Media relations

Most nonprofit communicators I know invariably begin their work day by consuming copious amounts of news and information related to their organization and its issues. I typically start with a gaggle of Google Alerts, head over to news clips sent by our media monitoring service before a quick foray into social media for recent mentions,… Read More »

In the nearly five years of this blog’s existence, we’ve accumulated a solid collection of articles about nonprofit media relations. It’s a topic that remains highly popular (Katie Ostler’s post about media kits has hung in as the most popular post on the blog for years). And thanks to the generous contributions of our authors,… Read More »

Last month I wrote a post about the main elements of a media alert. In this post, I will focus on how to send your alert, and how and when you should use one. As I mentioned in my previous post, you’re sending out an alert when you have something important to announce. Something that… Read More »

The media landscape is evolving. The way consumers absorb news is much different today than it was even five years ago. We’re now living in an era of instant information; the days of the daily news cycle are fading, if not already behind us. Just look at the people in any public space—chances are that… Read More »

You’re about to make a big announcement. It’s something important and practical that will benefit many, and something that your organization has put a lot of time and effort into. It’s big news. You’ve planned a press conference to let everyone know about it – but how do you get reporters to show up? A… Read More »

Media events are important and popular to attract publicity. And there are many potential reasons for a nonprofit to hold a media event, including: announcing the release of a report with some ground-breaking new findings; celebrating the opening of a new building that will offer housing to low-income people; showcasing the talent of your best… Read More »

Media relations have always been an important part of nonprofit marketing and communications. Unfortunately, they can easily become lost in a jumble of responsibilities and not given the attention they need. A recent project at work led me to start paying more attention to media relations.  Over the past few weeks, I spent time sorting… Read More »

Throughout my career, I’ve attended professional development sessions and courses about working with spokespeople, particularly in the area of media training. I’ve watched TV interviews with the uncomfortable spokesperson or listened to radio PSAs that make no clear connection between a cause and the spokesperson. In some cases, the right media training can make all… Read More »

Picture this: your nonprofit’s event is coming up in a few weeks. You’ve gathered all the details and crafted the perfect media pitch. But this time, you want to send it to a new radio station in the area and a trade publication you’ve never worked with before. What do you do? How do you… Read More »

One of the first tasks I learned when I started my career in public relations was how to create a media list. My boss sat me down with a tower of dark green media directories and told me to find newspapers in these books that were related to our client. He told me to call… Read More »