At the True Spin Conference on January 22nd, 2010, I had the opportunity to hear Holly Minch offer advice on how nonprofits can take full advantage of each piece of news coverage and use coverage to increase their visibility to supporters and donors.
Here’s what she had to say…
Before you pitch:
1. Get your media team ready for the extra attention and identify your goals and audience as a group
2. Make sure that the entire team is aligned for launch and knows their role
3. Create your strategy acknowledging that the story will develop over time
4. Use social media to get more reach in your earned media space. For example, send your followers your tweet points so they know what to tweet to support you
5. Pitch all dimensions of your story, and include bloggers and tweeters who may be following those targeted sets of reporters
6. Connect with local spokespeople
7. Invite reporters to press briefings, and invite bloggers to online discussions
8. Your spokespeople should practice fast and furious to field media inquiries
9. Schedule calls and meetings with key funders and stakeholders for after the release
During the pitch:
1. Be tenacious and timely
2. DON’T GIVE UP!
After:
1. On the day of success, capture screenshots of the success on your website and send them out to your social media audience
2. Thank Reporters. This is a way to tee up the next pitch and turn the coverage into more coverage
3. Position yourself as a resource
4. Purchase Google Adwords to run next to the news story to make sure you’re driving searchers to your website
Extend the Coverage:
1. Use media attention to engage those for whom you want to frame the conversation
2. Don’t just use data for it’s individual value, but use it to help shape the conversation
3. Decide how the story will move forward after the decision point (on day 2 and three of the news)
4. Stay on top of the trailing coverage
5. Share and reshare, tweet and retweet
6. Connect with the new people on your list to welcome them
7. Share and celebrate internally on staff and with members
Ready to Read More? Visit Holly at www.hollyminch.com