Table of Contents
Introduction
If you’re a web3 startup, crypto company, or blockchain project, you’ll have news to share with the world from time to time. (If you don’t, what exactly are you doing?) Odds are your favored means of getting the word out is through press release distribution.
For all its downsides and detractors – and it’s got its share of both – the trusty PR remains the simplest and most effective method for sharing company news. It’s a framework that ensures you only need to tell the story once, leaving it to media outlets to pick it up, add their spin, and run with it.
But there’s more to securing media coverage than simply hitting “publish” and waiting for the news stories to flow in. You see, not all distribution channels are created equal. To get your press release published cross-industry and for the organic coverage to follow, there are a few things you need to know.
In this guide, we’ll cover the following:
- How crypto press release distribution works
- How to choose a PR syndication partner
- Tips and tricks to maximize coverage
- What a good PR campaign looks like
Understanding the PR Distribution Game
Crypto projects looking to issue a press release have two options:
- Handle the entire process internally, including PR writing, submission, and publication
- Outsource all or part of the process to a specialist marketing agency
While both approaches can yield dividends, the latter is almost certain to deliver greater results. As the maxim goes, you get what you pay for, and by paying for an agency to handle your PR campaign, you won’t just be gaining their expertise: you’ll also be tapping into their distribution channels.
Crypto PR works in the same way as traditional PR, with one key difference: the media outlets you’ll be targeting are predominantly crypto-focused. For this reason, it makes sense to partner with a marketing agency with deep knowledge of the blockchain industry.
This is partly because such an agency should already have a network of journalists they can contact with stories relevant to their interests. But there are other reasons, too; crypto press releases tend to be laden with jargon, much of which will fly over the heads of general-purpose agencies with little knowledge of blockchain.
A good crypto PR company can help with writing the release if required, proofing, and ensuring that it is not only technically accurate but also comprehensible to its target readership. They can also assist with translation into multiple languages while ensuring that nothing gets lost. What’s the Japanese for “hodler” again?
Choosing a Crypto PR Distributor
Assuming you’ve elected to partner with a crypto PR distributor, your next task is finding the best agency your budget will accommodate. Aside from pricing (any crypto marketing agency you contact will be happy to quote for your campaign), it’s important to know their methodology.
Some agencies rely on the manual submission of PRs to relevant sites, think specialist PR publication platforms, business sites, tech media, and crypto media. Others utilize an automated marketing approach in which they aim to secure coverage on as many platforms as possible.
Broadly speaking, more is better: you want to be seen in as many places as possible. But if you are choosing an agency that specializes in automated or semi-automated crypto press release distribution, make sure they’re going for a targeted approach rather than a “pray and spray” strategy.
You want to be seen everywhere, but that doesn’t extend to Mongolian basket-weaving forums: your PR must be published on relevant platforms whose readership overlaps with your target audience.
A simple way to check is by examining recent campaigns from your putative PR partner: where did their existing clients end up being seen? And – if you have particular channels in mind – where weren’t they seen?
Tips for Maximizing Coverage
A press release is, by design, a standardized news bulletin. It’s non-personal and designed to be palatable to as many media outlets as possible. Not only does this mean you can publish it on multiple platforms, but you can email it directly to multiple journalists.
There’s a catch, though: most journos don’t take kindly to cold emails. Their inbox is inundated with PRs all day, every day, which makes it hard to stand out. One of the benefits of partnering with an experienced crypto PR agency, as noted earlier, is that they have existing relationships with journalists.
Reporters are much more likely to respond to a personalized message (“Hey, you picked up our story on project X, and I thought this story on project Y might interest you”) than to a cold email. Personal networks take time and effort to cultivate, which is why they’re valuable. Having an “in” with a particular journalist can be the difference between securing tier-1 coverage and having your PR consigned to the spam folder.
Establishing Benchmarks for Success
Finally, it’s worth considering how you determine the success (or, god forbid, failure) of your PR campaign. In an age of analytics for everything, your chosen agency should be able to furnish you with stats galore. Ideally, they should be able to provide full details on platforms where you were published, total clicks and views, and media coverage generated.
If they can’t, you should find a new marketing agency. Most crypto PR companies are very good at what they do, but not all agencies are created equal. Do your research before committing, and pick one whose methodology and results align with your goals. Only that way will you guarantee your story gets seen in all the right places.
