“I think it’s always good to hear about what people are looking for, in terms of receiving the press releases,” Stockroom.com’s Director of Marketing Juli Crockett said.
The workshop was the result of XBIZ editorial staff brainstorming a way to help educate industry members on how to successfully promote their news and events, as well as create increased interaction between the industry and the publication.
“Some people in the industry see a publication like XBIZ and think, ‘How do I get featured?’ And it’s really simple – just call or send a release,” Crockett said. “You should not be shy and contact XBIZ and open up and let other people in the industry know what you’re doing.”
The basics of creating a well-written press release were covered by Winter and Elle, with a lot of emphasis on making communications easy for both the promoter and the media outlet.
“We really want to give you coverage and if you make our jobs easier, then you make it easy for us to get the news out there,” Winter said.
Important pointers covered were appropriate contact information on every press release, using an easy-to-read format and information containing the “who, what, why, when and where” of any story. Winter suggested adding simple graphics, like company logos or photos, to go with news stories and promotional releases, and also making phone contact with the magazine staff to establish a working rapport.
Elle pointed out the importance of the new PR Blaster feature on XBIZ.com’s newly revamped site.
The workshop was well-attended by webmasters, marketing managers and various industry PR hounds, despite the lure of a complimentary lunch buffet sponsored by NetCash.com.
Celebrity attendee Evan Seinfeld was on hand to pick up some tips, while he and wife Tera Patrick took a short break from being on the road. Uber blogger and Fleshbot Senior Erotic Editor Gram Ponante made an appearance, as well as industry publicist Wayne Hentai of Hentai PR.
“I’ve done some consulting for people and everybody needs help with this kind of stuff,” EyeOnAdult.com’s Scott McGowan said. “Because of the blog, I do receive press releases and deal with the manufacturers who are creating content, and I see the mistakes that they make.”
“It’s horrible, and that’s why I started to help some people out on occasions, because it is so bad, for most people. But it’s not hard to put together something nice that people would want to read,” McGowan said.