DISTRIBUTING RELEASES BY EMAIL

Having talked about what’s needed by way of press release stationery, it must also be said that quite a few journos these days are happy to receive your releases via email, because it’s quick and easy for them to cut, paste and/or edit email copy. If you’re comfortable using email there are benefits for you, too; it works out much cheaper than snail-mail distribution’s costs of paper, copying, envelopes and stamps, to say nothing of the environmental issues. You will find editors’ email as well as snail-mail addresses in PIMS, PRADS and The Editor.

The rules for writing and formatting press releases for emailing are exactly the same as for those distributed by post. An award-winning journalist on The Times told us that she spends a lot of her time scrolling down her incoming emails to pick out the stories she needs, which she does by scanning the headings. This highlights two points:

• 1.that emailed releases are acceptable to even the most senior journos
• 2.that if your story is not summed up in the release’s heading, you may well stand no chance of it being used (see ‘Write for Slots’ on page 41).

The downside is, of course, that sending out stories by email can be extremely time-consuming and frustrating if you send to each contact one at a time. Some may bounce back, but not necessarily immediately you have sent them – and it’s all too easy to miss out one of your contacts altogether, or to annoy recipients by sending some of them the same release twice. Your best option, therefore, is to take time to assemble a basic group of email press contacts and email your stories to the whole list of editorial targets in one move.

How to do this? You can use one of the advanced contact management software packages which liaise across time, place, people and events. This makes distributing information to selected groups a very easy task; the system will also help by dialling numbers for you, recording contacts, collating tasks, and lots more. The problem is that many small outfits do not have or, let’s face it, do not want to get involved with such sophisticated kit. However, if you are one of the millions who already use Microsoft’s ubiquitous ‘Outlook 2000’ system, take heart! You already have a perfectly good personal distribution list facility which is very easy to use for press release distribution, and also provides many other contact management tools. And it’s flexible; you can easily add or delete targets to the list, and keep records about your use of the distribution list by using the Notes facility (see ‘Creating a personal distribution list’ below).

The only problem with Outlook multi-target email distribution is that, in its ‘default’ configuration, recipients will see not only their own names on the To line of the message, but also the names of all the other recipients in the group. The average editor knows full well that your press release hasn’t been sent exclusively to him – but shoving a list of the other 37 addresses under his nose may not be a very tactful move. However, you can easily avoid this by using Outlook’s ‘blind copy’ (Bcc) facility.

If you are an Outlook user but are not familiar with Bcc, take a moment to put ‘Personal Folders – Outlook Today’ up on your screen. Now click on New, which puts up an ‘Untitled Message’ box. Find the book icon To.. with a blank email address box. Directly underneath this is another book icon, Cc. You may also see another box below this labelled ‘Bcc’. If the Bcc isn’t there, click on the book icon To... and this will display a box called ‘Select Names’. This shows your list of email contacts on the left, and you’ll see ‘To’, ‘Cc’ and ‘Bcc’ spaces over on the right. All you have to do is to highlight your editorial personal distribution list (see below for the way to create one) and then click on the ‘Bcc’ button. If you wish you can choose a meaningful recipient name, such as ‘newstory@your-ownaddress.net’. Otherwise, if you just use the ‘Bcc’ button your release will appear as addressed to ‘undisclosed recipients’.

Creating a personal distribution list

From the Outlook Today screen click on File, then on New, then on Distribution List. A new screen appears with a small icon of two right-facing heads and two Tabs labels ‘Members’ and ‘Notes’. The screen invites you to name your list, which could perhaps be ‘Press release list’ or ‘Local press, journals, TV, radio’ or something similar.

After you have named it, press the Save and Close tab. From the main Outlook Today page, click Contacts, and your new distribution list – with entries highlighted with the two-headed icon appears listed on the right-hand side, along with any other contacts you may have. Double click on the icon/listname and this takes you back to your distribution list. Click the Members tab, then click the Add Members box to key in the names and email addresses of your targets. It is a good idea to save each one as you enter them. If you already have contacts in your personal list, these can be entered using the Select Members box. Remember to click the save and close button.