Is it okay to email press releases?

[Flatlander]

I'm going to be sending out a bunch of press releases and I was wondering if it is okay to email them or am I better off to just use snail mail? I have the feeling that regular mail would work better. Anyone have experience with this?

 

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[Blu]

Hi Flatlander,
I have a bit of experience with this, generally I think most journalists are bombarded with press releases, so there is a good chance that yours would get lost in their inbox. So, yes, snailmail might work better, but the best way I have found to get a press release picked up is to pick the publications that you would really like to see it appear in, and then make sure its tailored to them (yes, time consuming), also reach out to those journalists, call them up and say "hey, would you like to write about this story". Most will say "no", but a few might say "sure, send me your release".
The important thing is that when the release arrives it will trigger something in them, and they'll look at it.

If you have more time, months, you can build a relationship with a particular journo, this is invaluable. I would advise steering clear of press release wires, sure they will get your release to 20,000 publications, but unless you are a big well established company, few will pick it up.

Ive gotten press releases into national newspapers using the method I described.

Hope that helps