Sponsored Articles or Press Releases: Which Should You Use?

When you want to broaden your reach and establish your company as a leader in your industry, press releases and sponsored articles can come in handy. But which is better? Each of these content types has their own purpose and it can be useful to know their strengths and flaws so you can determine the appropriate one to use in any particular situation.

We are here to help you clarify these and, hopefully, by the end of this article, you will be able to decide which strategy would be more suitable for your business.

(Related article suggestion) Also read: Paying for Sponsored Content or Pitching Directly to Journalists – Which is Better?

When to Use Press Releases?

Press releases are used to present information currently unfolding; they are factual, with a fairly standardized structure, written in an objective manner. The key purpose is to attract the attention of the journalists who can pick it up for a story. Journalists use press releases as a source of information as they represent official statements issued by the companies. 

Companies use this content type when reaching milestones, acquiring another company, partnering up with other companies or hiring a new CEO. When done properly, press releases can gain the right attention, increasing the likelihood of getting picked up organically by journalists. This can be effective for building credibility.

The benefit of a press release, as opposed to sponsored articles, is that you can condense your key message in fewer words. This not only caters to what journalists like but is also cheaper to produce and easier to distribute through the newswire.

When to Use Sponsored Articles?

Sponsored articles tend to be more in-depth, discussing subjective content that is of current significance to the industry. Nonetheless, they should be supported by the facts and follow the publisher’s editorial guidelines. They can be in the form of an article or an interview, often offering an expert opinion. On Cointelegraph, for example, you can promote your content through sponsored articles, use cases, and price analysis. Cointelegraph claims that their price analysis content gets the most views but the downside is that this type of placement is only reserved for companies that are in the top 200 on CoinMarketCap. If your company is not yet among the top 200, a good practice is to share insight about the industry in a sponsored article. Talk about the challenges and how your company is contributing. You can also carry out a case study and give it a boost by promoting it in magazines. 

Sponsored articles are good for building the reputation of a thought leader. What makes them stand out from press releases is that they are better positioned on news websites, get tweeted more often, are displayed on Google News, and get picked up more often by the media. Sponsored articles, unlike press releases, are unique for each outlet, sometimes with a slightly different angle to the story. 

The downside of this content type is that it is more expensive than press releases and takes more effort to produce. Moreover, some readers can be wary of sponsored articles since the content is paid for. But if done right and adding value to industry subjects, they can be a powerful source of visibility for your brand.

What’s in the Bitcoin PR Buzz Store?

We have carefully designed the sponsored article and press release packages to help reach your goals and make things easier for you. But hey, they are not set in stone! Our packages represent our very nature — they are flexible, so you can combine both press releases and sponsored articles, and you can select the outlets to your liking. You can get featured in outlets like Cointelegraph, Bitcoin.com, BeInCrypto, Hackernoon, YahooFinance, and many more.

What we are proud of is that we are continually working on updating our services, always adding partnering blockchain outlets that we think will bring more value to you, our customers. Go ahead, have a look at the packages we have selected for you!