Greetings! We are thrilled to have a local expert bequeath some expertise to our user group.  Dave Graybill, otherwise known as the Fishin' Magician, and guru of just plain getting the word out, has written a fantastic article to help our event submitters further publicize their events and activities. You can see more of Dave's musings at www.fishingmagician.com.  We know this article will be helpful to you, (and we are going to learn something too).

Some Basic Strategies For Event Promotion
   
    No matter what kind of event your group or community is holding, it is something that you want everyone to know about.  If tickets aren’t being sold, it is important to the participants or vendors that a good crowd shows up to enjoy what many people have worked hard to put together.  The more the merrier is a theme applies whether the goal is ticket sales or to welcome people to a community celebration.

    Many of those who help make an event happen do so as a labor of love.  They are proud of their community or have a special affiliation with those who have decided to showcase their passion.  It may be a bake sale benefit, a concert or a quilt show.  They all require that the general public be made aware of the event taking place.  This means contacting the media:  newspaper, radio or television stations, and try to get them to share the details of your event with their readers, listeners or viewers.

    There are some basic steps to take to get the attention of the media.  Some of the things I will mention here are standard procedure, and some of ideas that I will share may just give you and edge in your effort to publicize your event, and help make it a success.

    The first item on your list of things to do is to draft a news release.  This is standard procedure and is expected by all media for every type of event.  It is a way to get the basic information to the people who decide to write or broadcast a story about your event.  The object of the news release is to get their attention, and to make it easy as possible to use your story.

    The news release is your chance to present who, what, when, where and why about your event.  Be sure to be concise.  Who is putting on the event, what it’s about, when it will take place and where—and why someone would like to attend.  The better the news release is written, the better the chances are that it will be used.  Editors or news directors are like anyone else.  Do their jobs for them and they will use it.

    Say you are going to put on a classic car show.  You not only want people to come to the event but you also want people to bring their cherished classic car.  You will be charging an entry fee to those who bring the cars, and the proceeds will benefit a family whose baby needed heart surgery.  The money will go to help pay the hospital bills.

    Here’s what the news release could look like:

    To:  News Editor:

    Re:  Classic Car Show

    Contact:  Betty Jones 555-1212

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Springdale, Wash.—The Springdale Chamber of Commerce will be holding a classic car show at the Main Street Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 2nd.  The car show is to benefit the Smith family, to help pay hospital bills that piled up after their eight-month old daughter underwent heart surgery at Children’s Hospital.

    The Springdale Chamber is inviting anyone who has a classic car to register at the chamber office, or online at www.springdalechamber.org.  There will be classes for pickups, stock classics and custom classic cars.  The entry fee is $10.00 and a trophy will be awarded for the best in each class.

    For further information contact Betty Jones at 555-1212.

    There will be live music, hamburgers, hot dogs, sodas and other food items available at the park during the hours of the show. 

    Okay, nothing too sexy, but the information is there, and the news editor can place this in the news paper without having to change at thing.  If they feel that this is worth a story, they will contact Betty and get more details.  This same news release can be sent to radio and television stations.  It will help if you have the name of the local “community events” editor.  It also doesn’t hurt to call them and let them know that you are sending some information over and to call back to be sure that they received it and ask if they have any questions.  You may be getting their voice mail, but it is still worth the follow up.

    Take the time to create a list of the news papers (the daily and weekly community papers), radio stations (many or groups now and have one person handling news releases for all of them), and television stations.  As I mentioned earlier, try to address your news release to a specific name if possible.  Whether the event is one-time or an annual, this list is important.  Be sure to include all the media in the region that you expect people to travel from to come to your event.  Add to the list any specialty clubs:  car clubs, quilting clubs, scrapping clubs, etc. that you think their members would come.

    It helps to advertise.  Even though the media may run your story for free, you have a better chance of getting something in print or on the air if you buy some advertising.  You can get advertising support from local businesses by putting their names on the posters or flyers that should be printed about the event.  Be sure to say “welcomed by” when you mention sponsors by name.  This is standard policy now to protect them from potential liability.

    When you call a paper or station to place some advertising, you will be assigned a sales rep.  They can be very helpful.  They will design the ad or write the copy.  Always ask if they can help you get a notice in the “community calendar”, a live interview or public service announcements (PSAs) along with your paid advertising.  Remember:  all media has special rates for non-profit or benefit events.  In the case of radio they match, or give you an ad for everyone that you buy.

    In the case of radio, the sales rep get the ad produced for your ad, and they will send it to every station you wish at no charge.  This is where your list comes in.  You can call your contact at the other stations and tell them that they will be receiving a produced spot that they can run as a PSA.  There, you’ve done their work for them.  They just put it on the “wheel” and it runs along with the rest of the PSAs automatically. 

    If tickets are required to attend your event, set aside a certain number for the media.  This will allow someone who has never been or may not consider coming to attend.  In the case of radio they will often use the tickets as giveaways, and you will get important “live” mentions on the air.

    If there is a certain person or a special personality that you feel it would be important to have at your event, send them a special invitation, and include with it something that will set your invitation apart.  If it’s a classic car show, send them a model of a 63 Corvette.  If it’s a quilting show, send them a swatch with their name on it.  It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should represent your event.  Be sure to include tickets to the event or a very, personal, hand written invitation.

    You can expand on these basic strategies as your event and the ad budget grows.  What I have suggested here should help a startup or new event get some notice.  Practice these basic strategies and you will get results.  Every time your event gets noticed in the paper or heard on the radio the better your chances of getting good attendance.  Then your event will get “legs” and get bigger and better every year.