We need more press releases

Moving to Content project.

Bumping this as this currently is an embarrassment.

Yeah, we're probably at the stage where this needs something more than an ad hoc whenever-someone-happens-to-think-of-it approach.

Ideally there would be a formal volunteer position (Public Relations Lead?) who would co-ordinate activities and create an annual calendar of notable events. Each notable event would then be used to create an issue in this queue.

There should also be a standard template and an approval workflow (someone at the Association should review each release).

And it would be nice if media releases were actually sent to the media. :) There are some standard publishing channels for media releases but some should also go directly to local media (i.e. for something like Drupalcon) or to specific contacts.

Also it would be good to start compiling a contact list (confidential of course) of journalists and prominent bloggers with an interest in web content management/frameworks. Eventually this might even benefit from some basic CRMS capabilities.

Could press releases be handled through the Branding and Marketing Committee? Possibly a committee member could be lead and develop a team of "reporters" to find topics and write releases. BAM already works closely with the DA.

Yes media relations is definitely within the scope of the committee as per section 4 (e) of the charter https://association.drupal.org/about/staff/marketing-branding-committee

We would be happy to take this up. We need a volunteer to lead the charge but I love Danita's idea about having a team of reporters.

Edit: (I'm the Chair of the Branding & Marketing committee.)

Thanks tvn for pointing out this great discussion to me. As the new Marcomm Mgr. for the Drupal Association I plan to write and distribute press releases on some topics, for instance around DrupalCons. This is the press release I distributed for DrupalCon Portland and could be added to the page. I'm in the process of writing one now about the opening of Prague registration. I can foresee one or two more leading up to Prague.

My bandwidth for writing press releases is not unlimited due to many other responsibilities, but I have written and distributed dozens of releases over the years and I am more than happy to help review and edit press releases that others write. I am on the marketing committee and can work with the team to make it happen.

Also, regarding the comment about a media list - I have a good one started that I shared with the marketing committee last week and we are in the process of cleaning it up.

Let's aim higher. I think there are a lot more opportunities for free press than just DrupalCon. We should consider a press release for any major announcement and before and after any event. Remember that press releases aren't just for things that would appear on headline news. There are many different kinds of publications - big and small - as well as blogs and feeds that will pick up our smaller interest stories.

Here are some examples of press releases that could be done that would add value and bring more eyeballs to Drupal.

Drupal Training Days Before - It's coming, how to participate, etc.
Drupal Training Days After - How many participated, quotes from a student and a teacher.
Drupalcon location announcement
Drupalcon Call for Sessions
Drupalcon Major Speakers
Drupalcon Imminent
Drupalcon Over - recap

Many things worthy of https://drupal.org/forum/8 should be made into a press release. Not everything, of course, but things like
https://drupal.org/drupalgive
https://drupal.org/node/2188053
https://drupal.org/node/2151461
https://drupal.org/node/2110205
https://drupal.org/node/2013809

Could do a monthly press release that lists all the upcoming Drupalcamps. That would be pretty cool, I think, especially if we did local releases to the regions where the camps are taking place. Providing templates to camp organizers to do their own would be awesome, too.

Now that we (the Association) have a content writer on staff, we will be able to write more press releases. That being said, I think storytelling is more effective than press releases for a lot of topics, for example: https://association.drupal.org/content/drupal-making-news-bbc-school-report.

We're trying to head in that direction of telling more stories and demonstrating how Drupal is positively affecting individual lives around the world. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation though and in some cases we can do both, or a particular format will work better.

Also, I don't want to insinuate that all press releases must be written by Drupal Association, although I would think anyone writing a press release should run by the Drupal.org Content Working Group.

The Content Working Group issue queue would be the best place. https://drupal.org/forum/8

This is ongoing but in the spirit of not leaving open issues I'm going to close this and mark fixed.