There is no doubt that everybody loves a little freebie, and any service or product that you can get for free is a win-win situation for you, since you have nothing to lose. However, when it comes to a press release, you might have to opt for some strategic decisions. While it can feel great to opt for a route that costs nothing, it might not always be effective for your business. You should go through a comparative analysis of free press release and Paid PRs to figure out which will work best for your company the best.
Sometimes, you might even require a blend of both PR strategy based on your business needs and budget allocated for it. The best way to find out would be identifying the pro and cons based on the key factors. Let’s take a better look at it.
Paid Press Release vs. Free Press Release
-
Distribution and Reach: Is Your Press Release Content Reaching Out far?
One of the most obvious differences between a paid and a free PR service is the distribution network. A paid distribution service is more likely to offer you guaranteed placements in the credible and reputed news and media platforms. They can help to gain organic exposure from the niche industry which is helps to create a buzz in the competitive market. While free PR can offer you a limited reach, paid PR services can offer you extended popularity in the market that helps to progress rapidly.
On the other hand, free PR can be good choice for testing waters as you will have to lose nothing even if the distribution campaign fails. You cannot just test with a paid package as it requires a strategy as well as monetary investments. Paid packages can help you be a part of a broader and more effective PR distribution for your business.
-
Capability of Targeting: Are You Hitting the Potential Audiences and the Niche?
Free PR services do not offer any advanced targeting features. Due to their generalized approach without focusing on a niche, the business owners and individuals lack the organic exposure they are looking for. If your business is announcing something with a wide appeal in the market, it is recommended to opt for a paid service as it can offer maximum reach and media exposure.
The professional PR agencies makes sure to map out target audiences for their clients to effectively reach potential users with a guarantee of higher conversation rate.
-
Additional Features and Support: Are You Getting What You Want for Your PR?
When you opt for a free press release service, the benefits you get are often limited to the basics and sometimes even lower than the basics. There is a saying, ‘You get what you pay for,’ and it is absolutely true in the case of press release distribution services. Quite certainly, free PR services can never offer you the benefits that a paid service from a professional PR agency can provide. Also, free PR companies can lack customer service since nobody really wants to query a service that is already provided for free. Whatever you get is a gain.
The Paid PR packages can offer you a handful of additional features such as scheduled distribution, mobile distribution, multimedia enrichment, SEO mass ping, etc, many others that help to make the distribution campaign successful and impactful with long-lasting results. These companies are more likely to have a 24*7 customer service to help the users solve their queries at hour of the day.
-
Perception and Credibility: Are You Getting Viewed the Way You Want to?
Not all media and news platforms are viewed in the same way, and the greatest reason for this is credibility. The platforms that are credible to journalists and media professionals are more likely to help you establish your brand. Instead of the free versions, opt for their paid counterparts, which can offer you additional exposure from the niche. The credible platforms also help to improve your company's reputation in the competitive market, offering a jumpstart for growth, sales, and exposure. Creating a brand perception in the market would not be easy with just free PR approaches, as they offer limited results.
-
Value and Cost: Find Out the Real Cost of Your Press Release
Have you ever considered what the real value of your press release is? While free PRs do not cost anything, they also do not provide remarkable results that are worthwhile. Paid press release services need investment, but the great results they provide also make it highly cost-effectively. It offers great returns on investment (ROI), which makes every campaign worthy of embarking on. Paid services can offer you a much better value for money and help to make your PR approaches successful.
Let’s Make the Right Choice
After going through a comparative discussion, it is evident that each of the press release approaches has its own sets of advantages of drawbacks. It depends on your PR goals, budget and business requirements to find out which strategy will work for your business. However, if you are looking for something worthwhile, make sure to proceed with a paid PR service.
