Newswire services: Public Relations / Publicity Tips

So you want to know about newswire services and what newswire services can do for you? Here's some basic background on newswire services: what and who they are. Also included for you are some publicity and public relations tips on how to use newswire services for your public relations, publicity, and for maintaining and controlling your corporate image.

There are lots of different news media outlets out there. There's the print media services, which includes newspapers and magazines. Then there's broadcast media. Broadcast media includes TV stations, TV networks, and radio stations and networks. Then, of course, there's the Internet. The Internet is becoming the most popular place for customers and the general public to get news about current events, to shop, to get product information, and to communicate with each other about different products, companies, etc.

Now, when you read your local newspaper, you might notice a small tagline, or a credit at the beginning or the end of the article. This tagline or credit might say something like "Associated Press" or "contributed by Reuters" or something along those lines. Associated Press and Reuters are newswire services. A newswire service, which is also called a news agency, or just wire services, is a company made up of journalists who research and write articles on loads of different things. Those articles are then bought by different news media outlets, like your local newspaper, or The New York Times.

There are different kinds of newswire services. Some of them are like described above. They sell their news articles to different news media outlets. An example of this kind of company is Reuters. Sometimes newspapers band together and agree to share all of their articles with each other. An example of this kind of newswire service is Associated Press. There are other newswire services that act like the first one: if some company or corporation wants to use their news, they're charged a fee. Some examples of this type of newswire service are Business Wire, PR Newswire, and Market Wire. While the United States doesn't have a government-funded and government-run news agency and newswire service, most countries do. In some countries, like Australia, Britain, and Canada, the government newswire still must compete with privately-owned news corporations and newswires. So the BBC still has to compete against Sky News, in England. Some countries, however, like China, have only the state-funded and state-run news agency and newswire.

Lots of different publications and organizations subscribe to newswires. Magazines, newspapers, TV stations, TV networks, Internet news and publication sites, and corporations, analysts, and even individuals subscribe to newswire services.

Because newswire services are so widely used by almost all news media and any other publicity and public relations outlet, if you're in charge of public relations for your firm, you have to use the newswire services just like any other journalist. This means sending out well-written press releases. It also means contacting journalists, and newswire services, who will then send your publicity materials to other news media outlets.

There are some good newswire services that you should know about if you want to get your publicity materials out to the public. Try PR Newswire, Business Wire, E-Releases, and PressReleaseNetwork.com.

Another option available is to buy media email addresses. If you buy a database of addresses, you have a ton of addresses immediately at hand, and can use them after only paying once. However, make sure that the addresses are up-to-date, because a lot of the time they're not.

An alternative to buying a database is to create your own. Addresses are easily available on the Internet, and they're totally free!

Look at Bacon's Magazine and Newspaper Directory for even more addresses. It's usually available at the library.

Here are some links that will help you get your publicity materials out to important newswire services and will help you make sure that your articles, press releases, and press release elements will be successful in getting you the publicity you want.

4 Options to Getting Your Publicity Materials to the Media
http://www.publicrelationsideas.com/4_options_to_getting_your_publicity_materials_to_t_000077.html

Preparation for a News Release
http://www.publicrelationsideas.com/preparation_for_a_news_release_000051.html

Who to Contact
http://www.publicrelationsideas.com/who_to_contact_reporters_or_editors_000045.html

Blogs
http://www.publicrelationsideas.com/blogs_business_building_tools_000038.html

Tailoring Your Media Kit
http://www.publicrelationsideas.com/tailoring_your_media_kit_to_fit_the_recipient_000004.html

Media Public Relations Tips
http://101publicrelations.com/media.html

Print Media Public Relations Tips
http://101publicrelations.com/printmedia.html

Television Public Relations Tips
http://101publicrelations.com/tv.html

Radio Public Relations Tips
http://101publicrelations.com/radiopr.html

Media Kits
http://101publicrelations.com/mediakits.html http://101publicrelations.com/mediakits.html