Hoot storyboards by Alex Saviuk of Animatics & Storyboards, Inc

The release contained great art, reference to a locally produced movie and Jimmy Buffet, all elements that newspapers like to print. (Plus this paragraph is also a shameless promotion. Isn’t it great how this works?)

Press releases also need to be sent to the right person. You don’t go to the janitor to get into the yearbook and you don’t send your press releases to the newspaper obituary writer. Approach the editor who oversees the part of the paper or magazine that relates to the subject of your release.

Promotion can be better than paid advertising. You can also write articles for periodicals which offer an inside view or usable information. Many people are more likely to read an article by or about you than to read all the fine print in an ad. Plus, being an author of articles gives you the air of authority and knowledge. But then again, who would actually write articles (Go Me!) to be printed in industry periodicals (like this one). Articles also keep your name in front of your industry.

You can also write books on a subject you know a lot about. Not only are books great exposure, but it never hurts a job interview to say you wrote the book on the subject that they are thinking of hiring you for.

Promotion can be more than print. It can also mean television exposure. Can you be an expert on a subject that is current in the news? Are you working on something that is interesting and includes great visuals? Let the local news directors know. Remember when Disney had to recall millions of copies of The Rescuers DVD because an animator put something they shouldn’t have in the background of two frames? The news stations wanted to interview an animator about what happened and I made sure they knew about me. I was interviewed on three news broadcasts in the same night.