Introduction
Active MediaMagnet gives businesses and individuals alike the power to promote their Press Release to over 33,000 media outlets. Active MediaMagnet is the fastest, easiest, and most effective way to generate media attention and publicity for your product, service or website. With Active MediaMagnet you have complete control over how often and to whom you submit your release. No more guessing as to whether a service has sent your release for you. Just do it yourself!

Registration
Myrasoft has made registering Active MediaMagnet a quick and easy process. Once you have placed your order, our Customer Service Team will send the Registration Key via email. This email will also contain simple instructions on how to get your new software registered properly.  You can unlock the software with these simple steps:

1. Run the software and select the "Purchase" option on the main menu. Then click on "Buy an Unlock Code".



2. Enter your registration key exactly as it was sent to you by email from our Customer Service Team, be sure you are connected to the internet and hit 'Register'.



That's it...you're registered!

Configure your software
1. Select "Settings" on the main menu. Then click on "Preferences". 



2. Enter your email address on the Return Email Address field as shown below. This is the email address where the press releases will be sent to for testing purposes on the trial version.
3. You can adjust the speed for sending emails. The default settings should work fine. To increase the speed just increase the Email Connections and decrease the Time Out settings.



4. Choose the method for sending your press release. We recommend to use your mail server, choosing the option 'Send Press Release via local SMTP server' and enter your SMTP (mail server) information, typically something like: mail.yourisp.com (this is the same server as you have configured on your other email client applications such as Outlook or Eudora). The smtp port is set to 25 as the default. 99% of all smtp servers, use this for the default, but if you are unable to connect with Active MediaMagnet you will need to contact your ISP and ask them their smtp port path. On My server requires Authentication field, check it (if your email server requires authentication) and enter your account name and password on the fields.
The other method uses the 'SMTP Server' component which means it uses the email server of the recipient to deliver email.
5. Active MediaMagnet includes by default a Remove Notice at the bottom of your press release to allow media contacts to be removed from sending list. You may change the default text or disable this feature by changing the settings.



You can also remove any contact at any time by clicking on "Settings/Remove E-Mail from Media" and entering the email addresses you want to exclude from the mailing list.

Step by Step Instructions and Sample Session for using Active MediaMagnet
Active MediaMagnet was designed to be a very easy to use solution for sending out a press release. You can potentially generate more publicity for your business, website or products than paid advertising could ever hope to do. You are submitting your press release to some of the most influential people in the Media and you should prepare your release with this in mind.

Step 1: Enter your Contact Information
If you want to resend or modify a previous press release you may open it directly from the "File" menu so you can use all existing information. If you are creating a new release just click on the "File/New" menu option.



Enter your contact information for this press release and choose whether to insert it at the top or bottom of your release or not to insert it. Active MediaMagnet will automatically format and insert your information according to the standard press release format. If you want this contact information to be the default for all your press releases just click on "Set as Default Contact Info" so you do not have to enter it every time for each press release. 


Click on 'Next' to proceed with Step 2.

Step 2: Compose your Press Release
Create your Press Release using the powerful composition editor which is pre-built into the program. The intuitive look and feel of the editor will allow you to create a very powerful release. 
Choose your E-Mail format, HTML or Plain Text: the first step before writing your release is to choose whether to use html or plain text for sending your email. Note that while html allows you to give a great look to your release including color, font style, text formatting features, etc, and it is now supported by most of the email clients that most of the media will be using including MS Outlook, Eudora and more, it is normally not supported by old email clients or even if it is supported a particular media contact may not have the html feature enabled on his/her email. If you choose plain text as your release format you will be able to create a very powerful press release as well and you will be sure that everybody regardless of the email client used is able to read your release. In any case if you use html format and the recipient's email client does not support it, he/she will see your press release as an attachment and will be able to read it with any internet browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.



Enter your Press Release Date: Indicate to the media a release date for your press release. Your press release can be 'For Immediate Release' or to be published at a specific date, or you may also choose not to include any date. You may choose any date from the built-in Calendar. Active MediaMagnet will automatically format and include your release date at the beginning of the first paragraph according to standard press release format.
Enter your E-Mail Subject: Enter your press release subject on this field. This will be viewed by the email recipient as your email subject.

Enter your Press Release Headline: The headline of your press release will be automatically placed by Active MediaMagnet right under your release date or contact information. Your Headline is the Title of your Press Release and is very important, so take some time here. This is the first piece of your release that any reporter will read, so you need to catch their attention right away.

Enter your Press Release Text: the main text of the press release can be easily entered by just typing it on the main screen or if you have a pre-created release for example in Microsoft Word, you can copy and paste right into the editor screen where you can further edit it before sending.
You can copy your press release from a Word document by using the copy command and paste it into Active MediaMagnet by holding the "ctrl" and "v" keys on your keyboard.

Format, Print or Spell Check your Press Release Text: you can use the powerful editor features to format the text of your press release, change the font color for emphasis, print the release for faxing purposes, or spell check prior to sending.

Create and save your own press release templates for later use: with Active Media Magnet you can create and save your own templates at any time giving you the ultimate control over your press releases design and submission process.
Once you have finished writing your press release, click on 'Next' to proceed with Step 3.

Step 3: Select Your Media Target
The software comes pre-loaded with a professional database including thousands of media contacts. These contacts range from TV and Radio to Newspapers and Magazines. Active MediaMagnet lets you manage your own selection criteria of media outlets for a Press Release submission with powerful features. If you have a specific business product or service and you want to target it to a specific audience, then you will find Active MediaMagnet powerful media targeting features very useful for your marketing and press releases strategy!

