About Collegiate Presswire: Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

FOR COLLEGE MEDIA

FOR MARKETERS

ANSWERS FOR COLLEGE MEDIA

What is Collegiate Presswire?

Collegiate Presswire is a comprehensive, electronic press material and feature distribution service, carrying press releases, media alerts and original, ready-to-run stories from companies that market to college students direct to editors at campus newspapers nationwide.

How does it work?

Each weekday afternoon, we send a packet of press releases electronically to hundreds of college newspaper editors, like you, who have asked to receive Collegiate Presswire. These packets contain full-text press releases and ready-to-run stories on a variety of topics for your perusal. They also contain links to our World Wide Web site (http://www.cpwire.com), where you’ll find graphics, logos and other visuals to accompany the releases and stories, available for viewing or downloading.

What is the cost to receive Collegiate Presswire’s e-mail packets?

For student journalists, there is none. The entire cost of distribution is paid for by the companies whose news we bring to you.

I’m not a member. How do I join?

To receive Collegiate Presswire, delivered directly to your In-Box, simply send an e-mail with your name, address, newspaper name, phone number, fax number and e-mail address to [email protected] with the words "Get Wired" in the subject line. You will be added within 24 to 48 hours, and your confirmation will be receipt of your first e-mail packet. For faster service, you can also call our Newsroom at (888) 621-7721 and speak to a staff member. And, if you prefer to be Web-savvy, you can fill out a "Get Wired" request form, which will be e-mailed directly to us.

No cost. No nagging. What’s the catch?

There is none. More than anything, we need editors – like you – to read the material that we’re carrying on our clients’ behalf. It’s a symbiotic relationship, really. If you read our e-mail packets regularly, we’ll promote your paper with our clients and continue feeding quality news and feature copy to you each day.

What kinds of items are in a typical Collegiate Presswire packet?

The service’s e-mail packets contain three kinds of items. First, there are some full-text press releases that we run straight from our clients. We don’t edit, change or modify them in any way. Then, there are the Collegiate Presswire Features Service feeds, which contain ready-to-run, royalty-free stories of interest to your readers written about the "larger picture" stories in our clients’ industries, written with an objective eye by a Collegiate Presswire reporter.

Collegiate Presswire reporter? You mean a "hired gun"?

No, not at all. Consider this: All of our Collegiate Presswire reporters have been the editor (or one of the top editors) of their college newspaper in the last two to three years. Some have continued on to professional journalism careers. And others are still students.

Ok, Ok. Back to the daily press material packets, please.

Oh yeah. The third kind of information in a Collegiate Presswire packet is a section of links to the Web. You’ll find cross-references to our World Wide Web site where you can get visuals to accompany the stories of the day or check out some multimedia files. They’re available for viewing or downloading – the choice is yours. Need a graphic for a story on a band you read about in a Collegiate Presswire packet? Need a multimedia clip for your paper’s online edition? Look like a hero and surf on over to Collegiate Presswire.com, your connection to the publicity departments of the biggest and best brand names in the college market.

Is there anything I can do in return?
No, we ask nothing. Except maybe for the occasional e-mail (or fax) tear-sheet, letting us know if you ran a story from the wire, or if you have a suggestion as to how we can improve or expand the service. You can send them to us at [email protected], or you can reach us at the contact information on this page. And, if you feel especially motivated, pictures of your newsroom or just the occasional postcard from Spring Break are also really appreciated. :-)

ANSWERS FOR MARKETERS

I’m a marketing or communications professional with an interest in the college audience. What’s Collegiate Presswire all about?

Ok, we’ll explain, but first a quick marketing review. You have a brand. You market to the college audience. Therefore, you should already know that it’s an extremely lucrative (16 million students and growing) demographic. You also know it has a ton of purchasing power (up to $80 billion, by some estimates). It should come as no surprise that in marketing to these students, you need to distinguish your brand from your competitors. They’re very influenced by brands. And how best to distinguish your brand?

If you guessed "mass distribution," you’d be right.

And that’s how Collegiate Presswire can help. Our national wire distribution circuit takes your release to several hundred college news outlets that are interested in news like yours, as well as select higher-education trade media and general interest publications. In other words, you get distribution to the best sources for your news, delivered right to the people making the decisions. So there you have it. Collegiate Presswire is about convenience. It's about efficiency. It's about time.

How do I use the service? What's this talk about membership?

It's really quite simple. If you are interested in Collegiate Presswire and think you will be using its services soon, you should join now in order to begin enjoying the perks of membership. It's just $100 per year, with press release distribution circuits ordered (for additional fees) on an as-needed basis. As a member, you will receive an expedited order number, a short corporate profile on our Web site, complimentary electronic media monitoring of the top newspapers through our Presswatch system for three weeks following each release, and a subscription to our quarterly newsletter directed to marketers about collegiate media relations. Then, when you feel like sending a release over the wire, or signing up to become a member, just give us a call on the toll-free order line and we'll take it from there.

I've never really understood this e-mail thing. Does Collegiate Presswire offer other distribution media, as well?

Of course! Collegiate Presswire also offers daily facsimile broadcasts of release copy sent in the late afternoon to as few or as many newspapers as you'd like. You can grade the service just like our e-mail distribution, and the cost is roughly the same. The only difference is the end copy – printed form as opposed to electronic. You can also fax black-and-white logos or graphics via Collegiate Presswire's broadcast facsimile circuits for additional visibility among the student editors who receive the faxes.

I have a press release that I would like to run. What should I do?

Just leave it to us. You have two options. We can take your press release exactly as it is and run it on our distribution circuits. If you want it in electronic, ready-to-run format, we'll send it via our e-mail distribution lines. If you'd prefer it in hard copy, we can send it via our facsimile broadcast system. Either way, student editors receive a crisp copy of your news release and can re-write it, re-work it or use it as needed.

Your second option is to have Collegiate Presswire's team of editors write it into a ready-to-run story, complete with byline, for distribution on our wire. They will look for a "larger picture" angle and fashion their story around your news release with mentions of your product or service mixed throughout. College editors enjoy these stories because they are royalty-free and ready to run, not to mention the fact that they are interesting, well-written and very professional.

Tell me more about the company behind Collegiate Presswire.

American Collegiate Media, Inc., is a leading college media company, focused on bringing America's best-known brands to the collegiate audience through campus media. By "marketing through media," American Collegiate Media helps brand managers and publicists reach their intended target audience through the most direct – yet subtle -- route possible: their school papers. And we're not content to let our success get the best of us. We're also in the process of rolling out new brands, new services and new marketing channels -- like this site, CPWire.com, -- to help you, the marketer, get your message onto campus through a variety of media.

And you're sure this collegiate "marketing through media" works?

Don't take our word for it. Take current market data, which shows that over 90 percent of students read their campus newspaper, far more than read their metropolitan daily. Or take American Demographics' word for it, since they recently described the collegiate audience as "a good-sized target and its growing. … Today’s college students have more money than their predecessors, and they don’t mind parting with it." (American Demographics, 3/98) And, if you still have questions about results, feel free to ask us for samples of articles that ran after press materials were sent over Collegiate Presswire.

OK. I'm convinced. Now what?
Just give us a call at 1-888-621-7721 to get started. We can explain more, send you a kit with all of our information and an application for membership, or we can even take your application information over the phone. It's that easy. And we can begin putting Collegiate Presswire to work for your products and services as soon as you hang up.

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