Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with pressrelease

How do I send mass mailings?

NekulturnY — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:14:31 -0800

Mass mailing software for PR purposes: the trees, the forest, and which is which. Typing in "mailing solutions pr" or similar queries lead to massive results, but it's not always clear if they're reliable and such. So I thought I'd take this up with you people.

We're looking for a mailing solution (hosted on our server or to be used on in house pc), that can address several hundreds of contacts. It must also be able to categorize contacts in various flexible ways, as in: "business press", "leisure and travel press", "all press" etc etc. It also has to be (as) cheap (as possible). Anyone?

Press release etiquette?

bubukaba — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:31:40 -0800

What is proper etiquette for writing and distributing press releases? General advice, book/website suggestions appreciated; more specific questions inside. I've been publicity chair of a film society in Chicago for about two months. We have a 500-seat cinema, we screen films every night of the week on 35mm whenever possible (often rare or archival prints), and we have some of the most interesting, eclectic programming in the city. So, in some senses we're very professional.

But the reality is that we're actually an all-volunteer organization staffed by unpaid undergraduates (I'm one, too) and occasional cinephiles from the City. The University is completely uninvolved in most of our work.

So, two months ago I found myself in charge of all of our publicity - with pretty much no experience. I think I've done a pretty good job so far, but I'm concerned that my lack of experience is leading me to make a lot of assumptions about what is and isn't okay to do when dealing with the press.

1: I've mostly been emailing our press releases (we send out one announcing our quarterly calendar and about one a month about special events). Is this a terrible idea?

2: Is it bad form to BCC it to everyone with a generic greeting and "this is the press release for ____. Thanks a lot, etc etc" kind of opening letter? Should I be emailing each reporter individually instead?

3: What should the subject line to an emailed press release read?

4: Should I still put -30- at the end of an emailed press release? (What about a paper one?)

5: Is sending an attached .pdf always bad?

6: Under what circumstances should I mail a paper copy?

7: Should I write to ask if people would like to be added to our press list, or if they want to remain on it? How do I build these sorts of relationships? (This is the kind of thing that seems particularly hard in a four-year institution).

8: How do I inform the press of corrections to my initial press releases?

9: Are there differences in how I should approach newspapers and how I should approach blogs? (I'm particularly worried about my dealings with the Slowdown section of Gapers Block - they seem to have completely ignored everything I've sent them, including questions about how to best submit our calendar of screenings to them).

10: Should I write to thank journalists who write things about us?

11: How long should a press release be?

Any suggestions of web or print resources on figuring this whole game out would be enormously appreciated.

How to write one press release for many events?

bubukaba — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:58:37 -0800

How can I write a good press release for an entire calendar of events? (As opposed to just a single event) I've just become publicity chair of a film society, and I have very little publicity experience. I've never written a press release before.

We show one or two movies every night of each semester, with a couple of special events (director visits, sneak previews, and so on) thrown in. Each week night is devoted to a series (Hitchcock on Wednesdays, Sexploitation on Thursdays, etc.)

So, there's a lot to fit into a press release.

Traditionally we've sent out one press release at the beginning of the quarter announcing the entire calendar - a prewritten article sort of thing enthusing about the calendar and highlighting some of the interesting things we're showing, with our whole calendar tacked onto the end. I'm fairly sure that the main purpose of this release is to get our calendar into local events listings - as far as I know we've rarely gotten actual press coverage. Sometimes we've issued releases for special events, but not always.

My impulse is to do things a little differently, but I'm not sure whether to trust my impulses.

I think it might be better to make one release for each of the five series, one for each special event, and one announcing the calendar in more bare-bones form.

This new calendar release would, instead of a prewritten article thing, have several bullet-pointed calendar highlights, our location, admission prices, etc, followed by the calendar itself.

Is it okay to use bullet points, or do reporters really prefer to dig through a prewritten article? (I suppose that has the benefit of letting them crib from what's written.)

Is it okay/effective for one organization to send out six different press releases at one time (as I'd do if I followed my plan of one per series, one for the calendar)?

Recommendations for press release distribution and writing?

Ookseer — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:17:46 -0800

I'm looking for recommendations for press release distribution and writing. I've got a new business (site) launch coming up, and "open for business" isn't the biggest of headline grabbers I would still like to send out a release.

I'm most interested in recommendations for distributors since I don't have the knowledge to separate the ones that reporters pay attention to from the ones they put in the circular file. If possible I'm looking for general national (US) distribution for $1K or less.

I could write the release myself, but if anyone has any good recommendations for this, I'd be glad to outsource this task to someone qualified.

Recommended multi-language online press release distribution service?

beaucoupkevin — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:14:53 -0800

Is there a single online service that will allow us to release press releases in more than one language simultaneously? Currently, we're using PRWeb, who do a fantastic job of distributing our press releases in English. However, my organization does a lot of business in Europe and Asia. For things like a language-specific software release or regional promotion, I'd like to be able to have our translated releases put into the hands of local bloggers and the media on top of our usual marketing efforts. Googling has led me to a few places with less-than-stellar distribution. Does anyone have a company they work with?

XXX and the Dirty 30s

acoutu — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 12:14:55 -0800

Why do news releases really end with -30-? I know the rumours, but I'm looking for evidence-based references. I work in marketing and I've heard various tales over the years. The most common one involves someone writing -xxx- to signal the end of a release and someone else coming along and interpreting that as Roman numerals. I've heard that telegraphers used to end transmissions with XXX and that some of them used -30- as short hand, although I'm not sure -30- is shorter than XXX in Morse. I've also heard less credible stories, which I won't bother to include here.

I tried Googling to find an answer, but all I could turn up were pages with no citations. I'm looking for a credible answer with references. Thanks!

How to write the best Press Releases?

anastasiav — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 11:26:12 -0800

PublicityFilter: Help me write my first ever press release effectively. Work for a small non-profit! Learn new skills!

I've been asked to write a press release for an upcoming function my non-profit is hosting, featuring a former Democratic Presidental candidate (not Kerry or Dean) as keynote speaker. I'm a good writer, I've read all kinds of theory on the web, and I've looked at some prior press releases that my organization has sent out, but I'm hoping for some more ... er ... "real world" advice before I tackle this. This is being sent out to print, radio, and television in a fairly small market. This is a big coup for us, and I'd like to see it promoted in an effective way, but this kind of event isn't typical for our organization, so we don't have much experience with it. My immediate need is a press release, but any other "press kit" or media tips to get best coverage of this event for us would be welcome.