Perhaps this is a dumb question. And if it is, I’ll be glad to get finally get a sound answer to clear up any confusion. Though old as dirt, press releases are still an important part of relaying key facts about company news to journalists. I get that. I typically include the release under a tailored pitch to my top targets. For those media, I know they’ve received my release and hopefully read it. My question isn’t about my pitching; it’s about the wire.

We pay big bucks to put a release over the wire. After all, it isn’t official until it has been made searchable, right? So who is searching for our news? Who received the release? Read it, clicked through or whatever the measurements are for wire services? I know wire services have partnerships with outlets to feature new releases on their sites. Only these are usually only found through searching google. Good luck trying to actually find it on their site. I doubt anyone could. And, it only lasts for a limited period of time.

So, what are we paying these big bucks for? Journalists, how do you receive your wire news? RSS feeds? What happens if you’re out sick the day my release crosses the wire? Am I just sh*t out of luck?  

PR folks, please weigh in here too if you have insight. I’m very interested in finding some answers so I can make sound recommendations to my clients.