In my last post I explained the differences between a media advisory and a news release. There are times when you should send out only one or the other. But there are certain situations where it’s appropriate to send both. Let me explain.

Let’s say you work at a nonprofit group and it’s planning to hold its annual fundraising event in three months. You could send out the news release as far in advance as you can to the news media to announce that a date, time and location have been set for the event; a headline entertainer or noted speaker will appear; corporate sponsorships are available; and the public can now purchase tickets.

Hopefully the news media will publish your news and your group’s advance ticket sales will increase.

Then maybe one to three days before the actual event, you can send a media advisory strictly to the news media. Let them know they are welcome to attend the event and that it will be newsworthy. Maybe a benefactor will announce a huge donation that evening. Maybe the entertainer is willing to grant interviews beforehand. Maybe the group will make a major announcement about its capital campaign.

One thing is important to note: DO NOT invite the news media to your event unless they will walk away from it with some type of news they would want to communicate to their viewers or readers. The fact that your organization’s simply holding an event is not newsworthy enough to warrant a media advisory.

Here’s another example. Let’s say your company is planning a major volunteer event. You could send out a media advisory a couple of days beforehand to invite the media to cover it. But you would not send out a pre-event news release because there is no public-involvement component to the activity.

However, after the event, you could send out a news release (and a photo or two) from the activity to show the impact the volunteers had on their local community.

Best of luck with your communication efforts.