I wonder if we want to expand the press release to be a snapshot about companion birds in general (in California). I guess we only really have numbers for our own birds, but I wonder if we can include, say, the increase in surrendered birds across the state of California? This sounds rather ambitious & would require research with other bird rescues, plus their cooperation in giving us numbers. We can leave out finances for the others, as they probably won't want to talk about that anyway, and give a sense of finances just from our point of view (and serving our purpose). What I'm trying to figure out here is what might make the press release most appealing for publishers, especially if we don't want to give out our exact monetary numbers. p On Dec 5, 2010, at 10:58 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat ((P)) wrote:
Hi again,
We never seem to get this press release thing off of the ground; however, I have an idea that I would like you to consider. How about an end-of- year press release with some numbers for 2010? How many birds did we take in, how many got adopted, how much did we spend on vet bills, how much did we take in donations, how many veterinary hospital visits did we pay for, et al.
We need to be judicious about what statistical information we give out, obviously, but we want it to have as much oomph as possible. If we want to release this promptly on 01 Jan 2011, the numbers might be preliminary estimates (most corporations take a few weeks to close out their books before releasing quarterly or annual numbers) but a New Year's Day release might also have the most impact. I think that such a press release should be summarized and linked to front and center on our web page to be sure that people who follow us will see it.
I have been following this . . . stuff about James Spaid and one of the topics that is currently going around with his livejournal coterie is how Mickaboo rarely provides medical care, even to very needy birds. As a few of us have learned, engaging that group directly to rebut their claims is like mud-wrestling with a pig (you get covered in slop and the pig enjoys himself). Instead, I think that it would be a better idea to post our results for 2010 in a very visible place so that people could clearly see the gap between their perceptions and our reality.
Thoughts?
--VH
-----Original Message----- From: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org [mailto:media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of Martha Kudlacik Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 3:17 PM To: Mickaboo media advisor team Subject: [Media-advisors] can we use this INSANITY for a press release/story?
We have yet another mass surrender of cockatiels (33 in Palo Alto). Is there any way we can use this madness for a little PR?