Is Sending Out a Press Release Really Worth the Money?

So you hired a PR firm. And on the eve of your first big announcement, your new rep lays out a plan for a press release. This press release will go everywhere, the rep says, to thousands of outlets, with a potential audience of nearly 100 million people. He gives you a lot of other numbers as well. You don't quite understand them, but then you're not a PR person, and 100 million people is a lot of people. Sounds great, you say. And out it goes.

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You've just participated in the press release industrial complex, a system in which the only guaranteed outcome is that public relations agencies, newswires,. One company that distributes press releases, Comtex, says it processes up to 80,000 of them a day. Kevin Akeroyd, the CEO of another such firm, , says, "The overall volume of press releases both in the U.S. and globally, as well as price per press release, is at an all-time high."