Don’t just rush out and try
to get media attention on your issue. Take a step back and develop a plan
that will help
you use the media to advance your advocacy effort. Before you start doing
media outreach,
Start by defining your goals. Be clear about where you want to go so that
you develop the best plan to get you there.
- What do you want to accomplish?
What is your ultimate advocacy goal? What are your media goals: Raise
public awareness? Move people to take some action? Put pressure on public
officials
or other decision-makers?
- Be realistic. Evaluate the likely
support for your goals. Is your issue timely? Practical? Is your solution
achievable? How will you measure success?
Identifying
your audience back to top
After you’ve determined your goals, your plan should clearly identify
the audiences you need to reach to achieve your goals. Precisely whose
awareness
are you trying to raise? Who are the people you want to move to action?
Who are the decision-makers you are trying to pressure? You may have more
than one target audience. Identifying each one up front is key; otherwise,
you’ll end up wasting resources on a media strategy
that may not be effective for reaching your targeted audiences.
- Whom do you need to reach? Influence?
Move to act? Specific elected officials? Communities of color? Youth? Seniors?
- What’s the best way to
reach them? Ultimately, you need to select from different media tools based
on what’s likely to be most effective in reaching your target audience.
You may decide to seek interviews on local radio stations targeting their
demographics to get the word out about your work (as opposed to writing
an opinion piece for the local newspaper, which may be a more effective
tool for reaching elected officials or the larger public). More on various
media tools below in Seeking and Securing Media Coverage.
Developing
key messages back to top
Different audiences respond to different messages. The next step in planning
your media strategy is to figure out the best message for your audiences.
- Frame your issue in two or three
main messages aimed at to your audience. Too many messages will confuse
your audience so that at the end of the day, you will end up not clearly
delivering any one of them. Your message should not just be a restatement
of your goals. It should make your case in a way that persuades your target
audience to your point of view so that you can accomplish your goals.
- Be clear, concise, and compelling—and
stay away from jargon and rhetoric. Your message should inspire interest
in your target audience (and the media), evoke emotion, and appeal to its
sense of right and wrong and its political self-interest (again, the reaction
you want to elicit from your target audience depends on what you want it
to do). Draft short sound bites—catchy one-liners, attention-getting
statements, quotable quotes—that capture your issue, will stick
with your audience, and are ones that reporters can use and messengers
can remember.
- Compile stories and statistics
that will make your message more credible, powerful, and persuasive
and that ground your message in the facts.
- Test your messages with different
people before you become committed to them. Sometimes you are too close
to an issue to effectively evaluate your message. What you believe to
be
most compelling about the problem you are trying to address may not move
other people. You can test your message in a formal focus group, or you
can do it informally. Try it out with your friends, family, people you
work with—anyone you know who is part of your target
audience—to see if the message is clear, attracts interest, resonates,
and motivates people to act.
Preparing
talking points back to
top
Draft a few key talking points to help you and other spokespersons stay
focused on the issues you want to communicate to the media.
- Tailor your talking points to
your audiences.
- Be clear and succinct in each
point. If you try to make too many points at once, your message will
get lost.
- Use data, anecdotes, and examples
to illustrate your points.
- Practice making your points so
that you are comfortable delivering the message without notes, but
have them nearby to review before you speak and glance at in case you
miss a
key point.
Generating
media lists back to top
Put together a list of local media contacts—newspaper, radio, television,
magazine, newsletter, and Internet—that cover your neighborhood,
related issues, and constituencies. Also, add reporters you have talked
to in the
past. Having a list prepared will allow you to quickly and comprehensively
identify reporters, columnists, editors, producers, and talk-show hosts
to call or e-mail when you are ready to pitch a story.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel.
Find out if any of your coalition members and supporters have prepared
a media list they are willing to share. If you have the resources, purchase
a
media database from a commercial vendor as well.
- If you are developing your own
list, scan the local paper to find names of reporters covering your
issue and find out whether your local library has any published media
directories
you can review.
- Think broadly. Include ethnic
and online media on your list. The SPIN Project website(http://www.spinproject.org/resources/speaking/media.html)
has some ethnic media resources to help you identify local outlets.
Online
media, such as AlterNet (http://www.alternet.org),
will sometimes cover high-profile events. Ask around and search the
Internet for local online
news sources widely read by your target audiences that may be inclined
to cover your issue.
- Look locally. Include local community
radio stations and cable-access channels. It is not uncommon for stories
to be picked up from these outlets and run by larger media outlets.
- Be creative. Include neighborhood,
organization, and employee newsletters on your list. Think about whether
a union newspaper might be interested in your issue.
- Include all contact information—full
name, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address—and make
a note of each reporter’s preferred method of contact.
- Periodically update your lists.
Reporters come and go, so stay current on who is covering your issues.
And add new reporters who have called you for an interview to your list.
- For more information on media
lists, visit the SPIN Project website at http://www.spinproject.org/resources/medialists/mainframe.php3.
Identifying
and preparing key spokespersons back
to top
Identify the best people to deliver your message to the media, keeping in
mind your target audience. Who will be most credible, influential, and persuasive?
Provide your spokespersons with talking points so they are prepared and
stay on message.
- Select spokespersons that highlight
the diversity of your allies and range of constituencies affected by the
issue.
- Put a face on the problem. Reporters
are more likely to cover your issue if there’s a human-interest
angle.
- Media experience is a plus but
not necessary. And whether you are experienced or not, some media training,
role playing, and practice interviews are always helpful in getting prepared.
- Even if you are not a designated
spokesperson, be familiar with the issues and key message points. A
reporter under a deadline may call you to verify information for a story
when none
of your spokespersons are available. If you are unprepared, you will
miss an opportunity to present your point of view.
Next...
