diff --git a/docs/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm b/docs/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm
index 44a5cf34..66e7c1db 100644
--- a/docs/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm
+++ b/docs/src/site/markdown/index.md.vm
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ The following is a list of the items configured in this POM:
 
         Due to Nexus bug with parallel staging creation default is **false**.
 
+    - **releasePreparationProfiles**: additional profiles to be activated during `release:prepare` execution.
+  
+    - **releaseReleaseProfiles**: additional profiles to be activated during `release:perform` execution.
+
 - **pluginManagement**: The plugin management section specifies versions of a list of plugins. See the [Plugin Management report](./plugin-management.html) for the complete list with versions. 
     - There are used properties `version.<artifactId>` for defining each version of plugin, except:
         - `version.apache-resource-bundles` is used for: _apache-jar-resource-bundle_ and _apache-source-release-assembly-descriptor_
@@ -139,6 +143,14 @@ Remember that:
 
 - this `push-to-atr` profile is optional, you can upload files to ATR and compose your release by hand if anything goes unexpected: feedback on success and failures is welcome.
 
+You can set the following properties in project POM or settings.xml to enable ATR integration by default:
+```xml
+<properties>
+  <releasePreparationProfiles>push-to-atr</releasePreparationProfiles>
+  <releaseReleaseProfiles>push-to-atr</releaseReleaseProfiles>
+</properties>
+```
+
 # Settings Configuration
 
 You can have a look at the page in Apache website [Publishing Maven Artifacts](https://www.apache.org/dev/publishing-maven-artifacts.html).
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 69d4eeb9..47784019 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -104,6 +104,10 @@ under the License.
 
     <releaseParallelPut>false</releaseParallelPut>
 
+    <!-- additional profiles to use for release preparation and release execution; comma-separated list -->
+    <releasePreparationProfiles/>
+    <releaseReleaseProfiles/>
+
     <!-- atr-release-type depends on sourceReleaseAssemblyDescriptor; may be zip or tar.gz -->
     <atr-release-type>zip</atr-release-type>
 
@@ -295,7 +299,8 @@ under the License.
           <configuration>
             <autoVersionSubmodules>true</autoVersionSubmodules>
             <goals>deploy</goals>
-            <releaseProfiles>apache-release</releaseProfiles>
+            <preparationProfiles>${releasePreparationProfiles}</preparationProfiles>
+            <releaseProfiles>apache-release,${releaseReleaseProfiles}</releaseProfiles>
             <arguments>-Daether.connector.basic.parallelPut=${releaseParallelPut}</arguments>
           </configuration>
         </plugin>