Preparing the Press Kit

Before you assemble your group’s press kit you need to have a good sense of what your group does, is willing to do, would be interested in doing and how your group interprets its time frame.

You maybe pirates, but are you historically accurate promoting history, or are you more “Party City” pirates—any costume will do and you’re more color then substance.  Are you a vampyrate?  If you’re in a medieval group are you historical?  Or are you more fantasy based?  Are fairies part of your group?  Perhaps your group is all about the romance of the Middle Ages?

Once you have a good sense of your group’s style you can then tailor an image that you will use as a guide in the putting together of your press materials.  The image you project will also serve as a guide to where you will send the press kit.  A pirate group more interested in being color wouldn’t be sending a P.R. kit to a library to solicit work doing a lecture.

You will communicate your group’s image through careful attention to details in all aspects of your press kit from the font you use in your letterhead, to the pictures you circulate, to the color scheme of your business card, to the creating of your logo, to the details you put in any written material or spread through social media.

The Basics

Even in the computer age the old fashioned letter still thrives.  It may be on paper, sent as an attachment in an email or written in the body of an email itself.

What is fortunate in the computer age is that anyone with basic word processing skills can create an eye catching letterhead with the variety of fonts available.  What medievalist couldn’t find a use for Old English Text?  Just keep the font readable.

Keep your letterhead simple.  Group name, address, phone and email address.  Leave your website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pin It, whatever else you have in a paragraph at the end of your letter.  If you want to get real fancy a header with your contact info, then a footer with the social media might work so long as the page doesn’t look too cluttered and doesn’t distract from the body of your letter.

If you gave careful consideration to your group’s image the first paragraph of the letter introducing the group will write itself.

Your next paragraph should list some of the more prestigious events your group has worked at and mention some press coverage if applicable.

Now if this letter is targeted to a specific organization you can write about how your group can be useful to that organization and list the relevant experience your group has.

Your last paragraph should encourage the receiver to check out your website and social media for more information, look over other material you might have sent, and encourage the receiver to contact the group for more information.

As for the person who signs the letter, it’s an individual group decision, but that person’s name should be followed by a title be it president, publicity director or event coordinator.  This gives your group a professional appearance.  Let’s face it, no one wants to deal with or give money to hobbyists.  People like dealing with others who have a position of authority or at least the sense that the person who they are communicating with can make things happen in your group.

Resume of the group

List the purpose of your group beyond reenactment.  Are you an educational group?  Is entertaining at charity events your purpose?  Do you specialize in the ren fair circuit?  Are you actors?  Singers?

Do you offer special services that other reenactment groups might not have?  Do you have jousters?  A cannon?  Do you engage in non-staged combat?

Of course a list of the events your group has attended will be included.  If your group has a long history the trick is to hit the highlights while giving a sense of longevity.  No one is going to read a list of events that is pages long.  You won’t list every parade your group marched in, but you will want to mention if you marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

You might not want to list all the charity events you’ve worked, but do mention ones where you’ve been repeat performers.  People want to deal with a group with a good track record.  That is a group that is reliable and gave a good performance.

Again the image that you want to project will help you decided what past events to include.  If you want to be more educational you’ll list the library lectures and drop the birthday parties.

In my next post I'll discuss some other materials you might want to include and using social media.