Subject: How to get great press

I've got a question about the value of getting positive mentions in the press. In my experience it can be a time-consuming and labour intensive activity finding ways to get covered by your local media, let alone national media. But even if you do get press, it's hard to weight up the benefits against the time and labour costs.

I really want to believe that there's value in this exercise. For smaller charities, is it worth pushing hard to get extra press? My concern is that a story may only be viewed by a few hundred eyeballs and quickly forgotten about? At what point does press coverage start to reap dividends for the charity in terms of fundraising or campaigns support?

That’s a really good question. The value of media coverage isn’t always easy to measure as it’s not as exact as counting the number of hits to your website. Direct marketing campaigns and advertising campaigns are easier to measure because you can track responses – although there is usually a cost involved. But what media coverage does probably better than anything else is to build awareness . People don’t donate to or support charities they haven’t heard of. There are plenty of examples of charities who have had outstanding results from media coverage – results that have led to more donations and support. Children In Need is coming up soon – there will be lots of examples there. I’ve also mentioned a successful campaign below. Media relations generally works best when part of an integrated campaign that combines events, social media, website, direct marketing, etc. I worked for a second tier charity recently that wanted me to develop a media campaign to support their sales drive which combined advertising, telesales and direct mail. What media coverage did was raise awareness in the specialist media so that people were more familiar with the charity. Media coverage and the placing of news stories on the website also attracted more hits to the site. Charities that run challenge events or events like Marathons rely heavily on media coverage to attract participants and then get people to sponsor them.  

You need to be able show what your charity does and the impact it has. To achieve that you need to generate stories and case studies. These can then be communicated across different platforms – your website, in publications, in social media and in the traditional media. If you get press coverage then put it on your website and on social media.  You may only reach 100 or so people initially but if they are the right people then you’ve achieved a lot and once this goes onto websites and social media the news will start to spread. Now that most print and broadcast media also have online versions your story will also have a longer life than tomorrow’s chip paper.

You mentioned the time involved. Yes - it can be time consuming developing relationships with journalists.I would advise you to have a look at how you are approaching media and the way you are presenting the story . Maybe you are spending too long on activites that aren't going to get your results. Once you’ve developed a relationship with your local paper, or any other media, this will become much easier.  I can’t give you a timescale on when media coverage starts to reap dividends, but do stick at it. It will become easer the more experienced you get. I’m convinced that spending time on media relations will reap benefits.

Case study below. There are lots more like this.

The charity is called After Adoption. They felt they needed a higher profile to attract new  sources of funding and establish the charity as an expert in the adoption field. A key part of the campaign was media relations – to promote positive discussion of adoption, promote the services offered by the charity, strength the charity’s presence during National Adoption Week and attract more funds.  Activities included generating a stream of new stories, case studies and interviews with charity spokespeople. The results were extensive media coverage in national and local media, a 5% increase in calls to the helplines and 7% increase in the number of people receiving face to face support.

http://www.contextpr.co.uk/case-studies/98-after-adoption-case-study

Do contact me on ANCommunications@hotmail.co.uk if you need any more advice with your phone number.