and then I post versions of the release with different headlines on some of the free sites, such as this one.

One of the only major downsides to 24-7 Press Release is that they hold your release for a day or two before they post it on their site.  However, if you pay for immediate distribution, they review it pretty quickly.  Once live, your free release will rank well on Google and sometimes Google News.  Links in the release body are not an option unless you pay for the upgraded release, but a link is included in a small company profile box.  Their paid option of $49 includes enhanced SEO benefits such as anchor text for links within the release.

Wikio
Cost: Free
Review: Wikio is actually meant more for articles and for sharing links, but it can also be used to post your news release content.  A voting system similar to Digg is utilized.  When setting up your release, you can post anchor text links and format your release in many of the same ways you can when using a paid service.  There’s no additional distribution beyond the version posted on Wikio, but that version does seem to rank fairly well in Google.

I-Newswire
Cost: Free (ad supported) with paid option
Review: Going the route of many of the free release sites, I-Newswire has neutered its free options and increased its paid options.  Their free releases no longer include a link.  That will cost you $35.

The Open Press
Cost: Free (ad supported) with a $10 paid option
Review: This is a great free distribution site, with one downside — signing up is extremely ponderous.  Currently, you cannot sign up on the site.  Instead, you have to send an email and request to be registered. The explanation given is that they’ve had issues with spammers.  Once you go through that process, however, the site is very good.  It looks businesslike, and the releases posted there rank well in Google web search.  Tasteful ads are placed on your release.  They can be removed by paying $10.  The site’s owners truly review your release before posting it (unlike some sites who say they’re reviewing it, but really want you to pay for expedited distribution) and WILL reject releases that they don’t feel meet their standards.  I know this from experience.

PressReleasePoint
Cost: Free to post on their site (ad supported) and $15 to distribute elsewhere
Review: This site sounds good on the surface — they post your release on their site for free, and for $15 they’ll post it on 50 free distribution sites.  I have not tried this service, but it concerns me.  Google’s duplicate content rule may come into play after the same content is posted on that many sites.

Another problem is the site itself.  Previously, it had a number of layout problems.  Some of those have been fixed in the past year, but what hasn’t been fixed is that the web site itself is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.  My suggestion to the owners is that they have a professional copy editor go through the site with a fine-toothed comb.

One thing I do like on their site is the comprehensive list of more free and paid sites than I can possibly list here.  The list is found here.

PitchEngine
Cost: Free (no ads)
Review: PitchEngine is a bit of a conundrum for me.  The site, which features a slick social media news release format, has numerous fans.  However, while the version of the release on PitchEngine ranks rather well on Google, there’s no Google News distribution.  The site has had it in the past, but has lost it several times.  Additionally, releases posted using the free option expire after 30 days.  To have them posted permanently costs $35 per month.  To get the full benefit of the site, with a custom newsroom and permanent hosting, will cost you $50 per month.  I’m not certain what happens if you pay your subscription for a year, post releases, and then decide not to renew.  If anyone can tell me whether those releases then expire or not, I’d be happy to update this review.

The bottom line is that while PitchEngine has many loyal fans, I’m not really one of them.

Other free distribution sites: PR-USA, PostaFreePressRelease, Express Press Release

The Best of the Best

So, which of these sites do I think are the BEST?

Premium Release Distribution: PRWeb and Business Wire (Tie)
It’s hard for me to pick between these two, so I’m taking the easy way out.  PRWeb does a better job of ensuring your release ranks well and generates some backlinks.  Business Wire, however, will make sure your release receives loads of backlinks.

Budget Release Distribution: Online PR News
With budget distribution services, you normally won’t get a lot of distribution, so I’m judging how well the version of the release on the distribution site ranks on Google and Google News.  OPN gets you VERY good rankings with both, and they’re continuing to expand their offerings.
(Honorable Mention: PRUnderground)

Free Release Distribution: PRLog
I keep trying to replace them on this list because I wish they’d do something to clean up their site, but it’s hard to argue with a free release service that offers their features, and will get your release excellent search rankings.
(Honorable Mention: Wikio)

Disagree?  Agree? Want to talk about another distribution service (preferably not one you work for)?  Please let me know about it in comments!

