I disagree with most of the previous answers. We use a proprietary PR system along with the Vocus/Cision Dashboard for distributing our news.We have been doing it effectively since 2005. In a recent "Newsblast" for a company with No brand recognition we achieved the following results in the first ten days:
-182,000 views of the release
-4500 full page reads
-1257 web visits (to a site that never existed prior to release
-200 RSS media Links
-2 Organic Media Stories (1 Broadcast)
-and 40% funding
We eventually did a follow-up release and our total Impressions for the campaign were over 250,000.
PR is treated by my firm as an excellent way to get some momentum built without a huge expense...quickly! PPC was used effectively alongside of the PR but performed with less efficiency. Also, I would much rather have a click referral from a newsblast (release) because the individual clicking has so much more info than you can get in a 3 line PPC ad? Lastly we build all of our PR Programs in 3 Segments.
-News Distribution
-Social Media Augmentation
-Separate Organic Pitches to targeted Media
In this particular example we raised 100% of our crowdfunding goal in 6 weeks with 92 Donors but we only had about 3 Organic Media Stories. You can see and read more about our Quick2Brand "Newsblast at: http://consultaro.com/quick2brand/ or see Michael Walsh's article "Is the Press Release Dead? No it is your amplification engine" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/press-release-dead-nope-its-michael?trk=object-title
We are frankly tired of those that dismiss the distribution of PR out of hand without the knowledge or the experience of our system. (We partner frequently with consultants and agencies that do not have this expertise and they love us)