Use a press release when you have news an editor can publish without leaving the office: a launch, a certification, a hire, a partnership, a published study. Use a media advisory when you need an editor to show up somewhere at a specific time: a booth demo, a press briefing, a panel, a facility tour. In the media advisory vs press release decision for natural products trade press, announcements call for a release, live events call for an advisory, and a show with real news and a live component calls for both, sent in sequence.
What Is the Difference Between a Media Advisory and a Press Release?
A press release is the story. It carries a headline, a dateline, a lead paragraph that answers who, what, when, where and why, supporting detail, an attributed quote or two, a boilerplate and a media contact. An editor at Nutritional Outlook or NutraIngredients-USA can run it with light edits or use it as the backbone of a longer piece. PR Newswire describes the release as a publishable announcement and the advisory as an invitation, and that framing holds up in practice.
A media advisory is the invitation. It runs one page, uses bullets or short lines for the five Ws plus logistics (booth number, time, who will be available, what can be photographed or filmed, how to RSVP), and skips the narrative and quotes. Its only job is to get a specific editor to a specific place, or to book a specific interview slot. You never expect an advisory to be published.
Two practical differences follow. A release goes to the outlets that regularly cover that kind of story and stays on your site; an advisory goes only to editors who could plausibly attend, and it expires with the event. A release needs claims review and legal sign-off because it will be quoted; keep benefit language out of an advisory altogether, and hold the little text it does contain to the same accuracy standard.
When Should You Send a Media Advisory?
Send an advisory when the value is in attendance, and when the news is thin or embargoed until the event. Realistic natural products scenarios:
A contract manufacturer is giving editors a walk-through of a new softgel line at its Southern California facility the week of Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim.
An ingredient supplier's chief science officer is presenting new study data in a SupplySide Global education session and is holding 20-minute interview slots at the booth afterward.
A trade association is hosting a regulatory briefing on a pending FDA or FTC action and wants trade reporters in the room.
Each of those has a time, a place and a person. That is advisory territory. For a single demo or briefing, send the advisory to editors by name one to two weeks ahead, then a short reminder the morning of. For booth meetings at a show, make the request earlier, four to six weeks out, when the show release goes out, because that is when editors are building their floor schedules.
A PRSA Strategies and Tactics piece recommends emailing media alerts early on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning, ahead of editorial meetings, as a personal email from someone the reporter knows. Relevance matters as much as timing: a PRSA media relations summary reports that 76 percent of journalists block senders of irrelevant outreach.
When Should You Send a Press Release?
Send a release when the news stands on its own. In this industry that list is specific:
A new ingredient, dosage form or delivery system with a clear application story for formulators.
A completed and published study, with the journal citation and the study design in the release.
A third-party certification or verification for an ingredient, product or facility, such as NSF Certified for Sport or Non-GMO Project Verified.
A leadership hire, promotion or board appointment.
A supply agreement, partnership, acquisition or facility expansion.
A new SKU heading to retail, which belongs with WholeFoods Magazine and Vitamin Retailer rather than with the supply-side titles.
The standing rule for show season, laid out in this trade show PR guide: issue a release only when there is an actual story. "Visit us at booth 1234" is a logistics note, and a logistics note belongs in an advisory. Pair the booth number with real news and you have a release worth sending; Infusd's SupplySide Global announcement shows the pattern, with a technology showcase and new product concepts carrying the booth number. If there is no news, skip the release and offer your executive as a source for the pre-show trend pieces the trades run every year.
Confirm an outlet covers that type of story before you send. This guide to reaching trade editors maps the titles: Nutritional Outlook, NutraIngredients-USA, Nutraceuticals World, SupplySide Supplement Journal and Nutrition Business Journal for ingredient and manufacturing news; WholeFoods Magazine, Vitamin Retailer and Natural Foods Merchandiser for retail-facing news. The Propel Media Barometer for Q4 2023 found journalists opened about 48 percent of the pitches they received and responded to roughly 3.3 percent.