If you appreciate the work it took to compile these reviews, please be sure to “retweet” it using the button at the top of the page, or post it on one of the services below!

But, what happens when the media weakens, and there aren’t enough reporters to cover even the most fascinating stories?

I happened upon two different articles this week that say essentially what I’ve been saying for some time — the answer is to create your OWN media.  Blogging, podcasting, web videos, online news release distribution, Tweeting, and Facebooking all can take your message to your customers in an unfiltered way.

From Advertising Age:

As the body count of magazines and daily newspapers continues to rise and the once-robust news and feature holes of surviving publications shrink along with reporting staffs, some marketers have given up on the traditional path to media coverage: pitching journalists. According to the website Paper Cuts, which tracks layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers, nearly 30,000 reporters have left the industry since the beginning of 2008. So instead of pitching their stories to reporters, a growing number of marketers are directly engaging consumers through original content they and their agencies are creating.

This bleak picture of the media industry is one that I see on a regular basis.  I still do quite a bit of traditional media pitching, in addition to the social media PR tasks that I perform for clients.  While I still have success with my client media pitches, there simply aren’t the same number of opportunities for media placement as there were for PR professionals ten years ago.  The answer is to add to the value of your announcement/story/new product/etc. by utilizing social media tools.

More on the topic comes from Newsvetter, which says the death of the newspaper beat system is a huge opportunity for PR pros to become the experts that reporters so desperately need.  I’ve lived the issues that this article brings up as well.  At medium to large newspapers, there used to be one reporter in charge of health, another in charge of technology, and so on.  Now, one reporter might be in charge of health AND technology AND food AND any number of other things.  Even worse, reporters might be assigned to stories based completely on availability, not on knowledge of a topic.  One suggestion from Newsvetter to make yourself the expert that reporters can rely upon is to utilize corporate blogging:

Minimize the use of the dreaded press release and focus instead on developing your own corporate news channel that distributes information via blogs, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, or some other platform that you control. This will get your information to both consumers and the media.

Solid recommendation.

One thing to bear in mind in this new world of PR is that you can’t ignore the traditional media any more than you can ignore the new social media channels.  The old media is not dead, and I don’t think they’ll ever completely die.  I’m not ready to write their obituary and chisel their headstone, despite the attempt at an amusing picture at the top of this blog post.  The world is changing, however, and PR professionals who want to be successful need to change with it.

If you want to do it the easy way, Neville Hobson created a list on TweepML.  You can follow each of the 100 on Valeria’s list by clicking one button!  Follow this link: http://tweepml.org/PR-100/

Check out the article here: With PR on the Rise, Here’s a Refresher Course in the Basics

My presentation today focused on strategies that small business owners can use, potentially without outside help, to promote their businesses.  These strategies included traditional media relations, SEO, social media, social networking, and blogger relations.  The response from the attendees was outstanding, and they had dozens of outstanding questions.  There were so many questions, in fact, that my hour-long presentation ended up taking an hour-and-a-half!

I’m told the feedback to the organizers after the event was outstanding, so much so that I’ve been asked to come back for an encore next month.  I’ll post more details on that as soon as I have them.

Thanks to Bob from the SBA and Nora from the SBDC for inviting me.  I had a great time!

As I got over that thought, I started pondering all of the ways that PR has changed since I started in the industry.  This pondering led to my post last week, 10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics, about common PR tactics we practiced 10 years ago that aren’t practiced anymore.  I decided to write this sequel on common tactics practiced today that weren’t even thought of 10 years ago.  If the tactics I wrote about last week are dinosaurs, these are newborns!

Please add your own suggestions in comments!

