WKKF Michigan Grantee
Media Toolkit
Introduction: Media Toolkit
Introduction: What is a communications strategy?
Introduction: What is a communications strategy?
Communication strategies are plans for
communicating information related to a
specific issue, event, situation, or audience.
They serve as the blueprints for
communicating with the public, stakeholders,
or even colleagues.
How to develop a communications strategy
Determine your organization’s communications goals
• Once goals are understood, you can begin to determine how
communications can support them.
How to develop a communications strategy
Define your communications goals
• Know your audience
• Where do they stand on issues? What are their likes and dislikes?
• Who are they?
• How can you motivate them?
• What action do you want them to take?
• Vote, purchase, change behavior, etc.
• Establish a timeline for objectives
• Objectives should be manageable based on your organization’s capacity
and measurable to show your goal has been accomplished
Know your audience
Audience types:
• Primary: Individuals who will receive your message directly.
• Secondary: These are hidden audiences who will receive your
message indirectly.
• Gatekeepers: Someone who can prevent your communications from
going any further.
• Influencers: People who are able to significantly impact members of
the audience.
• Key decision-makers: A person who can affect the outcome of your
communication without further approval.
Know your audience
How can you motivate them?
• Shared Values and Common Ground – Offer views and values you hold
in common with audience members
• What’s in it for them? – Explain the value in audience participation.
• Detail the consequences for not taking action – Identify the problems
that may ensue for those who do nothing.
Consider audience demographics.
• Know the major demographics of the audience, such as age, gender,
sexual orientation, education, religion, what culture, ethnic group or race
as well as to what groups the audience members belong.
Outline your communications objectives
Defining your objectives will make you more efficient and effective as a
communicator.
• General Objective: Improve the lives of vulnerable children in
neighborhoods.
• Action Objective: Have 90 percent of vulnerable children in Michigan ready
for kindergarten by the year 2020.
• Communication Objective: As a direct result of this letter to the
editor/weekly guest column/panel discussion, community members will be
motivated to help vulnerable children become kindergarten ready.
How to develop a communications strategy
Research
Public Opinion – Actively engage your target audience to find out how they are
thinking about a particular issue.
• Online/phone surveys, focus groups, text messaging alerts, etc.
Media – Follow local and national reporters who cover issues pertaining to your
group’s interests, and regularly track local media and advocacy landscapes.
• Set up Google Alerts, issue a weekly/monthly/quarterly newsletter to keep
employees abreast on issues and trends, etc.
Ask Questions – Solicit feedback from your colleagues to determine how to improve
upon your communications plan
How to develop a communications strategy
Building Your Message
• Value – Lead with values and vision.
• Problem – Frame problems as a threat to values and vision. Demonstrate
with stories and statistics.
• Solution – List the solution(s) to problems.
• Action – Direct your audience on what they should do.
How to develop a communications strategy
5. Adhere to the Five C’s of Effective Message Development
• Content – Messaging should be informative, compelling, and
engaging. Show how we’re all in in together, with a call to
action for the recipient and an easy way for them to respond.
• Clarity – Your message should be easily understandable and
entice the recipient to want more information.
• Conciseness – You should be able to get your point across
using minimal words.
• Correctness – Be accurate. Always have someone
proofread your work to avoid errors of fact and grammar.
• Continual – Be persistent in delivering your message to your
audience.
How to develop a communications strategy
Create an outreach strategy
• Traditional Media – Find out which media the target audience
and their influencers consume. Next, identify the tactics that will
best match your goals (i.e. a press event, paid advertising
campaign, letters to the editor, etc.)
• Digital media – Share news, push messaging and engage with
the target audience via company website and social media
channels.
• Other outreach strategies – Ensure your communications
strategy encompasses the full range of your activities, such as
organizing, coalition work, speech opportunities, etc. Also, identify
spokespeople and allies your target audiences trust and listen to.
Determine who of those people you can activate, particularly if you
don’t have direct access to your targets.
How to develop a communications strategy
Integrate, Implement and Evaluate
• Begin to incorporate your plan into your organization’s larger effort.
• Create internal and external feedback loops to help evaluate the
effectiveness of your communications plan. This is an ongoing process.
Telling your story to media
“Good PR isn’t just about sending a message, it’s about telling a story.
Think about the last good book that you read. Did it stir your emotions
in some way? Did it stick in your head? Did you share it with others or
discuss it with friends or colleagues? There is no reason that a good PR
message or campaign can’t do the same thing. In fact, the ones that do
are generally the most successful.” -- Richard Brownell,
PRNewsOnline.com
Telling your story
• Provide media with collateral – a “one-sheet” with basic facts and a brief
history of the organization. If this content is available on your website,
assemble as a media kit (e.g. previous articles, social media channel
information, website content, infographics, etc.). It makes an interview more
efficient, allowing you to focus on the content of the event and supplement
their story.
• Reporters and media generally prefer a story with visual components. Pique
their interest by pitching activities, events or personal interest stories where
compelling photos or video can also be captured.
• Host events when possible on a Saturday; a slower news day. Saturday
stories are often featured as centerpieces in Sunday newspaper editions,
which typically garner heavier reader traffic and public attention. Mid-week
events are also suitable for television.
Telling your story
Connect your organization’s work to news – National or local; released studies or
statistics), organizational milestones or anniversaries, or holidays to provide relevant
newsworthy or timely story pitches to media outlets.
