How to create effective publicity

JULY 2022 C27 How to create effective publicity

What is publicity? It’s information designed to attract public interest or support.

Suppose your organization is having a special speaker, a concert, a sports event or a fashion show, and wants to let the general public know about it. There are a number of things you can do to promote interest: put up posters, tell your friends, or announce it at your church or lodge meeting. But the quickest way to reach the largest number of people is through your newspaper.

You recognize, of course that your organization isn’t the only one planning interesting activities. Competition for public participation can be keen on just about any day of the year. So, naturally, your group will try to make the event as interesting and as lively as possible, because you wouldn’t have planned it in the first place if you didn’t want people to come and find it rewarding.

But all too often, member of an organization work for weeks to put on an interesting and pleasurable event, and yet fail to capture the audience that would have made the event a success. Sometimes it’s just the breaks — too many other things going on that weekend. But sometimes people don’t attend because the publicity was too late or so lackluster that failed capture people’s imagination.

Sometimes publicity fails to give a clear message about the scope and purpose of the event. A publicist is truly creative and successful when he or she can make people feel they’ll be missing something very special if they stay home. All the news that’s fit to print

But as we strive help you publicize your organization’s activities, we have a responsibility to all of our readers to provide news that is balanced, timely and newsworthy.

So the basic criteria for deciding what will be printed in our newspaper are twofold: newsworthiness and reader interest.

Before submitting an item to the newspaper, ask yourself, “Will other people be interested in reading about it?” It has been said that the amateur publicist thinks of the story, while the professional thinks of the audience. The creative and polished publicity person will decide what audience is to be reached and relate the story to the interest of that audience.

Here’s another question to ask yourself: “If I were not a member of this organization, would this news interest me?” If your answer is no, perhaps your information belongs in the organization’s newsletter but shouldn’t be offered to a general readership. Adobe Stock/Stock photo

Preparing a news release

reporter or editor to revise your text to fit the needs of good newspaper style; your task is to be well organized and to present complete information so that it can be easily read and understood.

The news release that will most quickly and favorably catch an editor’s eye will be: • Neatly typed with double-spacing. • Typed in upper- and lower-case letters. When releases typed in all capital letters, it’s difficult to tell when something would be capitalized in standard form. • Clear in stating the facts of the story: who are the important people involved in the event; what is to be going on; when it is happening, with specific reference to dates and times, including advance-reservation dates if appropriate; where the event will happen, with a specific and complete address; and why the story is being written. Often you’ll want to say how the event is happening — i.e., the guest speaker is in town to receive an award for his achievements. • Clear in stating a reservation deadline. Put it at the top of the story, not at the bottom, where it may be overlooked by a hurried editor. • Checked for spelling, especially the names. A small check in pencil above a name with an unusual spelling will tell the editor the spelling has been checked and is correct.

This is one of the reasons why news writers usually will not take news releases over the phone. The danger of misunderstanding the spelling is just too great. The other reason, of course, is that, except in unusual circumstances, reporters simply don’t have time to take information that way. (Nor is it helpful to call a reporter or photographer at home. Our records and appointment books are kept at The Enterprise office, and we prefer to be contacted at work, during working hours.) • Written in newspaper style, which dictates that in most cases, Mr., Mrs. or Ms. Are not used with a name. The subject is, for example, “Sally Jones” in the first reference and Jones thereafter. • Clear and complete. Do not assume that an editor knows what initials stand for. Spell out the name of your organization or association, at least on the first reference. Make sure all times and places are correctly and completely stated. And, in case the editor may have questions about the information in the release, put your name and daytime phone number upper right-hand corner. Don’t give us double vision

To avoid confusion, make sure the name of the person for whom the release is intended is at the top of the page. If you don’t know the reporter’s name, indicate the subject matter (i.e., sports, campus news, politics, or arts and entertainment) so that it will more quickly reach the right person.

Do not submit releases about the same event to more than one department of the paper — the “shotgun” effect — in hopes of ensuring lots of exposure. If you want to have the news in more than one section, state on each release the names of the the other to whom it’s being sent.

And make sure that only one person is requesting publicity for a particular event. It is not uncommon to have tow pictures assigned for the same event, or to have the same story appear in two places in the paper on the same week, because the organization’s right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. Just the facts

Requiring reporters and editors to dig through disorganized news releases it fond the important facts of a story makes poor use of everyone’s time. Because of space limitations, stories often have to be cut, so information should be listed in order of declining importance. Editors traditionally cut from the bottom of the story, if cutting is necessary.

The news release should carry all the basic information; the reporter simply has no time to search through organizational newsletters or brochures to get to the facts of the story. Such supplementary literature is