11,000 Media Contacts

These days media organizations are having to do more with fewer people and smaller budgets. This means your local TV, radio, or newspaper outlet may be paying a lot more attention to press releases which give them a free source of ideas and story leads.

There has never been a better time to write your press release and send it out to media. How many media are there? It depends what you're trying to do with your press release.

There are several PR companies online these days offering to send your release to 11,000 or more contacts. Most of these lists are packed with very specialized pubications (like the Drinking Water Journal) and ezines who have no interest in your release.

I've found there are about 5,000 media outlets at any given time that are interested in receiving press releases on a wide range of topics. These are TV, daily and weekly newspapers, a few news services, and a small handful of general interest magazines. The vast majority of contacts on any list are radio stations whose numbers account for more than half of media in North America.

Also look for lists of media who specialize in covering your industry. If you sell computer books, you might look for a computer industry list and an education list. These more specialized lists range from 6 contacts to almost 200 depending on the subject area. I've found http://gapent.com to be a great source of these tightly targeted lists.

Beyond that, you don't need to worry about targeting. All major media outlets have a person who goes through releases and targets them to the editor or reporter who covers your topic.

Kevin Nunley provides marketing and copy writing. Read all his free tips at http://DrNunley.com Reach Kevin at kevin@drnunley.com or (801)328-9006.

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