• Example: “March is national reading month and our organization is hosting a
reading group for the city’s most vulnerable children. Through ongoing
organizational events like this, we advanced literacy rates in our community’s
youth by 25 percent last year.”
Telling your story
Mine your organizations for stories – Talk to your staff. You’ll likely find some
captivating stories right under your nose.
• Example 1: “Vicki Martinez started working for our organization in 2010
because she has more in common with the individuals she attends to than
one would expect.”
• Example 2: “Just a year ago, Sam Jones discovered that his neighbor could
not read. This then spurred him to dedicate his personal and professional life
to improving local literacy rates.”
Telling your story
Pitching stories – think about what distinguishes your organization from similar
organizations; the unique benefits and characteristics you provide to the
community or segment of the population or cause you serve.
• Example 1: “Our organization was the first one in its area to implement a
hands-on approach to encourage children to read.”
• Example 2: “When it comes to advancing the lives of individuals within
our surrounding area, we take a holistic approach unique to our
organization.”
• Develop a media contact list based on your location and your audience.
From newspapers (print and online) to television, radio and, potentially,
relevant bloggers this list will be your organization’s consistent targets to
tell your story.
Social media is everywhere
… but social media is not only used to sell product – it’s
used to target messaging and drive engagement
… your audience is comprised of heavy internet users,
searching for content, information and social networking
… most own a mobile phone and heavily rely on text
messaging to communicate with peers.
Tips to engage your audience on social media
Build Trust
• You need to earn the public’s trust in order to do your work, requiring that
you be honest and transparent with your followers.
Stay up to date on current events
• Talk about things that are relevant now and can tie into your organization’s
efforts. However, be wary of discussing sensitive issues such as national
tragedies and holidays.
Don’t overshare content
• Oversharing can turn off your audience. Make a schedule for you to share
throughout the day and when most of your audience is active.
Storytelling is key
• Share your organization's success stories, more specifically how your
organization has made an impact in the lives of people.
Tips to engage your audience on social media
Connect with influencers
• Start reading and sharing their social media content. This will give you
background for establishing a relationship.
Always respond to feedback
• Thank your followers for their kind words and show them your
appreciation by sharing their original content is it aligns with your goals.
Never delete negative feedback. Instead, view it as constructive criticism
and communicate respectfully around it.
Be conversational
• Avoid using jargon or technical language. It’s best to interact with your
followers in a personable manner.
Follow your following
• Not only is this a kind gesture, but it will grow your overall following.
When you follow back, chances are you will get public responses, giving
you added exposure.
WKKF Michigan Grantee Media Toolkit – Templates
Developing a media advisory
•
A media advisory alerts reporters to
an upcoming news event. An
advisory should never exceed more
than one page. The advisory is sent
out one to two days before the
event and is followed up with a
phone call to the recipient.
•
On the right is a media advisory
from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
highlighting the 2014 launch of the
Community Leadership Network
fellowship.
Press Releases
• A press release offers your organization the opportunity to publicize your
organization’s events and initiatives, as well as, promote messaging. Begin
with the most important information (who, what, when, where and why),
then provide further detail of the issue being promoted.
• A release should be newsworthy and succinct (rarely should it exceed more
than two pages in length). Additionally, your organization’s contact
information should appear on every page.
• The next slide offers an example of a press release from the Kellogg
Foundation unveiling the class of fellows selected to participate in its
Community Leadership Network.
Press Releases Example
What are talking points?
• Talking points are typically written in a bullet point format that includes key
messaging and direction for an organization’s representatives when handling
public communications (i.e. press conference, reporter interview, etc.).
• The next slide provides an example of talking points taken from the Special
Olympics Play Unified Campaign, an initiative designed to encourage young
people to connect with people with intellectual disabilities and create more
inclusive communities.
• The next slide features an example of talking points taken from the Special
Olympics Play Unified Campaign, an initiative designed to encourage young
people to connect with people with intellectual disabilities and create more
inclusive communities.
Talking points continued
Writing and submitting a letter to the editor
• A letter to the editor provides your organization with an opportunity
to engage issues covered in the media and advance your message to
a larger audience.
• A letter can result from almost about any story.
• It’s important your organization use the opportunity to get the right
messages in front of the right audience.
Letters continued
An example of a letter to the editor
from CivilRights.org.
Submitting an opinion editorial or op-ed
An op-ed presents the perfect opportunity for your organization to be heard. While editors do not
publish every op-ed, they do pay attention to articles that are well-written and connected to a
piece they just published. Be sure to:
•
Make it relevant – Connect your op-ed to an issue recently discussed in the targeted
publication
•
Be succinct – State your position/stance early on (first paragraph preferably). Journalism is
a deadline-driven profession, and the majority of editors do not have time to read through a
ton of text before realizing the point you’re attempting to make.
•
Pay attention to word count – Most publications have op-ed submission guidelines and it’s
important for you to know what these are. If publications do not offer any guidelines, some
experts suggest sticking to 750 words in length.
•
Unleash your creativity – Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when crafting your oped.
•
Pitch and Follow up – Pitch the op-ed in advance to the editorial editor. Once you submit
the op-ed, follow up with a call within 24 hours to confirm the publication date.
Op-ed continued
The features an op-ed written by Sharnita
Johnson of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation,
published in The Detroit News, in response to
an initiative proposed by Detroit Mayor Mike
Duggan to address the city’s high infant
mortality rates.