Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
> I've had a few articles published in "special interest" magazines (no, > not that sort!) - not Linux-related but related to my own area of > investment specialism - and I currently have an agency running a > national PR campaign for me in the "day job", so have a bit of > experience in getting ideas into traditional media. > > What I've found is that magazines tend to like articles that: > > - Are bang on target for their content area > - Are well-written, in the sense of readability (relatively short > sentence construction, no plosives next to fricassives, and so on) > - Are free (in the sense of pizza) > - Don't come over as if they were written by a religious nutcase (place > the following in order of importance, 1: ending world poverty, 2: curing > cancer, 3: ensuring programmers have a legal right to modify sourcecode, > then work out what the order of importance is for the magazine readership!) > > > - Many of them also seem to like articles that appear to interview other > sources (There is one particular freelance journalist who phones me up > for a soundbite every few months when he's pitching for a particular > magazine.) If you are an IT consultant, don't hesitate to get > sound-bites from your clients about their use of Ubuntu - the angle of > "local firm XXX switched and" > > - More and more local magazines have realised that they can't compete as > an aggregator of generic news, so are pushing the "local angle" more and > more... so by all means write for the East Riding of Yorkshire, if you > live there, or can interview a local firm / celebrity, and make the > article about THEM. > Thanks for the advice Mark - that gives me a new angle to look at this from. Cheers Chris -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
Chris Rowson wrote: > Just checked the info, and this parish encompasses 17,200 people! > (2001 census) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingham%2C_East_Riding_of_Yorkshire > Not bad eh! > > Although I don't know about the magazine circulation, I think that > concentrating on smaller areas individually (but with one and others > support) gives us greater chance of success ;-) > > Chris I've had a few articles published in "special interest" magazines (no, not that sort!) - not Linux-related but related to my own area of investment specialism - and I currently have an agency running a national PR campaign for me in the "day job", so have a bit of experience in getting ideas into traditional media. What I've found is that magazines tend to like articles that: - Are bang on target for their content area - Are well-written, in the sense of readability (relatively short sentence construction, no plosives next to fricassives, and so on) - Are free (in the sense of pizza) - Don't come over as if they were written by a religious nutcase (place the following in order of importance, 1: ending world poverty, 2: curing cancer, 3: ensuring programmers have a legal right to modify sourcecode, then work out what the order of importance is for the magazine readership!) - Many of them also seem to like articles that appear to interview other sources (There is one particular freelance journalist who phones me up for a soundbite every few months when he's pitching for a particular magazine.) If you are an IT consultant, don't hesitate to get sound-bites from your clients about their use of Ubuntu - the angle of "local firm XXX switched and" - More and more local magazines have realised that they can't compete as an aggregator of generic news, so are pushing the "local angle" more and more... so by all means write for the East Riding of Yorkshire, if you live there, or can interview a local firm / celebrity, and make the article about THEM. Regards, Mark -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
> Yes, certainly a way of reaching a few people (understatement of the > year there, I feel - a few villages of a few hundred people makes > quite a few bodies!). > Keep us up to date on this, as I'm planning an article to go in my > student newspaper next year at some point. I'll contribute what I can > to this. Just checked the info, and this parish encompasses 17,200 people! (2001 census) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingham%2C_East_Riding_of_Yorkshire Not bad eh! Although I don't know about the magazine circulation, I think that concentrating on smaller areas individually (but with one and others support) gives us greater chance of success ;-) Chris -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
Im fairly fortunate in that I am a Parish Councillor for Roffey North. As a result I get the opportunity to provide some input into content and conversations in the local parish newspaper, thuogh i am in no way an editor or would intend to use it as a "platform" . We also have a local "open access" Internet room at the Parish Hall ( heh I sound quite parochial here ! ) which I hope will be happy to carry some OSS CDs for people to take away. Pretty much every town and village in the UK has some form of local governance that will consist of community members and they may be very much unaware of what Open Source software is doing and how well it works. If you ( like Alan ) are feeling that you are getting blocked by one method of access whilst talking about OSS then you might consider talking to your parish councilors about the possibility of providing OSS software to the community. There are so many ways to approach our own local communities ( in the non OSS term ) that every one of us here must have some experiences of what has worked. Bear in mind though that what fails or was a problem for one person may really take off and work well for another so dont let someones stories of failures and problems deter you from having a go, were all different in our approaches and successes. Nik -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