10 Newborn PR Tactics

10) Reputation Monitoring: I understand this isn’t an entirely new tactic, but who could have imagined the WAY we’re monitoring reputations today?
10 Years Ago: In existence, but in a different form

9) Corporate Web Videos:10 years ago we sent out Beta tapes or booked satellite time to deliver client video and video news releases to journalists. Today, we create YouTube channels and make our video clips available for download in HD format from corporate websites.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent, but corporate video was available in a different form

8) Corporate Podcasting: As mentioned above, the Internet has simply changed the way we deliver our content.  10 years ago, I was known as one of the early practitioners of the simple nationwide Audio News Release (ANRs … also called Radio News Releases or RNRs).  I recorded interviews with clients through the phone, cut the audio into soundbites using a simple digital editor, and made those soundbites available through a voicemail line.  The audio quality was so-so due to the layers of telephone sound.  Today, you can record high quality sound in your office and easily make it available via the web to whoever wants it.  Much more efficient than a voicemail line!
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent, but corporate audio was available in a different form

7) Viral Marketing: Who doesn’t want their company or client content to go viral?  Getting an article, blog post, web video or whatever to spread on its own through social media sites or email is a dream!  10 years ago it WAS in existence.  It was called “word of mouth” advertising, and it’s been around since we’ve been able to talk.  The web got involved later, and changed it forever.  Per Wikipedia, the term was coined in the late 1990s and was used to describe Hotmail’s practice of appending advertisements to the end of free email accounts.  The tactic wasn’t, to my knowledge, used by any significant number of PR pros until much, much later.
10 Years Ago: Gestating

6) Corporate Blogging: For years, we’ve wanted reporters and influencers to know our executives  personally.  Ten years ago, we took those bosses or clients on meet-and-greet tours with reporters.  That’s still a valid strategy, if you can find reporters who have time for it.  Another way to achieve this goal is to launch an executive blog.  That’s just one of the myriad of uses for corporate blogging.  Others include link building and SEO, news release distribution, and as a home for podcasts and web videos.  Per Wikipedia, the term “weblog” was coined in 1997, and was first shortened to “blog” in 1999.  Corporate blogs really didn’t start to explode until a few years ago.
10 Years Ago: Gestating

5) Blogger Relations: Once there were enough bloggers out there writing about enough topics, and enough people were reading them, we PR people started to realize that … OMG, WE NEED TO PITCH BLOGGERS!  From what I can see, there’s not much rejoicing going on among bloggers about that realization.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

4) Web Design: Sure … websites existed in 1999.  I started my first web business in 1998, and I certainly wasn’t the first one.  However, I agree with Sara Evans’ recent blog post that today’s PR pros need to have at least a basic knowledge of HTML code.  Optimizing and even simply improving the look of our postings, whether they’re on a blog, Facebook, or on a news release distribution site, is part of our job now.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent, at least as a PR tool

3) SEO PR, or PR for Search Engine Optimization: Keyword optimization has been around as long as the Yellow Pages.  Ever wonder why company names like AAA Auto Repair were chosen?  Yup … it was so they’d be at the front of the book.  SEO, meanwhile, came into being in the mid-1990s, as businesses tried to get to the top of Excite, Yahoo, and Lycos.  Using tactics like online news release distribution and keyword optimization of news releases, PR pros got into the act a handful of years ago.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

2) Social Media News Releases: There’s still a lot of discussion going on about whether this is the best format for a release.  I’m on the side that believes the old narrative format can still be used, while at the same time using some of the elements of a social media release.  Essentially, when I write a formal news release (something I’m doing less and less) I use a hybrid, which you can check on on my news release page.  However, whether you’re a practitioner of the social media release or not, I think we can all agree that this was not a tactic we were using 10 years ago.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

1) Social Media … anything: You can’t get away from the phrase “social media” these days.  Hard to believe it didn’t exist in any significant form 10 years ago.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

Honorary Mention:
Online News Release Distribution: I left this out because it’s a tool for SEO PR, but it can be used for non-SEO purposes as well.  PR Newswire has been posting its releases online for a while, but it wasn’t until the RSS feed gained wide use a few years ago that those releases could easily spread around the Internet … which is at least half of the point of posting an online news release!