• Select Active MediaMagnet main database or if you have created your own contacts database you can also use it by selecting the database named 'My Contacts'.

• Select the relevant media categories for your Press Release submission by using Active MediaMagnet targeting features including "one click" sorting of the database to quickly target your mailings. Select your target media by:
  • viewing recipient details by double clicking and selecting individual contacts within a particular media group.
  • selecting specific media types with just one click (radio stations, tv, magazines, newspapers...)
  • or  further target into your market by using a Keyword related to your target market, like let's say "aviation" or "Washington", and searching for it on the complete database with a single click.
  • you can easily select, include and exclude additional recipients before sending.
• We highly recommend that you only target the media which is relevant for your press release. For example; your release may be targeted to a national audience, so selecting Daily Newspapers, TV, and Radio may be appropriate. If your release was targeted for a specific issue like "how to invest in foreign stock markets" for example, then selecting these 3 would not be appropriate and you should be more specific on your media selection. Never send an email to all the media contacts in the database. You may be accused of spamming and it will not be any kind of advantage to send to a large number of contacts if they are not interested in your specific press release.
• Once you have selected the contacts, you can see the total number of media contacts you have selected at the bottom of the screen. You can clear your selection at any time by just pressing the "Clear selection" button and start over to target new media.
• Active MediaMagnet has many more features that you can access from this screen for managing the media contact database, as explained in detail on the database section below, including importing and exporting contact data, adding your own media contacts and generating targeted media reports.

As soon as you have finished targeting the right media for your press release, click on 'Next' to proceed with Step 4.

Step 4: Sending your Press Release
You're now almost ready to send your release! 
Active MediaMagnet distributes and sends your Press Release to the world in just minutes. Before sending it, here are a few things you should consider:

• Save your Press Release prior to emailing. All the data related to the campaign will be saved including the press release itself, your contact information for this release and your targeted selection of media contacts! Just click on "File/Save As" on Active MediaMagnet main menu. You will then be able to recover any saved campaign at any time by choosing "File/Open" on the same menu.

• Preview and check your release with the built-in preview screen prior to emailing.
• Optionally print release for faxing purposes.

• Send it to yourself before sending it to the media. To do it just add a new contact to 'My Contacts' database (as explained on the database section below) which contains your email address and contact information.
• Print Labels (for optional snail mailing press kits, or follow up  letters) for any media contacts you choose. You will find more than 70 types of label formats to choose from that cover all your printing needs including labels for envelopes, diskettes, cd-roms and much more!

• Be sure you are connected to the internet and just click on "SEND" to begin your Active MediaMagnet campaign and start emailing your Press Release automatically to all the selected media in just minutes! Note that the trial version will only allow you to send it to your own email address which is entered on the program settings.

Congratulations, you have sent your first press release!

• Save and view complete reports of a given campaign detailing who was sent to, when, and if successfully sent or not. You will be able to save, review, personalize, print and export the report anytime or right after the sending process has completed.

Other Features
Media Database Manager:
Powerful Media Contact Manager. The full featured 33,000 media contact database allows you to view each contact by just double-clicking on it and to target selections to specific areas of the media with just one click. You can select by Media Type or target your market by using a keyword and searching the database. A wide array of clearly categorized information can be instantly sorted with just one click.



Create Media Contact Reports and Export Media data for use with other programs.  Just click on "Report" or if you have just sent  a press release click on "View Report". As soon as the report is generated you can select the fields to be included on the report, personalize your report, print your report or export your report (to html, text, excel or comma delimited format) for use with other programs. If a press release was actually sent the report will also include the date and time it was sent. This is a great powerful feature that allows you to send reports to your customers in case you are running a press release service or to keep it for your own records.



Add your own media contacts and media categories. The database editor allows you to add, edit or delete new contacts and to create your own media groups and categories.



With Active MediaMagnet you can add as many new contacts as you wish. Simply choose the 'My Contacts' database and click on 'New' to add your contact. You can also add new media categories or specific groups of media that you consider interesting for your press releases campaigns. Just type in the new category name into the "Media Type" field for any given contact, then hit "Save" and that's it, you now have a new media group where you can add any number of contacts for your campaigns. Even if the software was not designed to be used for bulk email it contains all the functionality and  you may also want to add your own family and friends contacts in a separate category or group and use Active MediaMagnet as a group mailer software!



Import contacts. Active MediaMagnet allows you to easily import your own contacts from an existing  database. Just choose the 'My Contacts' database and click on 'Import Contacts'. You are then able to import any text file or comma delimited (.csv) file (including Microsoft Access Excel and/or SQL). All the new contacts imported will be automatically added to the database and available for your next press release campaign! Please note that in some cases you may need to export your data from the source program first to a Tab delimited text file or to a comma delimited text file to be able to import the contacts. 

 

Choose the type of file (tab delimited or comma delimited) that you are importing and open it. You will see the first contact record fields on the left below "Import Field", on the right just below "Import As" you can choose the Active MediaMagnet field where you want the data to be imported.

Live Database Update: Select "Database Updater" from the Updates Menu on Active MediaMagnet main screen. Live Update let’s you connect to our server, check the last available database and download the latest Contact Databases including unlimited media contacts additions to Active MediaMagnet database (you will need the Professional Edition to use this service). A new updated database will be usually available every six months. Let us take the hassle out of finding and adding new contacts to the main database so that you can focus on selling and promoting your business.

Check for New Updates: selecting "Check for New Database Updates" takes you directly to our web site to verify you have the latest database and software version and tells you if you need to take any action. Remember all media contact database updates are free for the full lifetime of the product when you own the Professional version!