Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Go to whoever in your company is in touch with the market and ask them what media they read, what associations they are members of, etc.

Who your competitor talks to are likely who you would also want to talk to. Google your competitor's company names and product names and see where they pop up. Look for media that have written press releases on them, have run articles written by them, that have advertisements in them, etc. Also, plug in your competitor's web address and use reverse links to see who links to them and see what media are there.

Don't forget to include local newspaper business sections.

It's been a while, but I have used www.businesswire.com to distribute press releases. Their service is economical, and it allows you to select industry, subject, language, and geographic region to broaden or narrow your focus.

- Shelley

Some good advice given by others. The key is obviously to understand your target audience so well that you KNOW what they are reading. (If you don't know them that well, how could you develop a product that will meet their needs?)

In a recent project for a client, we actually got copies of all the target publications (and visited online publications) and then customized the press release to be very specific to each of the most important publications. We fit their style, referenced the issues that had been discussed in editorial content recently, and really tried to give the editors something that would be "a natural" for their audience and publication.

We got great placement, so everyone is happy. I think the customization strategy was key to that, though the client is convinced it's the wonderful product features and benefits that everyone recognized immediately!

Hope this is helpful.