Don’t forget these three tools to strengthen media relations outreach
I recently presented with colleagues during a Center for Nonprofit Excellence workshop in Charlottesville on communications strategies designed to help organizations connect with stakeholders and gain attention.
Before I share a few tips from that presentation, first a shoutout to the attendees: I’m very thankful for the talented nonprofit public relations professionals in Virginia. While we often mention how people in the communications industry “wear a lot of hats,” our brethren in the nonprofit sector no doubt don the most striking and versatile collection. You’re making a huge difference in our community. Thank you.
Here are a few of my favorite insights from the media relations portion. Spoiler: You may be familiar with these tips, but they’re important tools to leverage.
Fact sheets
Due to a variety of factors, today’s local journalists are tasked with covering a lot of subject areas within the community. There’s a lot of history, context and information they must consume in order to get up to speed quickly and distill to the public.
Give them a head start by providing an up-to-date fact sheet about your organization.
This 1–2-page document should stick to the facts and cover things like: history, current programs, recent metrics and outcomes and key biographies. Make sure the document is in AP Style and includes links to visuals.
Fact sheets also are helpful for online content creators covering your organization.
B-roll
Don’t share news without visuals. In many cases, news outlets will want to capture their own pictures or video, but sometimes in a deadline crunch journalists will rely on supplied b-roll.
This is especially helpful for smaller weekly papers that may have only 1-2 journalists working on the issue.
For example, we’ve been lucky to work in the childhood nutrition space for many years, and we learned early on it’s important to include photos of school meals. Otherwise, a cafeteria clamshell that’s not representative of modern, scratch-made school meals will inevitably make it on screen.
B-roll doesn’t need to be expensive or overly produced. In fact, images or videos shouldn’t be edited with filters or methods that distort the original visual. Grab a smartphone or camera and take photos and videos that are representative of your organization or the audience and upload them to a file hosting service.
Key messages
The best way to stay on message during an interview is to prepare messages ahead of time.
Make sure to draft key messages before any proactive campaign or before responding to a media inquiry. You’ll want to go into any interview with 3-5 message points that you want to convey no matter what is asked.
And when a reporter asks the inevitable, “Is there anything I missed?” make sure you reiterate your main messages one more time.
What simple tips do you recommend for media relations? Please share in the comments.
Cameron McPherson
Cameron builds strategic communication campaigns that increase awareness and build public support. His familiarity with Virginia’s local markets helps clients navigate and understand complex and emerging issues. He frequently assists new companies, restaurants and other organizations launch in the Richmond market through public relations tactics.
Leave a Reply