As the night managing editor at the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Stan oversees the newsroom in the evening, directing reporters and editing stories. Being the business editor as well, he is also responsible for selecting stories that will be featured in the Business section of the paper from week to week, assigning those stories to reporters, then editing the finished product.

In his current positon, Stan is on the receiving end of many press releases from Beetle Press—and other businesses and nonprofits across Hampshire County. For this reason, we think he’s an invaluable resource on what editors look for in press releases, and he was kind enough to spell it out for us.

Stan is a skilled editor and writer as he has had vast experience in many different roles during his 40 years at the Gazette. He started out as a reporter, covering news on education, social services, mental health and politics. Over the years he has been an editor for all different sections of the paper, such as general news, the website, sports section, business column and overall content.

“I’ve done a lot of different things in the newsroom and that’s been positive to keep me fresh,” Stan says.

One of the most memorable days in his career was working during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 as he had to process and react to that event as both a human being with deep emotions and an objective news reporter. Even though the Pioneer Valley is removed distance-wise from where the attacks happened, the paper still had to plan its local coverage while also dealing with the national crisis on the website.

Journalism has changed tremendously since the Internet was born. Readers now have a variety of media through which they can receive news instantaneously. One effect of this is that, with the digital publishing of news, sometimes the usual checks and edits aren’t done with the same level of thoroughness and precision. This because editors are moving more quickly to accommodate consumers who rely on quick minute-by-minute updates.

Stan agrees with us that press releases are an important tool for business owners and organization leaders to call attention to the good work that they are doing. He looks for releases that highlight:

• A new business
• A business that’s expanding
• A shift in marketing strategy
• An alteration in product
• A change in or adding to members of a staff

When constructing a press release for your business, Stan advises keeping the following things in mind:

Clarity. Be clear about what is the news, what’s new, what’s different, why does your press release deserve space in the paper. Your intent should be immediate, the first thing that you learn about as you read.

Be Concise. Writing a few sentences is better than a few pages. There is not always time for the editor to read your entire release so only report on the essentials; don’t give a history of your business.

Media. Press releases can be delivered electronically by email, which gives you the advantage of being able to provide a link to your business’ website for the editor to reference if they want more information about your company.

Timing. If a press release is calling attention to a future event, it is better for the editor to receive it a month ahead of time rather than a week ahead of time. The more time that you allow the editor, the more time they have to work with you on coverage possibilities.

Contact Information. Be sure to provide the names and contact information for key people in your business that can field phone calls and set up possible interviews and photo shoots or provide more information about your company.

Persistence. If you haven’t heard back from an editor, follow-up with an email or phone call. This gets the attention of the editor and helps ensure that your press release hasn’t been forgotten at the bottom of a pile of work that the editor hasn’t had time to address. Don’t give up!

We help many clients with press releases. We’d be happy to help you as well. Contact Janice to suggest your press release idea. Or if you’re the DIY type, read our blog on sending press releases.

The post What This Gazette Editor is Looking for in Your Press Releases appeared first on Beetle Press.

If you ask Merriam-Webster, you’ll learn that a blog is a website that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer, and you’ll read that the word is short for “Web log.” We agree. But we also see blogs as something with more oomph: They provide organizations with the perfect platform for storytelling to raise awareness, fuel inspiration, and encourage participation.

We use our blog to keep our readers informed about our work and that of our community partners, and we reflect on our areas of expertise. Other organizations use blogs to share the success stories behind their programs and services, and we think that is just plain smart.

One of our clients who uses blogging to the organization’s advantage is Sports Travel and Tours of Hatfield, Massachusetts. This firm, founded in 1996, has a mission to offer hassle-free trips to sports fans so they can attend sporting events across the United States and Canada. They have fulfilled dreams and “bucket lists” worldwide.

They use their blogs to tell all about it, and we help them to do this.

In the past year, we’ve written blogs for Sports Travel and Tours about people like Sally Ryen, who went on a baseball trip this summer as one way to help her recover from the loss of her husband, Doug.

We’ve written about the Laughlin and Williams families, who each took the family patriarch on a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame for its annual induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York. These stories will give you goosebumps, and may also prompt you to buy a package for your father for next year’s induction in Cooperstown.

That’s the idea behind storytelling.

Jay Smith, president of Sports Travel and Tours (shown in photo); Teresa Weybrew, director of sales and marketing; and Christopher Switzer, creative director, all have a hand in brainstorming the blog ideas with us. They tell us the heartwarming, unique, and amusing stories about the joy and camaraderie that people experience on their trips. They tell us about their tour hosts and partners and what makes them special, and we help them select the stories that have the most appeal. Then, we interview their partners, hosts, and clients, and tell their tales.

Jay says in this first year of blogging, he has heard positive feedback from clients who have noticed the increased efforts at communication and are learning more about Sports Travel and Tours as a result. Jay wants to continue on with these blogging efforts and grow the goodwill—and grow the return on the investment.

We wholeheartedly agree. And we can’t wait to tell more sports travel stories in 2016, as the organization celebrates its 20^th anniversary.

The post Blogging—a Perfect Platform for Storytelling appeared first on Beetle Press.

Dillon earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, in May. While in college, she served as a PR intern for a mission-driven nonprofit that provides respite for cancer patients by giving them a therapeutic sail on Lake Champlain. Through this experience, Dillon realized her passion for standing behind a cause and has since worked to promote various nonprofits.

Janice Beetle of Easthampton is the principal of Beetle Press, and she said that Dillon is a key Beetle Press partner, handling the development of press releases and overseeing internal writing and web projects as well.

