The 4 most deadly nonprofit publicity sins

By Sandra Beckwith

Nonprofit organizations and charities have a publicity advantage that their counterparts in the for-profit world lack: Media outlets want to help them spread the word about their worthwhile programs or initiatives. As a result, nonprofits have the potential to enjoy the support of media allies even though their for-profit counterparts often feel like they’re squaring off with adversaries when trying to publicize events, products or programs.

And yet, many nonprofit organizations and charities are disappointed when they see that their initiatives or issues aren’t getting media attention – even in a friendly media environment. That’s often because they’ve made one or more of the most deadly nonprofit publicity mistakes:

1. Expecting to be discovered, they don’t share their information with the press.
2. What they have shared isn’t newsworthy.
3. They haven’t presented their information in a format that the press prefers.
4. They haven’t shared their newsworthy information with the right person.

Any one of these errors can undermine your efforts to promote your mission. Here’s how to avoid these mistakes.

1. Tell the press what you’re doing.

When we’re doing good work, we expect it to be noticed. It doesn’t always work that way, though. Leave nothing to chance – make sure you tell the press what your group is doing. It’s the only way you’ll make certain they get the information and that it’s accurate, too.

2. Make sure you’ve got something newsworthy.

Learn to think like a media gatekeeper – that person at the newspaper, local magazine, or TV news department who decides what does and doesn’t get space or air time. Look at your “news” from their perspective and ask yourself, “So what?” Is it interesting enough to appeal to someone lacking a connection to your organization?

What’s newsworthy varies from community to community. In addition, what’s appealing to a newspaper might not work with a TV station because TV news relies on visuals to tell a story.

3. Use the proper format when sharing your news.

That’s not an event flyer, a brochure or an invitation. It’s a news or press release that has all the details in a narrative form. When writing press releases, don’t worry about your writing skills – if you’ve got a good story and you’ve presented the key facts in the order of most to least important, your story will be used even if you don’t know whether to use “that” or “which.”

Work on the headline – many editors and reporters won’t read beyond a headline that doesn’t grab them. (For example, “Unique community project will help save lives” is more compelling than “Madison Rotary club announces new project.”)

Get the five Ws and one H – who, what, when, where, why and how – into the first two paragraphs. Concentrate on writing simply, as if talking to a friend. Keep it short – no more than two pages double-spaced – and include a standard “boilerplate” paragraph at the end that provides information about your nonprofit.

Include a contact name, telephone number and e-mail address at the beginning and end so a reporter or producer knows who to call for more information.

When you want to sell a reporter or editor on your feature article idea or to convince a TV assignment editor or radio talk show producer to interview your spokesperson on a particular topic, the tool to use is a “pitch letter.” This sales letter should be no longer than a page and should state your idea in an interesting way in the first paragraph. Support that idea with compelling facts or statistics. Note that a feature article always includes interviews with several sources, so make suggestions about other sources and provide their contact information.

4. Get your information to the right editors, reporters and producers.

Assemble your media contact list by studying media outlets and their Web sites or by calling for appropriate contact names. Most libraries have media directories at the reference desk, too.

Here are the typical contacts:

• Daily newspaper: calendar editor, features editor, “beat” reporter (education, religion, health, etc.)
• Weekly newspaper: reporter assigned to your community
• TV news: assignment editor (there’s often a different one for weekends)
• Radio news: news director
• Radio & TV talk shows: producer
• Radio & TV public affairs shows: public affairs or community affairs editor
• Magazine: editor or section editor
• Web site: online editor

Avoid the four deadly nonprofit publicity sins and you’ll soon be partnering with the media to help those you serve – and others – appreciate your community contributions.

Sandra Beckwith presents publicity workshops for nonprofits, small businesses, and authors. She is the author of two publicity books, including Publicity for Nonprofits: Generating Media Exposure that Leads to Awareness, Growth, and Contributions, available at http://tinyurl.com/ysppgl. Learn more at www.nonprofitpublicity.com.

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