Should You Send Both for a Trade Show Announcement?
Yes, when you have news and a live component. The sequence we run inside our 8 to 12 week trade show playbook looks like this:
Weeks 8 to 10 out: lock the news and complete claims review. Decide which document each piece of information belongs in.
Week 6 out: send a one-page editor briefing that previews the news and asks for a booth meeting.
Weeks 4 to 6 out: distribute the pre-show press release, with the booth number in the final paragraph, and request 20-minute booth meetings by name.
Week 2 out: confirm meetings, send the press kit link and a short advisory with the final schedule of demos, presentations and interview availability.
Day one of the show: issue a day-of release so the show dailies and live coverage teams have the news in hand, and have one person on the booth who owns the editor schedule.
Within two business days after: personal follow-up with photos and quotes gathered on the floor for editors who could not attend, then post-show pitches, bylines and trend angles over the next two to four weeks.
The release makes the news citable. The advisory fills the calendar. Asking one document to do both produces a release padded with logistics or an advisory stuffed with quotes, and editors ignore both.
What Belongs in Each Document?
Media advisory, one page:
"Media Advisory" label and a headline that names the event and the company.
What: the demo, briefing or interview opportunity, in one or two lines.
Who: the spokesperson by name and title.
When and where: date, time window, booth or room number, show name.
Visuals: what can be photographed or filmed.
RSVP: a named PR contact with a mobile number that will be answered on the show floor.
Press release, one to two pages:
Headline, dateline and a lead paragraph an editor could run as the first paragraph of a story.
Supporting detail: applications, specifications, study citation, certification body, markets.
One or two quotes that add the executive's point of view on the market.
Boilerplate, the FDA disclaimer where structure/function claims appear, and media contact.
A link to high-resolution images and, for study news, access to the paper or abstract. This trade media guide covers why those supporting materials decide whether a personnel or event release gets used.
What Regulatory Rules Apply to Either Format?
The FTC Health Products Compliance Guidance requires that health-related claims be truthful and supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. Hold any benefit language in a release or advisory to that standard and route it through regulatory counsel before it goes out.
On the FDA side, DSHEA governs what the release can say about an ingredient's role in the body. A structure/function claim in a release should carry the standard disclaimer that the statement has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and it should avoid disease language entirely. Study releases should report the design, the sponsor and the limitations, without a benefit headline the study cannot support.
Advisories carry fewer claims, but the same rule applies to the one-line description of what the spokesperson will present. "New clinical data on a botanical extract and sleep quality" describes a topic. "New proof that our extract cures insomnia" is a disease claim, and it stays one in a document you never expected anyone to publish.
One more mistake worth naming: sending either document to the whole list. The retail trades do not want your excipient news, and the ingredient trades do not want your retail promotion calendar. When you are weighing announcement formats across a full show calendar, our public relations team builds the release, the advisory and the editor meeting schedule as one plan, so each document carries only the job it does well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Press Release Replace a Media Advisory for a Trade Show Booth Event?
Only if the release carries real news and the booth event is secondary. If the goal is to fill interview slots or get an editor to a demo, send a short advisory as a separate email. Editors scan for time, place and person, and a release buries all three.
How Far Ahead Should a Media Advisory Go Out for SupplySide Global or Expo West?
Request booth meetings four to six weeks out, alongside the show release. Send the advisory for a specific demo or presentation one to two weeks ahead, then a brief reminder with the final schedule in the last few days.
Does a Media Advisory Need the FDA Disclaimer?
Only if it includes a structure/function claim. Write the advisory to describe the topic of a presentation rather than to make a claim, and the question goes away. Any release that makes a structure/function statement about a supplement should carry the DSHEA disclaimer.
Should an Executive Hire Get a Release or an Advisory?
A release, every time. A hire is standalone news with no live component. Include a high-resolution headshot, the prior role, and a quote from the executive about the market or the company's direction.
If you are deciding how to announce news or an event this show season, contact us and we will help you map each announcement to the right format and the right editors.
