Promoting Your Dealership With National Coin Week -- Sample Press Releases for your Company

Every dealer who works locally with the public has an excellent chance to promote their dealership and the hobby with the upcoming American Numismatic Association National Coin Week, April 19-25, 2020. A small investment in relatively inexpensive “old” coins could pay big dividends in garnering positive publicity.

Last year’s Great American Coin Hunt® spearheaded by Marietta, Georgia dealer Rob Oberth was an excellent example as dealers across the country deliberately put old coins – and in some cases, old paper money – into circulation to publicize National Coin Week. One dealer in Miami, Bob Green, even received excellent coverage on NBC’s TODAY show.

Coin drops have been around for decades, often used to promote coin shows. Former ANA Vice President Scott Travers of New York City successfully used a coin drop in 2006 to get a story in The New York Times and appear on TODAY to promote both National Coin Week and the latest edition of his book, The Coin Collector’s Survival Manual.

The key is to create a compelling, brief message and get it before the eyes of media gate keepers: editors, producers, reporters, bloggers and social media influencers. Every major news organization has a website and there’s usually a CONTACT page that either lists the editors and their email addresses or will indicate an overall newsroom email address or have a SUBMIT NEWS TIPS function to send story ideas to the editors.

You can also send a news tip/story idea by U.S. Postal Service mail to the news organization’s editor(s) and/or simply addressed to the News Assignment Desk at the news organization’s mailing address. You should send it two weeks in advance of your planned coin drop activity.

So, what do you send? Below is a sample of a simple news release using a fictitious dealership to provide an example of how a finished news release would read. After that example is a fill-in-the-blanks template you can use to announce your own, specific plans.

Avoid the temptation to send editors a 5,000-word jargon-filled treatise on the history of numismatics or a flowery puff piece about you and your dealership. Keep it simple. Keep it short. You literally only have a few seconds to grab the attention of decision makers in the newsroom. You do that with an attention-grabbing headline and an enticing first (lede) paragraph.

Include an illustration of a type of coin you’ll actually be putting into circulation. The image on emailed news releases should only be 100 to 300 kilobytes (kb) in size. Larger size images, appropriate for reproducing in print, but sent unsolicited might trigger anti-spam defenses on the news organization’s email system, or if it gets through, a recipient might be wary of opening any email that indicates it contains a file several megabytes (mb) in size.

Once you get a decision-maker’s attention and prompt his or her interest in doing a story then you can always provide additional information. Some news organizations may want to have a reporter and/or photographer/videographer tag along as you spend some of the coins.

In addition to your name, phone number and email address, you should also include that of Andy Dickes of the ANA as shown in the examples below. Andy is the “official” spokesman for National Coin Week and he can provide reporters with authoritative answers to questions they may have about the annual event. Including ANA contact information also is beneficial to that important organization as well as the hobby at large, and that’s an important purpose of National Coin Week.

Here are the news release example and the fill-in-the-blanks template. Good luck – and happy National Coin Week!

Example of News Release

News media contacts:

Clark Kent

Phone: 555-555-5555 Email: Kent@SmallvilleCoins.net

Andy Dickes, American Numismatic Association

Phone: 719-482-9814 Email: adickes@money.org

Historic Old Coins Deliberately

Going Into Circulation In Smallville Area

Cashless Society? Not During

National Coin Week, April 19-25, 2020!

An example of one of the old coins you might find in the Smallville area.

(Smallville, Kansas) – Check your change! You may find historic and potentially valuable old money in your pocket or purse. Numismatic expert Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas will be deliberately putting collectible coins, some a century old, into circulation to celebrate the 97th annual National Coin Week ( www.NationalCoinWeek.org), April 19-25, 2020.

“Money is history you can old in your hands, and some that history that has not been in circulation for decades or even 100 years will be in pocket change for people to find,” said Kent, President of Smallville Coins ( www.SmallvilleCoins.net).

