How much should you spend on a press release? A lot less than you might think.

According to the 2007 Journalist Survey on Media Relations Practices I posted on yesterday, reporters in overwhelming numbers prefer to get their news from us via email -- not the big newswires.

That's right.

• Nearly 8 out of 10 (77.9%) surveyed said they prefer to receive their news "via press releases sent to me by email."
• Another 4.5% chose "official alerts sent to me from a corporate online newsroom" ... which, of course, come via email.
• And, hold your breath, just 7.6% wanted their news "via commercial newswires (such as PR Newswire or BusinessWire).

Now, of course, there are some cases where these larger services make a lot of sense, such as public-company disclosure situations and for news stories that reporters you do not know might be interested in covering. So you have to make this decision based on the overall appeal of your pitch.

However, in many cases, a release posted on your own site or via a cheaper service such as PRWeb -- that you then email directly to your reporter list -- will do just fine. In fact, much better, according to the survey.

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