College Sports Information Directors of America

DETERMINE YOUR PURPOSE

Ticket sales – is the event one for which you sell tickets

Exposure – do you want to drive fans to this event as well as future events; is it a major booster and/or alumni event

Is this a showcase event or sport - how important is this event or sport to the mission of the department and/or university

Is this a media event – will the media be there and/or will there be interest prior to the event

DETERMINE YOUR MARKET

What will your print media use – press release advances; story and/or results after the event

What will your electronic media use – interview with coach or player promoting the event, video coverage of event

In both cases what the media wants varies by sport – fan interest, local interest, sport interest

Feature angles work to promote the lesser-publicized sports – come up with something unique

DETERMINE YOUR RESOURCES

We can’t be at several places at once – when conflicts arise what’s the most important event you should attend

Has your athletic department prioritized your sports – where do you NEED to be

Look for help

Rely on coaches to bring results/key notes to you if you can’t attend and event – especially one off campus

Ask coaches to phone the media – it helps market them and build relationships with media

Student help to attend the event and at least gather results can ease some of the workload when conflicts arise

DETERMINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

National, regional or local readership base

“Scrapbook” service – family and friends

Media

REACHING WHO YOU WANT – E-MAIL LIST SERVES

E-mail list serves reach a lot of people – they are a captive audience because they control subscription

Break list serve subscriptions down – all-sports, men-basketball, womens-basketball, etc.

If you are writing an advance or story for the web, it’s easy to send it via e-mail

THE INTERNET – WHICH SPORTS SHOULD GET WHAT

The Internet is an excellent source for publicity

People are going to your site looking for information – provide it

All sports should receive exposure on the Internet

When should you do an advance

For high profile sports

Conference championships/tournaments

Post-season competition

When do you do story/results

 All the time

 Results are what everybody is after

AP style story (150 word lead) and results will satisfy a large portion of your target audience

The results you get also can be a factor in determining how much you post

What you receive from a road tennis match is different than from a road baseball game

Can’t always be immediate

Sometimes results from away competitions are difficult to get

Always try to do same-day posting

The “24-hour rule” – post no later than the next day

The importance of the event can be a factor in determining how much you post

Was the event a high priority sport

Did the event influence conference standings, post-season play, etc.

Was there a unique turn of events that could put a different twist on the story

Write to the interest of your readers

Calendar

Important Dates