National Coin Week is sponsored by the nonprofit American Numismatic Association (www.money.org) to focus attention on the historical, cultural, artistic and economic importance of money as well as the enjoyment of coin and paper money collecting, according to the National Coin Week coordinator Andy Dickes.

The theme of this year’s National Coin Week is “Remarkable Women: Catalysts for Change,” and inspired by the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, as well as celebrating the many contributions of women in society and numismatics.

“The designs, denominations and metallic content of coins tell us a great deal about civilizations, past and present, such as famous and not-so-famous political and historical figures, important events and landmarks,” explained Kent.

Historic old coins will be placed into circulation to encourage people to closely look at their money. Among the items Kent will be spending as pocket change in the Smallville area are: century-old Indian Head pennies, historic mid-20^th century Indian Head/Buffalo nickels, late 19 ^th and early 20^th century 90 percent silver dimes and quarter-dollars.

“Even ‘common’ silver dimes have more than a dollar’s worth of silver, and each silver quarter-dollar is worth about $3,” explained Kent.

No silver has been used for dimes and quarters struck for circulation since 1965 and for circulating half dollars since 1971.

National Coin Week, observed every third week of April, was established in 1923 to attract the general public to the hobby of coin collecting. For additional information, visit www.NationalCoinWeek.org.

“A cashless society? Not during National Coin Week,” stated Kent.

Now, here’s a template you can use by inserting your own information in place of the fill-in-the-blanks boldface red text.

News media contacts:

YOUR NAME

Phone: YOUR OFFICE OR MOBILE NUMBER Email: YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

Andy Dickes, American Numismatic Association

Phone: 719-482-9814 Email: adickes@money.org

Cashless Society? Not During

National Coin Week, April 19-25, 2020!

Historic Old Coins Deliberately Going

Into Circulation In TOWN’S NAME Area

An example of one of the old coins you might find in the TOWN area.

(DEALER’S TOWN, STATE) – Check your change! You may find historic and potentially valuable old money in your pocket or purse. Numismatic expert YOUR FULL NAME of YOUR TOWN will be deliberately putting collectible coins, some a century old, into circulation to celebrate the 97th annual National Coin Week ( www.NationalCoinWeek.org), April 19-25, 2020.

“Money is history you can old in your hands, and some that history that has not been in circulation for decades or even 100 years will be in pocket change for people to find,” said YOUR LAST NAME, YOUR TITLE AND NAME OF COIN COMPANY (YOUR COMPANY’S WEBSITE URL) in NAME OF YOUR TOWN.

National Coin Week is sponsored by the nonprofit American Numismatic Association (www.money.org) to focus attention on the historical, cultural, artistic and economic importance of money as well as the enjoyment of coin and paper money collecting, according to the National Coin Week coordinator Andy Dickes.

The theme of this year’s National Coin Week is “Remarkable Women: Catalysts for Change,” and inspired by the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, as well as celebrating the many contributions of women in society and numismatics.

“The designs, denominations and metallic content of coins tell us a great deal about civilizations, past and present, such as famous and not-so-famous political and historical figures, important events and landmarks,” explained YOUR LAST NAME.

Historic old coins will be placed into circulation to encourage people to closely look at their money. Among the items YOUR LAST NAME will be spending as pocket change in the NAME OF TOWN area are: LIST SOME EXAMPLES OF ITEMS YOU’LL CIRCULATE AND PERHAPS THEIR RETAIL VALUE(S).

“Even ‘common’ silver dimes have more than a dollar’s worth of silver, and each silver quarter-dollar is worth about $3,” explained YOUR LAST NAME.

No silver has been used for dimes and quarters struck for circulation since 1965 and for circulating half dollars since 1971.

National Coin Week, observed every third week of April, was established in 1923 to attract the general public to the hobby of coin collecting. For additional information, visit www.NationalCoinWeek.org.

“A cashless society? Not during National Coin Week,” stated YOUR LAST NAME.