Or at least that's what you think! Within the professional motorsports' world, the public relations reps and agents have their own little subculture with as much conflict, controversy and drama as what fans see on the track. Those who enter with newbie enthusiasm and believe this will be a glorious job where they get to just hang out and watch races are soon disappointed while their peers who are self-motivated, observant and fearless often succeed against the ultra-competitive trials and tribulations.
This entry is dedicated to one person. Ah yes, some of you are smiling or giggling right now because you know what I am talking about. I figured I might as well take my cagey veteran sarcasm and put it to some good use with a few simple PR basics that could be beneficial to those who are trying to just help a friend on a local racing level with a press release or even the "PR Rockstar".
TEN PR TIPS TO REMEMBER
- Make sure that your title reflects the most relevant point or the tone of the message you wish to convey through your press release. Even if it sounds cool, a title has no point if there isn't content to make it fit.
- Three letter state abbreviations went out with hand-lettered race cars (well technically it was 1987 and, for the record, I dig the old sign painted look). Don't use that AP style unless you are writing directly for a newspaper. And the biggest mistake is when people use the AP reference but also do some USPS two-letter abbreviations later in the article. The key is to be consistent!
- No matter what format you wish to use for the location and date, make sure that it stands out from the body copy. For example, my standard format is: CHARLOTTE, NC (February 16, 2009) - Now enter the content of your release.
- When mentioning a track or series for the first time, always spell out the full name - subsequent references can use an acronyms.
- Special event or race names should have quotes around them to help distinguish. Example: Josh Richards earned two victories during the "38th Annual Alltel DIRTcar Nationals" at Volusia Speedway Park.
- Traditional media outlets including newspapers, magazines and television networks should be italicized. Example: Live race coverage of "event" will be televised on SPEED starting at 2 p.m. EST.
- Experienced industry preference for referencing car numbers is to use No. 15 rather than #15. Either way is acceptable but the reason a lot of the veterans use the first way is because classification and search engines will recognize that number without the "#" being a required component.
- Do not get carried away with comma splices. I love changing up sentence structure more than anyone but a comma isn't the solution for everything. Example: John and his team are excited about their sixth place qualifying position, and they have high expectations for tomorrow's event. NO COMMA!
- When referencing a position, (see, comma is good here) I believe it looks more polished to write the number out rather than use numerals. Twelfth just flows better than 12th especially if multiple numbers will be referenced.
- If you are using a quote, keep the quote as one paragraph and then return to your narrative or description in a new paragraph.
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So after all is 'Fluffed', what is the proper audience to 'Hurl' upon? I know that a previous post says not to spam (and I agree) but what channels are used most often? There are some notable sites that go along with the media blast, but what are some of the more obscure ones?
Ah, bonus for the "fluff & hurl". :)
There is a strong media backlash for irrelevant bombardment of press releases or solicitations. I am also on many mailing lists because of various roles in the industry and often skim headlines, browse a few but when I see multiples from people within days or for several clients at once, I automatically delete.
I am a firm believer in quality over quantity. Sadly, many releases are fired off without the author re-reading them or careless errors. I always take great pride in writing a good story to place the event(s) in a larger picture or to illustrate the significance rather than producing a generic report. That said, I am also not a fan of pre-race press releases for drivers unless kept very humble and there are specific reasons to have one. Even then, usually pre-race announcements are only submitted to sponsors, team VIPs, the series and direct broadcast partners.
As for when the time has arrived to "hurl" it, I have multiple mailing lists created to target the right audience. Examples of my lists per driver include:
- Team Sponsors/VIPs: These are your key support contacts that often receive additional announcements, heads up and communication because of their closeness to the team. I was taught there are two types of information - "want to know" and "need to know", few people are need to know but most want to be. These folks are definitely need to know!
- Core Industry Media/Support: Official fan sites (if applicable), the Series' PR department and key officials, directly related broadcast media, publications covering that form of motorsports or the biggies.
- Additional Media. For very significant releases that would garner attention and print from the larger motorsports community or national publications, then I have a more comprehensive list with all of the major publications, the newswires, online/TV/radio contacts, etc.
For a very newsworthy piece such as when Carl Edwards Racing's Cameron Dodson was hurt, I had several variations of the same piece. The communication with the first group was more informal and a bit more personal in nature. The second was submitted to key publications, USAC, various tracks including the two venues he won at, etc. The third was submitted to general motorsports media (including Jayski, NASCAR.com, National Speed Sport News, Sports Illustrated) and prominent media (AP, Reuters, his local newspapers/TV stations in Indiana, SPEED, etc.). To help place the significance, in addition to the release, additional factoids on Cameron and his team's accomplishments were noted so they had additional reference material.
The key is just identifying the significance of your message and then how it relates to your target audience. It is better to be conservative than bombarding people because after several deletes, I'm confident I missed some really important or great articles because I assumed it was the usual blue sky.
I hope that helps. All of us in the industry accumulate contacts and tricks over the years so we build that distribution list. If you wanted specific names, I would be more apt to share that kind of information in a workshop setting.
(Which will be forthcoming probably in October - you heard it here first)
I hope that does help though. And just because I get caught up in details, I never use the phrase "media blast" because it sounds like a warhead that is not appealing but stick to the e-media or e-newsletter vibe. :)
Thanks for the comment,
~Michelle