Pointless Press Release

I worked pro bono developing a press release for a music, dance, and spoken word performance that would take place in a cathedral. The story was related to how the event would create a kind of meditation for audience members, and featured descriptions of the performance and the players. The organizer sent the press release to all the media, but it didn’t get any news coverage. The next year, for the same event, I attempted to contribute with daily theme-related messages to invitees through the Facebook event page. However, even though I was an administrator for the event, there was some bug in Facebook and no one received the messages. In both years, it wasn’t an issue because the event sold out. But it still would have been nice to get news coverage.

Now that I’ve been engaged in the marketing management class, I understand some of the ways to create an engaging brand and message—and to generate a buzz. I guess I’m old school because I still think it’s helpful to use public relations professionals to reach the press. Also, I wonder how we define news coverage these days. Is it enough to have influential bloggers and people on Facebook posting about your news, or do you still have to reach the mainstream media?

I have some friends who published an art book about a year ago, and ever since then they have tirelessly promoted it—with the guidance of a public relations firm—by appearing at dozens of events and sending out the latest news through vast email contact list and Facebook. They’ve approached promotion in a very professional way and have been very successful.