1) Target the right magazines for the products you sell.

Many times, individuals will send out their press releases to every category of magazines listed in hopes that by doing this approach, something will stick. This is a common error and one that should be avoided. Always concentrate on the best possible categories of magazines for the product you are selling. For instance, lets say you are offering products that are related to babies and small children. In this case, you would want to concentrate on sending out press releases to magazines closely related to your niche market such as baby magazines, parenting magazines, and Womens magazines.

2) Contact the publisher of the magazine to get the name of the editor. This should be one of the first things you do before you submit your press release. If you are unable to locate the editors name in the magazine, contact the publisher and ask for the name and email address of the editor.

3) Add a "media" link on your website. A media link is a webpage where you list out your various press releases.

When the media visits your site they will see a link called "media" or "press releases." When a person from the media clicks on the link they will be able to see the various press releases you have listed on your website and they will be able to pick and choose which releases they want to use.

4) Follow up with an editor immediately after sending a high resolution image. When an editor contacts you and asks you to send a high resolution image of a product, be sure you follow up with a separate email to make sure that the attachment got to the editor. There is always a chance that a spam filter got the picture before it even got a chance to get to the editors inbox. It is never a good idea to assume that they received it and all is well. There is no guarantee that the editor will contact you back to let you know they did not receive it. Always contact the editor by sending a second "text only" email that says something like, "I just sent the high resolution image of the product and I wanted to make sure you received it. Can you confirm?" If you still dont receive a response by sending the email, be sure to call the editor to follow up.

5) Getting your press release into special holiday or anniversary issues of magazines. Most magazines have a special holiday issue that you will want to try and get your press release listed in. These special issues for Fathers day, Mothers day, holiday issue, and anniversary issues of a magazine(such as 25th anniversary issue)usually have wider distribution which means even more readers will have a chance to see your press release. You can contact the magazine and find out the closing date of the holiday issue or the closing date for the issue you are trying to get your press release in. You can also request a media kit which will list out the closing dates of each upcoming issue of a magazine. The closing date will be the last date you can add submissions for that specific issue. Once you know the closing date you can time your press release to be received before that exact date, which will help increase your chances of getting your press release in those specific issues.

6) Always include complete contact information in your press release. Such as the following: media contact, your name, job title, company name, address, phone, fax, website, and email. Including complete detailed information looks more professional and also makes it easier for the editors to get in touch with you.

7) Follow up with a fax press release. This is a new technique I just started implementing in recent months with fantastic results. Faxing a press release is a relatively new way of getting your press release into the hands of the editors. I find that faxing the editors in Addition to emailing the editors can help improve your chances of getting your release into print. In some cases your email press release may not get through for whatever reason or there isnt an email for a particular editor. In this case, you can send your press release by fax to the attention of the editorial offices. The fax numbers for a particular publisher of a magazine will be listed in that specific magazine or you can simply call the publisher of the magazine and ask for the fax number to the editorial offices.

8) Always be consistent and persistent in your efforts when sending press releases to the editors. I cannot stress this enough. Get in the habit of sending out a new product press release to the editors once a month to every other month. By being persistent and consistent in contacting the editors on a monthly basis you could be well on your way to getting your press releases into print.