When we receive such requests for a free publication, the quality of the information given to us falls into one of the following categories: great, good, bad and/or delete.
As of late, it seems that we are being sent more and more requests written with little or no thought as to the professionalism of the offered piece. Moreover, those asking for their items to be published are getting more demanding— where in some cases the sender has repeatedly called to “follow up” on the status of the publication date of his or her written statement.
People, it is our decision whether or not to publish press releases. Don’t try to use guilt, pressure or emotion to persuade us to run your piece.
Instead, send us a well written document that we can publish without having to rewrite or call and ask a bunch of follow-up questions.
Making it difficult for us will most certainly assure that your piece will not be considered and will, instead, end up in our delete folder.
Furthermore, don’t send us low-quality photographs to go along with your press releases. We will not publish them.
One of my pet peeves is when I am emailed a flyer that the sender insist I turn (magically?) into a publishable article. It isn’t going to happen. In many cases, if a flyer has been produced, it is camera-ready and can easily be run as a paid ad.
Keep in mind: we wouldn’t be in business very long if all we did was print press releases instead of selling ads.
For those of you who want to know the proper way to create a press release, see below. It was written a while back by our brilliant editor, Cory Bilicko. Do send all press releases to him at newspaper@signaltribune.com.
RELEASE DATE (indicate IMMEDIATE or EMBARGOED)
Organization Name (in bold)
Department sending information
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Contact person
Telephone number
Email address
Website address
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
Place/time of the event (if event has already occurred, include photos with name of photographer and caption info, including names of those pictured)
Headline (in bold)
Write story here, including who, what, where and when of the event. (Write in third-person point-of view, not in first-person.) Don’t worry about creativity; accuracy is the goal. The angle of the story should appeal to the readers of the Signal Tribune; in other words, it should be local and newsworthy.
If possible, include an informational quote or two from available sources, with full name and title/position.
If the press release states that a particular person has a particular opinion or belief, it should be substantiated with a quote.
The Signal Tribune is published every Friday. Our production day is Thursday, so press releases should be sent by 2pm on Wednesdays.
End story with phone number, website or email address where the reader may acquire more information or ask questions.
At the bottom of the story, type “####” to indicate the end of the press release. If it continues to another page, type “-MORE-” at the end.