Note: I’m sure there are some PR pros out there who were using some of these tactics 10 years ago.  If you have, then kudos to you … you were ahead of the curve!

So, at the risk of sounding incredibly old, I present:

10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics:

10) Newspaper-based Media Relations Strategy
Newspapers are dying. Circulation is down. You can’t wrap your media relations strategy solely around trying to get print coverage anymore.
Status: Alive, but poor strategy

9) Deskside Reporter Meetings
These are the sit-down meetings where you get to know reporters and/or pitch them in person.  My friend and former boss Jon Newman recently wrote about desksides, saying they’re dying.  I agree.  In a “former life” I flew from Richmond, VA to New York City on a semi-frequent basis for these meetings.  Now, reporters (particularly the print ones) are ridiculously overtaxed and even more jaded than I remember.  You will occasionally find journalists who appreciate the face-to-face time, but there aren’t many left.
Status: Hard to find

8) Media packets
I would put this tactic in the “nearly dead” category.  You still see plenty of them.  Just one man’s opinion, but I don’t consider glossy packets a good use of money for most organizations.  I’d sooner build a micro-website or even a Facebook page.
Status: Alive, but IMHO a waste of money

7) Video news releases (VNRs)
These are still around, but they’re not nearly as popular as they were 10 years ago.  The Bush Administration essentially killed this tactic.
Status: Alive, but hard to get results

6) Audio news releases (ANRs)
This tactic, which I actually promoted as a service when EndGame PR was first founded, was always the less popular younger sister of VNRs.  While I’m not aware of the Bush Administration getting in trouble for ANRs, they basically died at the same time as VNRs.  They’ve been replaced somewhat by podcasts or web audio soundbites used in social media news releases, but you can still find stations that are willing to accept them.
Status: See #7

5) Media Map
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this tool, it was a server-based media directory.  It was horrendously expensive compared to today’s web-based directories.  I recall the president of the firm where I worked being elated when I discovered we could save about $40,000 every year by switching to the web-based Bacon’s Mediasource.  Oh yeah … I got some major brownie points that week!
Status: Replaced

4) Blast faxing
Remember when we used to pay services to send our releases out to hundreds or even thousands of news outlets?  Who faxes anymore?  I have a fax machine.  I rarely use it.
Status: Replaced

3) Mailed Newsletters
These used to be very popular, but have been replaced by email newsletters that should be backed up by a blog. You’ll likely see a trend in this list. I consider anything that involves using snail mail to be outdated.
Status: Replaced

2) Bacon’s Media Guides
I’m not talking about the online media directories.  I’m talking about the paper media guides … the books.  I believe they’re still available in some format but, really, if I have to explain why the web-based versions are better then you need to take a course on the “Internets”.
Status: Dinosaur

1) Mailed Reporter Pitches
It’s hard to believe, but if you hunt through the “pitching preferences” in the media guides (the web-based ones of course) you’ll still find some reporters who say they prefer mailed pitches. This is another way of saying, “Don’t pitch me”. However, there was a time before email was widespread when it was a legitimate way to pitch.
Status: Doornail, as in “dead as a”

Honorable Mention: Peter Shankman claims the news release itself is dead, or will be soon, with the exception of financial releases.  I disagree.  I believe the release is still alive and well, but is in a different form than it was 10 years ago.  I believe online distribution has saved the release from becoming a dinosaur.  We’ll give it a couple of years and see who is right!

Note: Plenty of people DO still use some of the above tactics.  I’m not writing this list to offend anyone.  If you’re successful … I’m not judging!

Be sure to read the follow up to this post: 10 Newborn PR Tactics!