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Local Publicity Guidelines

ThyCa Outreach Coordinator and Publicity Chair:
Cherry Wunderlich: wunderlich@thyca.org
Direct Line, Day/Evening: 301-493-8810

ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc.
PO Box 1545, New York, NY 10159-1545
www.thyca.org
Toll-Free: 877-588-7904
Fax: 630-604-6078

Because ThyCa is a young organization staffed entirely by volunteers and supported entirely by donations, we have few resources to support publicizing our work. We do, however, have volunteers, and the most effective and certainly the only cost effective way we have to generate national publicity is to use our volunteers as local media contacts. If you want to help us generate publicity for ThyCa both at the local and national level, here is what you can do to help the Association's Publicity Committee. 

Offer to place a press release in your local media. You can do this with only a few hours commitment. The only skill you need is persistence. The ThyCa Public Relations Committee will prepare the press release and make it 
available to you. You may e-mail, fax, deliver in person, or mail the press release to your local media. Your only expense will be the cost of making copies and mailing them to local editors and producers. 

If you offer to help, I will send you a hard copy of the press release or you can print it out from the ThyCa web site at http://www.thyca.org or I can send you the text by e-mail (see formatting and printing guidelines below). 

If you plan to mail the press release, Make enough copies of the entire press release to send to each newspaper, magazine, television and radio station in your area. Make additional copies to send to local hospitals, as well as cancer- and health-related organizations. 

Call each of the media and organizations you are considering. 

When you call, ask who is the person to whom you should send a cancer survivor-related press release. Ask when is the best time to talk with this editor or producer; this is really important because when they are facing a 
deadline, they're less interested in talking with you than immediately afterwards. 

When you are talking with an editor, make sure you emphasize the press release you are sending will be of local interest to that organization's market (readers, viewers, patients). If for no other reason, you live in the area. You are a thyroid cancer survivor. If you live in the area, and there are others living in the area for whom the information in the press release will be important. 

The reason this is important is that many times editors and producers will tell you that unless it is a local story, they are not interested in running it. Stress the local angle. You can support this approach by asking your doctor (or any local doctor) and/or a survivor to give interviews if needed. Editors are more likely to devote time and space to a story if they know experts are available. They are much more likely to do so if there is a survivor(s) willing to tell 
her/his story. Many of our ThyCa Board members and other volunteers are willing to be interviewed, and we have leading physicians from around the country who have also agreed to support our publicity by granting interviews. You only need to let us know what you need. 

After you talk with the editor/producer send the press release. A week later, call and ask if there are any questions you or anyone else can answer about ThyCa or thyroid cancer. 

Ask what the editor/producer plans to do with the press release, and when you can expect to see it. Also ask if we can add their article to our media archive on the ThyCa web page. 

Send me and the ThyCa corresponding secretary (e-mail address is on the Directors page of the ThyCa web site) a copy of your list, so we can add it to our media files. 

Send me a copy of any article that appears. We will place it on the web page and keep a hard copy on file. 
So the steps are: 

1. agree to be the local media contact 

2. obtain copy of press release 

3. call media and organizations to get name of the editor/producer 

4. send the press release 

5. follow with a phone call about a week later 

6. mail list to ThyCa's Publicity Committee (e-mail is fine) and Corresponding Secretary 

7. mail hard copy to ThyCa Publicity Committee

Formatting and printing guidelines for press releases prepared by the ThyCa Public Relations Committee and printed by you on your own computer. 

Make sure the format of the version you print follows standard publishing guidelines used by the Public Relations Committee. (see example below) 

1. Include all media contact information (release date, title/subject of release, name, address, telephone and web site). This is included in all releases prepared by us. It is to help give the editor/producer everything they need to research the Association and to get in touch with the Public Relations Committee. 

2. Use 12 point as the size of your type. 

3. Make sure the leading (space between the lines of type) is at least 18 point (double space if you don't know the leading of your word processor). 

4. Make sure you place -30- at the end of the release; this is a publishing/journalism format to signal the end of each piece. 

5. Make sure to include ThyCa Facts, included at the end of all our releases. An updated version will be available soon.

With your help, we can connect survivors with survivors around the world. 

Cherry Wunderlich
ThyCa Outreach Coordinator
cwunderlich@thyca.org


--SAMPLE-- 

NEWS RELEASE 

RE: Chicago's First Support Group for 
Thyroid Cancer Survivors Begins Meeting February 20. 
Today 10 February 2001 
Release Immediately 

Released by: ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors'™ Association, Inc. 
Web site:  <www.thyca.org> 
Media Contact: Allison Hoffman / 847-625-9984 / Chicago_IL@thyca.org
Address: ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc. 
PO Box 1545, New York, NY 10159-1545 
Toll-Free Survivors' Information Number: 877-588-7904 
Fax: 503-905-9725 
E-mail: thyca@thyca.org

Greater Chicago's first support group for thyroid cancer survivors will begin meeting at the Cancer Care Center in Park Ridge, Ill., on February 20, 2001. Organized by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc., ThyCa Chicago is free and open to all thyroid cancer survivors and their families. 

ThyCa Chicago meets from 7 to 9 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month in Room 2220 at the Cancer Care Center, across from Lutheran General Hospital, 1700 Luther Lane, Park Ridge. For information about ThyCa Chicago, call Allison Hoffman at 847-625-9984 or write Chicago_IL@thyca.org. 

Support groups for thyroid cancer survivors are organized across the United States by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association, Inc. ThyCa is a nonprofit, volunteer organization providing services and Resources to thyroid cancer survivors and their families at no charge. For more information call toll-free 877-588-7904, write to PO Box 1545, New York, NY 10159-1545, e-mail to thyca@thyca.org, or visit the web site at <www.thyca.org>.

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