BYOP (Be Your Own Publicist)

PR Glossary

Published on January 12, 2010 by Christy Tennant

Recently, I have begun mentoring a creative catalyst who is interested in learning more about the field of public relations. He is working closely with IAM to develop an arts movement that has the potential to be life-giving on a worldwide level, and cultivating a PR machine on behalf of his project is a necessary part of the process, as he communicates with galleries, museums, government and civic organizations that are all potential partners in his vision.

Today, I directed him to All About Public Relations, a simple, no frills informational site that is a great go-to spot for learning about PR and brainstorming about publicity ideas. Sometimes, when my "ideas sink" is a bit dry, I will go to a site like this and see something that helps to turn the faucet back on.

Particularly helpful is a brief "Public Relations Glossary," which I would not actually call a "glossary," but rather an "overview." The descriptions here are helpful as you try to learn about the various aspects of PR. For example, an artist might approach a government affairs agency to propose a public art project. Knowing how these different aspects of PR work is very helpful.

Additional "glossaries" of PR terms can be found here. For a helpful list of publicity tools, click here. Note: they use the term "news release" here. I refer to these as "press releases," and those two terms are often interchanged.

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How To Write a Good Press Release

Published on November 05, 2009 by Christy Tennant

Traditionally, a press release is a timely document telling about a notable person, product or event. Usually, press releases are distributed via news distribution organizations or sent directly to journalists and reporters. When I first started in PR, we used a distribution company such as PR Newswire and/or faxed our press releases out to newsrooms and editorial staffers one-by-one. Today, distribution services, which typically charge between $450-1,000+, depending on the scope of their reach, are still useful, but certainly not necessary.

Anyone can write a press release. Here are the key components that should always be present.

1) Create a Boiler Plate. A boiler plate refers to the information that never changes. This would include your name, contact info, company info and the words "For Immediate Release." Use your logo and company font for the company name, but for the remainder of the release, use a common font like Times New Roman or Courier. Journalists want to be able to read your release. For example, your boiler plate could look like this:
            

2) Add title, summary, the city, state, and date.  The title should be brief and catchy. The font for the title can be bold or slightly larger, but should not be ALL CAPS. The summary should also be brief and catchy, but give a slightly longer hook to keep people reading. The city and state should be in ALL CAPS, and then date in normal font, followed by an em-dash:



3) Summary paragraph. The first paragraph should contain the "Five W's," answering who, what, where, when and why.



4) Finally, flesh out the release with interesting, relevant information, and finish off with a summary reiterating key info about the event or person. Quotes are interesting but not necessary. Note: the release should be written in such a way (i.e. tone) that an editor could print your release exactly as is.



5) Getting it out there.

• Create a page on your web site for your press releases. This can be called "news," "press," "publicity," "PR," "what's new," or whatever, but make sure that a person visiting your site would easily recognize that this is where they can find your press releases. You can post it as a blog and/or a downloadable PDF.
• Distribute it via some free distribution wires, such as www.free-press-release.com, www.prlog.org, www.newswiretoday.com, or www.pr.com. Simply create a log in and then follow the instructions for uploading your release. This generally does not result in a major media pick-up, but it will be added to search engines and give you some added presence on the Internet.
• Distribute it via a paid distribution service, such as www.PRNewswire.com. This often requires not only a fee for the release, ranging from $400-1,000, but also a membership in the service, costing $150-300 per year. If you have an event or product that you think would generate national interest, such as an indie feature film, major award, or notable appointment, this is a worthwhile investment.
• Email to relevant contacts. These can include people you know, people you've met and people you know of, such as journalists who write on the topic you are promoting. For example, if you are promoting an art exhibition, send your release (as a Word doc attachment or in the body of an email) to arts writers at your local newspaper. Very important note on emailing a list of people: always, always, always use "BCC" as in "BLIND carbon copy" if you email a list of people altogether. You need to protect the privacy of your contacts. It is very annoying to receive an email where I am on a long list of people I don't know.
• Include recent releases in your press kit. I will elaborate on the press kit in a future BYOP post!

Good luck, and be sure to add your own input/experience below!

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Introducing BYOP

Published on November 05, 2009 by Christy Tennant

As the Director of Public Relations (PR) for International Arts Movement, I have received a fair amount of inquiries via email and personal contact from artists within the global IAM community who are at a loss when it comes to promotion for their art. Many artists - most, in my experience - are ill at ease with the idea of self-promotion. Yet the bottom line is that promotion is vital for any artist to achieve an audience beyond friends and family. In rare cases, artists are able to hire PR firms or consultants to do their promotion, which lifts the burden somewhat from the artist (though still not entirely). However, that is not the case for most of us. Authors, musicians, painters, filmmakers, and others need publicity, and often the burden for that publicity falls to the artist.

I am not only in charge of Public Relations for IAM; as an artist, I have had to work through this myself. How do I legitimately promote myself, without becoming self-absorbed or self-important? This is an important thing to wrestle through, especially when humility is a core value. Can one be both humble and self-promotional?

The answer is, yes, not only can we be, but we must be. Otherwise, how will the world be able to receive the gift of art we have to offer?

I will periodically post things on this blog that I have learned from working in public relations for years, in both official and unofficial capacities. I have worked for large corporations with entire departments devoted to PR and communications, and I've worked as a consultant for freelance artists. At the end of the day, I believe that you can have a strong PR machine on a very low budget. It just takes a little time and direction.

One more thing: spend some time browsing the PR/marketing/advertising books and blogs that are available, and you will soon find that there are many different approaches and opinions on what is best the best way to approach PR. I'm sure that some will disagree with some of the advice I give here, which is fine; for that reason, I'm also enabling comments on this blog. Please add your own two cents from what you have learned.

Together, we will help one another get the word out.

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