Blueprint Creative Group

What Do You Do When Your Non-profit’s Media Coverage Has Slowed Down?

Media Coverage Has Slowed Down…Now What?

Here’s a few good ideas to keep the coverage coming.

What happens when your non-profit has run out of “hard” news to tell and/or you’ve exhausted media coverage in your local area? You find creative ways to drum up some good PR and activate your community of supporters to help spread the word. Here’s a few good tips for reinvigorating your media efforts.
Ride trending news.  PR isn’t always about directly promoting the organization’s cause. Sometimes you have to do so in a more subtle way by inserting the organization, cause, and/or senior leadership in a pr buzzbroader, trending story. As an example, former President Jimmy Carter recently announced that he has cancer. If your non-profit’s cause has anything to do with cancer, health, the elderly, etc. you should be all over this and find a way to connect your cause to this story. Another example is the viral photo sparking controversy about the woman breastfeeding her friend’s son. If this is a topic anywhere related to your cause, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a view or connect it to your cause or advocacy initiatives.
Localize your story. It’s easy to tap out of your local media and run out of fresh storylines to pitch. That doesn’t mean you can’t do so in other markets or to national media. Obviously, local markets have an interest in covering stories of local interest, which means that you just need to localize your story so that it makes sense to them. If your target is a national media outlet, think about how this story relates nationally. Again, perhaps, you may have to leverage a national trending news and find a hook that’s relatable.
Do something different. No offense, but sometimes the same stories get boring over time, and that’s probably why media isn’t interested. Every so often you just have to freshen up the story with heartfelt personal stories or just do something different that will grab immediate attention. Here’s a freebie: a scavenger hunt around the city (or on social media) with clues about your non-profit’s cause or success.
Toot your own horn. Infographics are successful at grabbing attention with bite sized content, and many organizations are using them in compelling ways i.e. to visualize an annual report. Similarly, tell your story in a different way through an eye catching infographic. As an example, show how donations have been used in the past year. This works well for transparency and more deeply connects with your audience. Another example is to create a 45-second video about one highlight from the year and email it out and post on social media.
In the midst of fund development, driving advocacy, engaging stakeholders, and everything else it takes to keep your organization on top, don’t leave out messaging, PR, and how you connect and engage your audience. Of course, budgets are tight and the staff is already overworked, but it’ll make that much of a difference in keeping your cause top of mind and driving support.

We’d love to help you figure out how to boost your organization’s profile. Call us at (305) 741-0378 or via email at Fabiola@BlueprintCreativeGroup.com to set up a time to chat.