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EVENT PROMOTION

Getting press coverage is critical to advertise your event and to bring awareness to your organization. National Trails Day 2006 was an enormous success due to the press coverage in large (including the Washington Post, Backpacker magazine, and Reader's Digest) and local media outlets all across the US.

Suggestions for writing press releases:

Be very clear and very specific.

Have the lead paragraph cover the Who, What, When, Where, and Why — keep it brief and to the point. The body of your press release should elaborate on the lead and may include quotes and background information. At the end put the least important information.

Bring out a unique angle.

Suggestions to get media attention:

Submit your press release to the newspaper in the manner they prefer (e-mail, fax, or post office.) Call the newspaper to get the name of the contact who handles your type of event, and then find out their preferred method of receiving press releases.

Two places in newspapers with wide visibility are the Letters to the Editor and the public notices where you can write a letter thanking your volunteers — this isn't exactly advertising your event, since it is after it, but submitting a letter here will bring awareness to your organization.

Follow up with a phone call. First ask if they have time to talk, be prepared for a curt reply since they are very busy and on a time schedule. Have the message points written out and have your press release handy. Prime calling hours are 9:00 to 12:00; the worst is in the afternoon when their deadlines are due.

Web sites to learn more on writing and submitting press releases or Op Ed pieces, as well as read some samples are:

Promote your trails throughout the year, not just National Trails Day! The following documents have guidelines in contacting the press and writing news releases.

The "how to" fact sheets are in PDF format and can be downloaded and printed from your computer. You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view or print these documents.

Download it here for free.

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