[drupal-docs] Publicity materials

[Andrew Hoppin]

Laura, I could also see issuing a joint press release whenever a major 
/ significant / nice / press-worthy new Drupal or CivicSpace site is 
launched... The site owner does the work of writing it up using our 
templates, including discussion of why they chose Drupal, what cool 
features/modules it uses, what difference it will make in the world, 
etc., and then we help the site owner by having a regular process to 
publicize it and by developing relationships with journalists that are 
interested...   Not necessarily necessary, and there are some free 
alternatives, but we could also potentially fundraise and pay for a 
bulk press release distribution service that would allow all these 
releases to get broader distribution.

Andrew

On Jun 3, 2005, at 10:06 AM, Laura Scott wrote:

> I was wondering about any efforts in this group about putting together 
> publicity materials. (I just posted a comment about this and came 
> right here.)
>
>  Anyone in business knows that the best advertising is free 
> advertising, and that happens when publications write about you, talk 
> about you, refer to you. To help enable that, you create and post 
> press releases written in 3rd person, as if they were written by a 
> magazine. Press release occasions might be:
>
>
> 	• 	New releases of core
> 	• 	New releases of themes and modules
> 	• 	Major endorsements and migrations to Drupal
>
>  This content would be written for the press, not for users. As such, 
> most of the content can be pulled from internal announcements and 
> discussions.
>
>  We would want to create a Press area, linked from the front page, 
> that aggregates the press releases. This would be different from "News 
> and Announcements" in that only people with role privileges could post 
> the press announcements. "News and Announcements" has all sorts of 
> postings not related to the Drupal.org effort (such as the request for 
> a consultant posted today).
>
>  My suggestion is to make part of the documentation effort is pulling 
> together some basic publicity materials, and refresh them 
> periodically. For example, each and every update should get a press 
> release:
>
>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>>
>> Drupal releases 4.6.1
>>
>> [Date] -- Drupal (www.Drupal.org) announced a new release of its 
>> Content Management System software today.
>>
>> [Paragraph about new release's features and fixes]
>>
>> [Paragraph about what Drupal is]
>>
>> [Paragraph on modules]
>>
>> [Website link]
>>
>> [Publicity contact]
>
>  Each release would have a lot of repeat material, obviously -- but 
> that's the point. We have to assume with every release that this is 
> the first time the reader is even hearing about Drupal.
>
>  Next step is registering  the Press Releases page feed with the 
> various news aggregators that are not on the Ping-o-matic list -- the 
> ones that the news media routinely read.
>
>  What can happen from all this? Online mags and print pubs might start 
> writing about Drupal more and more. Reviewers might decide to review 
> Drupal. Mentions might happen in small news blurbs in mags like CIO or 
> the tech page of a newspaper. Something might get a mention or 
> endorsement on Romanesko or other press-industry email list. Etc. The 
> net result would be more people coming to Drupal.
>
>  If there is nobody spearheading this, and it sounds good to the group 
> and management, I would be happy to lead this effort.
>
>  Thoughts?
>
>  ===
>  Laura S
> pingV
>
>  --
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