faq
Why should I choose VARSITY PR?
VARSITY PR is a newswire for individuals, business and organizations interested in connecting and building news relationships with college journalists.
The goal of VARSITY PR is to provide college journalists with up-to-date news and information that will educate readers about critical social and key cultural issues on and off campus.
Before contracting to send content over VARSITY please consider the following questions as they related to information and products:
How important is this issue/product to university students?
What are the implications of this issue to the university community?
How will this information help college students?
Is this news relevant to college students age 18-24?
Is this a story that might not be covered (or of interest) to mainstream media?
Our typical client might be an author who has just published a book about job hunting strategies for graduating students. News about new films and music (both local and national) are also popular among college journalists. Contests, scholarship opportunities, survey results and websites of interest are other suggested topics.
VARSITY PR also works with the Opinion Editors at college newspapers and can distribute letters to those editors. Please inquire about guidelines for sending letters to opinion departments.
VARSITY PR offers flexible scheduling (including same day distribution), personal service, and value-oriented pricing to reach over 1,000 college newspapers in the U.S. with additional (limited) coverage in Canada and the UK.
News alerts and press releases are distributed Monday through Friday between the hours of 10 am and 5 pm. To order a wire distribution, please submit your news via the VARSITY PR online order form or email your news item to our editorial department for processing. All wire distributions are verified by phone prior to distribution. We offer several convenient payment options.
VARSITY PR wire distributions ordered after 5 pm EST will be sent the following day. Weekend service is available for breaking news. Call 954-989-3338 or 800-989-3338 for breaking news or to talk with a college media specialist.
VARSITY PR contacts journalists through email, Twitter and RSS feeds. Our staff can walk you through the news and PR submission process and advise you on how to reach the desired editorial department.
How we make connections
Our company uses permission-based email push, Twitter, and web-based technologies (RSS) to distribution news releases to college journalists. We carefully read all material before it is sent. We maintain phone lines so you can call to discuss your news item before it is sent. When you run a story with VARSITY PR, you work with a dedicated team of media professionals who understand the media and how they work.
About VARSITY PR
VARSITY PR is the university services division of Xpress Press, which was established in 1995 as the first email newswire. Our clients’ stories have been placed with many trade related publications as well as marquee news organizations including ABC World News Tonight, C/net, The Chicago Tribune, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Internetnews.com, Newsbytes News Network, The New York Times, PC Magazine, Reuters Health, USA Today, the Washington Post, Yahoo Net Events, and hundreds of other technology and Web-based news sources.
Clients include media organizations, leading medical and scientific institutions, software companies, authors and publishing companies, Web-based and conventional businesses worldwide.
I need assistance writing a press release or other content.
If you’re new to the PR process, our excellent writing team can assist in the editing or writing a news item. We’re also happy to proofread, write, or polish any other content from your organization. We work with clients worldwide including North America, Europe andAsia. Assignments can be turned around in as little as 24 hours if necessary. For information about our comprehensive editing services, please call or email editorial (at) varsity-pr.com.
Where is my press release distributed?
News alerts and press releases are distributed via email, internet aggregation technology, email, RSS and other methods as requested by reporters and news organizations. Press releases can be targeted by editorial departments. Most college newspapers have journalists covering the following beats: campus news, entertainment, features, lifestyle, sports, and photo and video editors.
Additionally, all our press releases are SEO coded and archived online to maximize web visibility for indexing.
For an additional price, Varsity PR can also index your press release for automatic inclusion in thousands of news engines and Web sites ranging from Google News, Yahoo! News, MSN, Reuters, Forbes, Entrepreneur and AOL to special interest online outlets and blogs. All press release distributions are coded to reach trade or industry specific sources.
How do I format my press release for distribution?
The best way to format your release is by reviewing some of the press releases hosted on the XpressPress.com website. For the best distribution value, keeps the word count of your story to fewer than 400 words including the headline and any contact information. See the Varsity PR order page for a cost breakdown. Our editorial department will do our best to alert you to any grammar red flags, errors or omissions in advance of distribution.
A basic news release and media alert includes the following components:
- Headline (Shoot for 70 characters maximum.)
- Sub-headline/summary (20 words)
- Dateline city, state and date in this format: New York,NY- (March 30, 2012) – The first sentence of your news alert or press release starts here.
- Hyperlinks to websites and image assets.
- A company boilerplate.
- The name of the PR contact, phone and email address.
- The name of the organization responsible for the news item.
Can I send a logo or photograph with my press release?
Photo and video links may be included in your press release and uploaded to this website for access by journalists. We also recommend clients build online newsrooms to host media assets that can accompany news stories. As most press releases are delivered electronically, we also suggest clients include in-line hyperlinks to locations online where bloggers and reporters can download high-resolution images and graphics directly to accompany a story.
How will I know my release has been sent?
Clients who opt to use our guaranteed news indexing receive a complimentary Release Clip Report. Release Clip Reports are sent directly to clients via email. The average report shows between 150 and 300 links within the 4-hour window during which we monitor for your news. Included in the report are links to Yahoo! News, AOL Money News, Business Journal affiliates, ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX-TV affiliates, Market Watch, and many more trade and industry points in the US, Canada and Internationally depending on the news topic.
How do I track placements of my press release and media coverage?
The majority of our clients use free services such as Google Alerts which will send links to stories where your company or product is mentioned. Before sending a press release, we recommend setting up an account with Google and then activate the free “Google Alerts” (http://www.google.com/alerts) service. You will need to establish a gmail.com account to access the above link and set up the alert service.
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Many of our clients will set up alerts comprised of the company name, keywords, or headlines used in press releases. Keep in mind that some print publications do not use press releases for months after receiving them so it pays to keep the alerts arriving for several months after sending a release. Google Alerts only tracks online mentions and not print mentions.
Track breaking news for publicity opportunities! Google alerts may also be used to enhance your PR efforts. For example, let’s say you are an expert on addiction. Create a Google Alert for the word “addiction,” “drinking” and any other key words related to your topic. The minute a story breaks on that topic, Google will send you a link. You can then send a press release and contact newspapers, radio and television stations in that market and let them know you’re available to comment on the topic.
What other services do you provide?
As part of your campaign to build online visibity and credibility, VARSITY PR can write and host press releases, photos, and other content that is not distributed to media for a nominal fee. We also consult with individuals and organizations on the development of media centers for websites.