Is your organization using Tessitura as a home for its PR database? We are thinking of putting our press contacts into Tess, so that we can email to them easily via Wordfly and so that we can keep a better track record of our comp ticketing. But before we take the plunge, it would be super helpful to learn from anyone using it in this way about the pros and cons.
(I found a thread about this from 2010, but would be interested in connecting with any current users.)
Thank you for any insights you can share with me/us!
Louisa Spier
Public Relations Manager
Cal Performances at UC Berkeley
lspier@calperformances.org
office 510.643.6714
mobile 510.919.6649
I did this when I was at the Yale School of Music, for exactly the same reasons. It was wonderful to have the press lists integrated with WordFly, and depending on the release I could choose the relevant list (local, national, etc.). I tracked this with an attribute. It was also great to be able to link individual journalists with their publications, and to see who received the releases — especially when they requested press tickets.
The only downside was that this wasn't integrated with the university's media relations database, so I would occasionally do a manual update based on info from there.
Happy to answer any other specific questions you might have!
Dana AstmannContent ProducerTessitura Network
Hi Louisa,
Almost every organization I've worked with puts their PR, media, etc contacts in Tessitura for the reasons you stated. All the organization have used some sort of attribute or constituency to easily make a dynamic list of all those such contacts. The big thing is making sure you keep on current contact information. In the PR world, contacts can change all the time so you want to make sure your lists and contacts are accurate. If you wanted to get super creative and outside the box crazy, you could use Plans to manage all your steps with your PR contacts. If you use Tessitura On The Go, you could then add steps to that PR reps "plan" you have with them and also assign tasks for your in office support as well. There are so many possibilities for use with Tessitura. It's not just about selling tickets and tracking donations/memberships. :)
If you have other questions, I'm happy to answer them as best I can. Feel free to contact me directly if you'd like at ccuhel@5thavenue.org.
Chris Cuhel
Database Coordinator, The 5th Avenue Theatre