So now you have pulled all the pieces together and have a solid, interesting piece of news to get around to news media and bloggers. Before you hit send, there are a few final considerations …

Send it only when you want it out there and you are ready. Embargoes – basically some stipulation that you are sending it now but you can’t use until 7 am Wednesday – will probably be ignored. Or go unnoticed.

Send it in easily copied and pasted format. That means embedded in an email ideally or attached as a text document that anybody can open. Do not send as a Word document and particularly not as a Word 2007 .docx that the guy on the other end may not be able to open. Absolutely do not send it as a PDF file. Editors and bloggers want to be able to easily copy and paste, and PDFs do not play nice.

Send images along, but unless you think this release has a shot at getting in a print publication, just send JPEGs of no more than 1024 pixels wide and 72-100 DPI. Huge 300 DPI images are overkill and may not  even get through by email. The images should be useful and contextual. Grip and grin photos of your president shaking hands with someone may or may not get in, depending on the degree of desperation of the editor.

If you have a logo, send it in jpeg or PNG (better). Most Websites are white backgrounds so keep that in mind (don’t sent a white logo on transparent background).

Send your release in the morning, not at 4 PM. Send it earlier in the week, not on a Friday, and definitely not on a Friday afternoon when people have mentally checked out and the release will be forgotten by Monday.

Think about your target publications and get the email contacts for the right people. Then send it to them directly, one by one, or in a pinch by BCC. Do not send everyone the email with all of them in the main To: field. The editors know the release is going everywhere, but still …

Go exclusive with one publication or portal if you want, but just be aware you are pissing off several other people in the process.

Finally, if this stuff is new to you and you really aren’t sure you have it right, have someone else read it. In a company, that will happen anyway. But even in that case, get someone you know and trust to give you an honest opinion. If they say it doesn’t entirely make sense, reload.

Or hire a pro. Put it this way … I’ve learned to CALL a plumber instead of trying to fix that stuff myself.

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