Beetle Press was established in 1998 by Beetle, a former journalist. It offers writing and editing services and has a specialty in helping businesses and organizations connect with the media.

For more information visit www.beetlepress.com.

The post Beetle Press Expands Team appeared first on Beetle Press.

Well, okay. Not really. She is teaching first grade, and there is hardly a parallel there, but Molly is blogging about her work and her experiences, and in that, she is her mother’s daughter.

Molly graduated from Plymouth State University in the foothills of New Hampshire’s White Mountains in May. Throughout college, she wanted to study abroad, but her degree was in early childhood studies and required several practicums that kept her from traveling. She made it her goal after graduation to find an opportunity abroad, and through idealist.org, Molly found a first grade teaching position at the Majuro Cooperative School on an island called Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, literally a world away.

After answering the question of “Where the heck are the Marshall Islands?” Molly proceeded to apply for the job in late June. She secured an interview via Skype, was offered the position, took a thoughtful 24 hours to process her thoughts, and then she accepted. Only a few short weeks later, she boarded a plane, and I’ve only seen her since on Skype and in photos!

But I have read much about what Molly is doing, and what her work and the culture in her new world is like. I am proud of her for articulating everything from her research into jobs after graduation, to her homesickness and culture shock, and, in her latest blog, her pride as a teacher who is watching first graders learn.

Without being told by anyone—because Molly didn’t have any PR or marketing courses—she knew that a blog would be an important tool in raising awareness, and she has been using the tool faithfully. She is teaching young people about the abstract, such as what it means to take risks, and she is passing on practical information—about Majuro, its children, the landscape and the threat that climate change poses to the fragile island.

Blogging is a way to reach so many people at one time. It’s a vehicle that works well for businesses, nonprofits—and daughters and first grade teachers.

To follow Molly’s blog, visit https://mollyinmajuro.wordpress.com/, click on the “Follow” button on the lower right-hand side of her blogspot and enter your email address. You’ll get an email each time she adds a new post.

And you’ll learn a lot.

https://mollyinmajuro.wordpress.com/

The post My Daughter is a Blogger appeared first on Beetle Press.

Currently a senior at Westfield State University, Michael is majoring in English with a focus on writing. He grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, watching and playing football, lacrosse and baseball. His family has been a constant support and has shared his interests. “My dad is crazy about sports,” he says. As he got older, Michael says he did more watching than playing. “I was always better at watching than playing.”

At Beetle Press, Michael will be a player, helping Janice with PR for a client that’s focused around sports travel opportunities, and he will also write blogs and press releases.

After growing up in New England , Michael wanted a change of scenery and decided to attend the University of Tampa in Florida for his freshman year of college. However, it proved to be too expensive to continue attending. “The process of coming home every break was a big hassle, with distance and financially,” he says.

One good thing that came out of Michael’s University of Tampa experience was a journalism class that he found inspirational. “The professor was really great,” he says, noting it prompted him to change his original major from education to English. When he returned to Massachusetts, Michael attended a semester at a community college before joining Westfield State in the spring of 2013.

During his time at Westfield State, Michael has had a role on the campus sports radio show and has written sports articles for the campus paper, Westfield Voice. This year, he continues to write and edit articles for the paper.

Michael’s goal is to eventually be involved with sports journalism and possibly public relations. He is especially interested in online journalism. “It’s not so stuffy,” he says. “There are so many sports blogs out there: Grantland, Uproxx, SB Nation, Barstool Sports. I like them because they sound like they’re actually talking to you. That’s how I want to write.”

Outside of school and his internship, Michael still plays various sports when he can. He is also really interested in music and learning the guitar.

The post Michael Barry has a Passion for Sportswriting appeared first on Beetle Press.

A May graduate of Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, Ruby has returned to her childhood home of Easthampton, Massachusetts, to pursue a career in public relations, and Janice is very pleased that Ruby will be spending part of her time working with Beetle Press.

As a student, Ruby held different sales and marketing positions, including work with nonprofit organizations. She decided to focus on PR after a meeting with her undergraduate advisor; Ruby wanted a career in which she could express her compassion through her work and showcase her skills and expertise. She says, “My advisor, Nancy Kerr, possessed a pure passion and enthusiasm on the subject of PR, and the more she talked about the opportunities that would be open to me and what I could accomplish for businesses and organizations, the more I thought that it was the route for me.”

During Ruby’s time at Champlain, she got the chance to study abroad in Dublin, Ireland. One of her courses in Dublin was Writing in the City, in which the class would explore the many intricacies of the city and write about it.

Ruby says the professor would take the class to amazing places and hidden gems around Dublin, tell them stories about the history and then give them a chance to reflect and write anything that came to them. “This was such a time of growth in my life as well as in my writing,” she says.

This summer, Ruby was connected to Beetle Press via her father, Brian Dillon, a local accountant and a client. Janice wrote a press release for Brian when his business relocated to Easthampton, and it was picked up by multiple print publications. Ruby was interested enough in Beetle Press to learn more. She and Janice sat down to chat, and there was an immediate connection.

Ruby has now written several successful press releases of her own. She loves having the opportunity to work with local businesses and nonprofit organizations, helping them to raise awareness. She’s excited too, to see her work in local print publications.

Outside of work, Ruby enjoys reading, photography and spending time with friends and family. After she studied abroad in Dublin, she caught the travel bug, and, since then, she has had a burning desire to experience different cultures, cuisine and to see many areas of the world-writing about all her experiences along the way.

The post Ruby Dillon a New Member of the PR Team appeared first on Beetle Press.