By Jim McGovern
Getting company news in front of your target audiences used to be a mystery to many PR exec, but the advent of the Internet helped change all that. The Internet, as a
disruptive technology, has enabled new competitors to challenge the old status quo and to break down the barriers to entry in protected industries. The newswire arena is no
exception.
Today, newswires are witnessing levels of product innovation, client service and price competition not seen in decades. Now more than ever, PR, marcom and IR professionals
hold the power when it comes to communicating to their targeted audiences:
Features, Functions And Automation
Today's technologies provide a wide array of features and functions that enhance the power of a newswire and that streamline the job of communication professionals. Depending
on your needs, you should look for capabilities like self-service management of authorized users on your account, real-time calculation of the estimated cost of your release
before you push the "submit" button, access to an up-to-the-minute status of your sales contracts, a complete history of your invoices and press releases, express profiles to
speed up submissions and the ability to edit individual user preferences.
Going beyond these basics, you should expect your newswire to exploit new technologies like RSS aggressively to expand the reach of your news and to leverage the power of
search engine optimization (SEO) to enhance the visibility of your news.
Further, look for synergies between related products that will make your life easier. For example, does your newswire provide technology that automatically handles the full
range of tasks associated with managing your custom e-mail lists, including: self-service subscribe functionality for end users; lists grouped by news type; automated unsubscribe
capabilities; discretion, at the time of submission, about lists to include or exclude; and comprehensive after-the-fact reporting on your custom e-mail distribution?
Similarly, does your newswire offer tight integration with its online PR and IR newsroom products, so that you are in control of what gets posted to your Web site, without
mistakes, without delays and properly classified by news type if appropriate? Answers to these questions can help you maximize the value you derive from your newswire by
streamlining your workflow, enhancing your customer experience and reducing your costs.
Multimedia, while it's been talked about for a long time, still is under-utilized by most communication professionals. While multimedia was once prohibitively expensive,
that's no longer true of all newswires.
The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words is truer now than ever. Dress up your news with photography because it's going to get more attention, it's going to
have more impact and it's more likely to catch the eye of that journalist trying to round out his or her story.
Comparison-Shop
With real competition comes power for you, the client. If you've always sent your news via a certain newswire because, well, "that's how we've always done it," -- think
again. Consider doing a little comparison-shopping.
Find out exactly where your news goes when you buy a specific distribution circuit. Are the circuits from one vendor to the next identical, substantially the same or
radically different? Judge for yourself the quality of the service you personally receive. Do the claims of excellent client service ring hollow or true? Compare the price tag for
the services you want, including any surcharges for things like micro lists. Does what you're getting represent the best value available or are you being taken to the cleaners?
Use your experience and common sense when evaluating the credibility of statements made by the different newswires. If a vendor is quick to point out isolated mistakes made
by a competitor while neglecting to inform you that they have made similar mistakes, then what does that say to you about the integrity of that vendor? Similarly, if a vendor
boasts that journalists prefer its service and favor its clients' news for coverage, does that truly seem plausible, given what you know about journalists?
Competition Makes Newswires Work Harder For You
Newswire competition is good. It gives you choices you didn't have before. But it also requires you to do a bit of homework so that you are in a position to really know what
is best for you or your clients.
Contact: Jim McGovern is president/CEO of Market Wire (Los Angeles, Calif.), which distributes company press releases and financial news announcements. In April 2003, the
company entered into an alliance with NASDAQ in which Market Wire became the preferred provider of press- release distribution services to NASDAQ-listed companies. In January
2005, the company entered into an alliance with the London Stock Exchange Regulatory News Service (RNS), making Market Wire the only newswire allied with two of the world's
largest stock exchanges. McGovern can be reached at 310.846.3720, [email protected].