How our press release ended up on 500 news sites with zero business benefit

Unless you get results from your PR efforts that are in alignment with your business goals, you may as well not bother.

Unless press coverage converts into sales, leads, inquiries, or what-have-you, it is a vanity metric.

This post is part of a series:

1. This is how you create an amazing press release
2. Your press release needs images
3. How to get your news in front of journalists
4. Should you use the wire services? (This article)
5. Should startups do a press release when they raise funding?
6. Don’t send draft press releases!

Step 1 — What are your business goals?

Before you set out to attract press coverage, it’s important to ask yourself why. Why do you think it’s a good idea to be written about on a high-profile website? More and more, people are starting to realize that press coverage per se is purely a vanity metric. Sure, it’s fun to see your company name in print, and it feels great to tweet out that…