There are at least 50 good and newsworthy reasons why you would want to send out a media release on behalf of your nonprofit organization. Before the internet and rise of social media communications, media releases were designed specifically and exclusively for journalists. And, 90% or more of the media releases often ended up unread, overlooked and unpublished. Today, media releases are available to anyone with an internet connection and an interest in whatever it is that your organization does. Savvy PR professionals use media releases to communicate directly with their audiences including customers, donors, funders, volunteers and the media. Here are 50 newsworthy reasons why you might want to write and distribute a media release:
The oldest and most reliable way to reach the media is through a news release. It is also the most reviled if the release not written and put together in a specific way. The news release is sometimes called a media release but never a press release (at least not anymore). The term press release was used when releases were printed only in newspapers and before radio, television and now the internet became popular communication channels. The news release is generally the most reliable type of media communication since it forms the basis of many, if not most, news stories. In some cases, especially in the case of weekly newspapers, a well written news release will be printed verbatim.
On Wednesday, April 10 & Thursday, April 11 in Edmonton and Monday, April 15 and Tuesday, April 16, you can learn three important skills: 1) how to build or rebuild your nonprofit organizations website in Wordpress or Joomla! -- the two most popular free and open source content management systems in the world, 2) learn how to write, design and distribute electronic newsletters and 3) learn how to easily tie things altogether with a strategic social media plan. See more information and register.