Chris Rowson wrote: > Hi All, > > I've just moved into a village from a town, and came home today from > work to discover a village magazine posted through my door. I'd never > really thought about it before, but that's a heck of a marketing > opportunity. > > I called the number inside and asked the chap who edits the magazine > if he'd like to run an article on Ubuntu. Despite responding initially > that they had a guy who wrote about computers (from the local > Microsoft based shop), he agreed to take a look at something if I sent > it. > > I wonder how many of the rest of you get small community magazines > through the door? Combine the readership of all of these magazines and > I'm guessing that there would be quite a few potential new users. > > So - my proposal. > > I want to write something for this magazine. I thought I'd run off a > draft and post it to the wiki. From there you can use it, edit it or > write your own from scratch (but please post your own writing back to > the wiki and share it) for sending to these small publications. > > Together I was hoping that we could build some good articles by > collaborating on one and others, and submitting our own (should you > enjoy writing). That way, people who don't want to/can't/don't have > time to write for themselves, can choose an article and submit it to > there local publication. Well done. I contacted my local town newspaper recently and they are clear they do not have or want, a computer related section. I will be working on them. Local small magazines have a good chance I think, and they are probably always glad of useful material. It is so local that any interest and subsequent initial questions, can come direct to you when you are out and about locally. Good for personal contact of course. Your contact with the local (ms) computer shop is something that can be worked on over a period of time. I have three shops locally including (was dixons) a high street one. Over a year or so, I have talked to various people there. Each has its own take about the issues, and their own lack of awareness. One is now displaying my leaflets though... The BBC coverage has been useful too. Paul Bennan on radio 4 in april, and the recent Click on ubuntu -- alan cocks Kubuntu user#10391 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
Chris Rowson wrote: > Together I was hoping that we could build some good articles by > collaborating on one and others, and submitting our own (should you > enjoy writing). That way, people who don't want to/can't/don't have > time to write for themselves, can choose an article and submit it to > there local publication. > Sounds awesome, Chris. Look forward to seeing it and if I can help I'll gladly do so :-) Sean -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
Yes, certainly a way of reaching a few people (understatement of the year there, I feel - a few villages of a few hundred people makes quite a few bodies!). Keep us up to date on this, as I'm planning an article to go in my student newspaper next year at some point. I'll contribute what I can to this. On 7/14/07, Neil Greenwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Nice idea Chris. Please post a link when it's on the Wiki. > > Hwyl, > Neil. > > -- > ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk > https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/ > -- Josh Blacker -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
Nice idea Chris. Please post a link when it's on the Wiki. Hwyl, Neil. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] [uk-marketing] Writing for your local rag
Hi All, I've just moved into a village from a town, and came home today from work to discover a village magazine posted through my door. I'd never really thought about it before, but that's a heck of a marketing opportunity. I called the number inside and asked the chap who edits the magazine if he'd like to run an article on Ubuntu. Despite responding initially that they had a guy who wrote about computers (from the local Microsoft based shop), he agreed to take a look at something if I sent it. I wonder how many of the rest of you get small community magazines through the door? Combine the readership of all of these magazines and I'm guessing that there would be quite a few potential new users. So - my proposal. I want to write something for this magazine. I thought I'd run off a draft and post it to the wiki. From there you can use it, edit it or write your own from scratch (but please post your own writing back to the wiki and share it) for sending to these small publications. Together I was hoping that we could build some good articles by collaborating on one and others, and submitting our own (should you enjoy writing). That way, people who don't want to/can't/don't have time to write for themselves, can choose an article and submit it to there local publication. Cheers Chris -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
