By Darrell Sitarz

or… How not to promote your IKC

There are many ways to promote your Indoor Karting Center; newspaper/magazine advertising, radio and/or television ads to name a few. But the least expensive and perhaps most effective is using press releases to publicize your facility or special events at your IKC.

We’re not going to go into how to write a press release here, but rather to name a number of things NOT to do when using press releases to promote.

~ Don’t submit lengthy press releases – less in more.

~ Don’t hide the gut content of your release in the last paragraph.

~ Don’t construct your release in generalities – be specific.

~ Don’t forget to include pricing and availability in all product releases.

~ Don’t load releases with boring quotes from company officials.

~ Don’t forget to include a contact name and phone number – make sure the contact is qualified to answer questions.

~ Don’t send old or outdated news.

~ Don’t send duplicate releases to the same publication.

~ Don’t reissue a press release if it is not picked up the first time.

~ Don’t send releases to publications whose readership is not inline with your product, service or news.

~ Don’t call an editor and ask when the release will be published.

To underscore the significance of the list, which was assembled by newspaper editors, they said more than half the releases they receive commit one or more of these basic sins. Just think what than means is wasted time, effort and PR dollars.

OOPS!
The other day, two press releases for upcoming racing events came across my desk. At first glance, each seemed to be professionally written and well-designed, EXCEPT: the date of the event was missing in one release and the state in which the race was being held was absent in the other. Minor glitches? No just dumb mistakes. Each of these events were trying to reach a national audience, and the missing information will result in unnecessary, time-consuming phone calls, e-mails and a probable loss of entries.

When preparing a press release or any other medium to attract race entries (posters, flyers, etc.) remember that the following questions need to be answered: who, what when, where, why and how. By answering these simple questions, you’ll save a lot of grief, extra cost, lost time and embarrassment.