Public Relations – Reaching audiences today

Gavin Roebuck offers a publisher?s perspective on good PR.

Audience Today magazine celebrated its first birthday last month. It started life as a 20-page magazine, given out with the programmes when the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet visited Nottingham?s Royal Centre. It has now grown into a 52-page, full-colour, A4 glossy magazine. It is distributed direct to the audience at many theatres and venues and by post to some promoters? mailing lists and subscribers, and it is sold in specialist shops and newsagents across the country. Audience Today has also worked successfully with producers and venues so that, for the price of buying an advertisement, they receive copies of the magazine that they can sell, thereby recovering their costs and even making a profit. The magazine covers all forms of classical entertainment, including outdoor proms concerts at stately homes, opera, ballet, theatre, film and art. It appeals in particular to members of the audience who may not necessarily have specialist knowledge, providing them with articles and photos as well as interviews, previews and reviews, pages of interest to young performers, and items for specialist readers.

In Audience Today we try to look ahead to give advance information about films and shows that will be opening in the forthcoming couple of months with interviews with performers and those involved in the industry, as well as having some reviews. Some issues may have more dance in them and others more theatre. We work on the principle that people who book to hear a classical concert, for example, are also interested in seeing films and theatre and attending art exhibitions. There are single-subject magazines that only cover one area ? we are not so limited, and have a broad appeal, just as most members of the audience have a range of tastes. As a national magazine published six times a year, Audience Today cannot be a listings publication. While press releases are certainly of interest, they need to be received well in advance: information for the January issue needs to be received before the beginning of December, for example.

I find email the best way to receive press releases. I like them to have short, well-written, punchy items giving the facts. One can always make contact for further information for a fuller feature. I don?t like releases with silly superlatives giving an unknown performer a billing as ?world-famous actor…?, for example. Perhaps being lazy, also having single-line spacing with no italics or fancy fonts does make it easier if I wanted to just cut and paste material into an article. The availability of good photos is always a help and can determine whether information is used or not.

When press officers send in material I am afraid that the first thing I ask myself is ?Are they an advertiser?? What many press officers leave out is contact information for advertising, which is annoying because all publications need advertising and there has to be some give and take between those who want publicity and those who provide it. All too often it seems that it is the press officers who are paid to get publicity but the publications that actually provide it don?t get a penny. The minimum charge for a web directory advert in Audience Today is just £35, so if a promoter isn?t interested in spending that, why should Audience Today spend £35 worth of printer?s ink putting in their material? Some press officers don?t even buy a subscription to Audience Today! I like to work with people to help them achieve their publicity and selling goals, not have a one-sided arrangement whereby they send in a press release and expect our support for nothing at all.

Gavin Roebuck is Editor of Audience Today and dance critic for The Stage and Dance International, t: 020 7370 7324;
e: [email protected].
For subscriptions to Audience Today,
w: http://www.audiencetoday.co.uk; t: 01424 720477