Vocus Announces PRWeb Partnership with Hearst Media Services Bay Area

Vocus has announced a partnership between their online news release distribution service, PRWeb, and Hearst Media Services Bay Area, of which the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com are part of, that will expand their digital marketing service offering for local businesses in this area. Hearst Media Services Bay Area that already offers Web-based advertising services including pay-per-click (PPC) search, social media, mobile and online video through through SFGate.com and its new GateList division will add PRWeb releases into its existing package of services.

“We were looking for an additional product in our mix that would help our customers gain a strategic advantage in the marketplace,” said Mark Adkins, president of the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com. “Our digital marketing services business, GateList, is on pace to be the most successful product launch in the history of our newspaper. We have the right product mix, with the right partners, which is driving results for our customers.”

The San Francisco Chronicle thus makes it to the list of publishers recently signed by PRWeb as as news content distribution partners, providing custom feeds of original and editorially reviewed content to partnering publishers such as SFGate.com, FinancialContent and the StreetInsider.com. What makes this particular partnership unique is the fact that Hearst Media Services Bay Area will resell PRWeb releases as part of a packaged service. The new offering packaged under GateList provides local businesses with an integrated suite of products aimed at both paid and earned marketing opportunities.

“Hearst Media Services Bay Area is introducing a transformative business innovation during a period of time that’s been challenging for the publishing industry,” said Bill Wagner, senior vice president and COO with Vocus. “More importantly, it’s a service offering that ties in new media channels and provides the small business owner with an integrated mix of products proven to deliver value.”