Grocery stores and patches are overflowing with pumpkins now, and GateHouse News Service has a callout ready-made for you to use in print and online to ask readers for photos of their carved creations for Halloween.
Here are some ways to maximize this callout's potential:
-- Of course readers will want to show off their intricate carvings, but how about the pumpkins that petered out? Requesting photos in different categories may bring in more submissions, so be sure to request those Perfect Pumpkins, Sad Squashes, My First Jack O'Lantern, Painted Pumpkins and more.
-- What do readers do with the excess from their carvings? Most probably chuck the seeds, so run this callout with stories on cooking pumpkin seeds or other pumpkin recipes, to make sure you're reaching the right audience.
-- Did any of your readers grow their own pumpkins for the holiday? Profiling the crew at your local pumpkin patches would also be a neat story to accompany this callout.
-- Provide readers with carving templates next to this callout to prompt some action.
What other ideas have worked for you or are you planning this year? Let me know, and I may include them in a future GHNewsroom post.
Grocery stores and patches are overflowing with pumpkins now, and GateHouse News Service has a callout ready-made for you to use in print and online to ask readers for photos of their carved creations for Halloween.
Here are some ways to maximize this callout's potential:
-- Of course readers will want to show off their intricate carvings, but how about the pumpkins that petered out? Requesting photos in different categories may bring in more submissions, so be sure to request those Perfect Pumpkins, Sad Squashes, My First Jack O'Lantern, Painted Pumpkins and more.
-- What do readers do with the excess from their carvings? Most probably chuck the seeds, so run this callout with stories on cooking pumpkin seeds or other pumpkin recipes, to make sure you're reaching the right audience.
-- Did any of your readers grow their own pumpkins for the holiday? Profiling the crew at your local pumpkin patches would also be a neat story to accompany this callout.
-- Provide readers with carving templates next to this callout to prompt some action.
What other ideas have worked for you or are you planning this year? Let me know, and I may include them in a future GHNewsroom post.
