The Importance of Timing in Press Release Distribution

Writing a killer press release is a great way to get your news in front of your target audience. After writing the best press release, you need to distribute it at the right time. 

Yes, timing is everything when it comes to distributing a press release. If you send it out at the wrong time, you will miss out on the opportunity for the best conversion.  

Why is Timing So Important When Distributing Press Releases? 

It is essential that you send your press release to the right media partners at the right time. 

If you send it at the wrong time, you may miss the opportunity to get noticed by your target audience. But if you send it at the right time, you will see a spike in traffic and engagement. 

That spike will get you more media coverage and generate more leads. This is why timing is essential to a successful press release.   

The Best Time to Distribute a Press Release 

Choosing the right day to distribute your press release will clearly determine its success. So when is the best time do distribute a press release?  

Several studies have been carried out using A/B testing to understand email open rates on different days. The best day to send a press release is Thursday, followed by Tuesday. The open rate on Thursday is 27%, followed by Tuesday with 19% of emails opened by journalists.    

Although a normal working day starts on Monday, it is not recommended to send your press release on Monday as it is the busiest day. As journalists may be overwhelmed, they may not have time to open your email. So it is best to send your press release on Thursday or Tuesday during office hours. 

The next question is how far in advance you should send your release. It is important to give journalists enough time to work on your release. So it is best to send it as follows: 

New product press release: send it 1-2 weeks before the launch date. 

Event press release: send 3 weeks in advance.  

Rebranding press release: send 1-2 weeks before the relaunch. 

Grand opening press release: send 3 weeks in advance. 

Partnership press release: send as soon as a deal is official. 

Press release to divert negative issue: send as soon as possible. 

The Worst Time to Distribute a Press Release   

It is not a good idea to distribute your press release at the weekend because journalists are not usually working on press releases at this time. They may be out in the field looking for news. Also, your target audience may not be online as much at the weekend. 

But what if you have an interesting new product to launch at the weekend? In this case, you can distribute the press release 1-2 weeks before the launch and ask the media partners to publish it on Friday. 

For online stores, make sure you have the right link to click on. For offline stores, make sure you include the correct store address. 

This will give your target audience time to read it before the weekend and hopefully give them some time to prepare to buy your new product over the weekend.          

Almost the same goes for holding an event on a weekend or public holiday, but send your event press release 3 weeks in advance as it is more complicated to edit. Make sure you have a super interesting event so that people are interested enough to come.  

Now that you know the best time to send your press release, make sure you send it at the right time and to the right media partners. Good luck!