Out of curiosity, how many units do press releases to either local press and/or CAP News/CAP News Online when they have events, activities, or give out awards?
How often do you do it? Has it ever helped with recruiting?
Not sure. My unit is an hour's drive and I don't get the local paper.
However, the unit I am working to start will be doing at least one press release per month - yes, I plan to have activities to justify them.
If you want to do press releases, National has a template you should use. It's available on the level2 site under public affairs, I think.
paper coverage rarely helps recruiting, I'm afraid. Unless you get a good front-page article with contact information.
Whatever you send out though, please send a copy to your Group/Wing PAO. They really need to know what's going on for their reports. :)
Quote from: whatevah on March 28, 2005, 10:39:49 PM
paper coverage rarely helps recruiting, I'm afraid. Unless you get a good front-page article with contact information.
Whatever you send out though, please send a copy to your Group/Wing PAO. They really need to know what's going on for their reports. :)
Even if it doesn't help recruiting, it still helps morale. Believe me, people love to read good things about themselves.
As a PAO I have found it difficault to get the Local News Paper to Publish any Press Releases sent from the unit.
Also have had the News says they will be there to cover an event and them not show up.
CAP News has always published unit releases.
Weither or not it is published send a copy to the Group/Wing PAO as most Wing PAO's require a Monthy Unit PAO Report the report will ask for this info attach copies of anything sent to the media and if it was published attach a copy of it also
Quote from: Pylon on March 28, 2005, 04:51:04 PM
Out of curiosity, how many units do press releases to either local press and/or CAP News/CAP News Online when they have events, activities, or give out awards?
How often do you do it? Has it ever helped with recruiting?
Watch your papers cadets and seniors there is a couple articles coming out about Cadet Lt. Colonel Korona and his achievements in both CAP and ROTC... 8)
Last December my Wing's CAC wrote up about 10 press releases, about 35-40 word bits with a custom tag for info on CAP. The idea being, that (this is from an editor of a small newspaper) if you send in one or two articles a year, they probably won't be published, but if you send in one every week, you have a chance of getting half or so of them in the paper. We're just waiting to get them approved by Wing, and in the offical format in CAPR 190-1 then hopefully we'll start getting them sent out.
These little articles aren't major things either, just short little things, like this "Cadet bagadonuts received his Curry award. The Curry award is the first promotion in the Cadet Program of the Civil Air Patrol. Cadet Bagadonuts is a member of the Colonel John Q. Public Cadet Squadron. For more info on CAP call (302) 555-0000."
Now if we send in those type of articles to the local papers we're bound to have someone ask what CAP is. Oh, and these articles are on varies things, promotions, activities, whatever someone might find interesting.