The Communications Atmosphere:A Changing World

Picking Paths that Maximize Resources

Strategic Approaches

• Understand the communications landscape• Master the basics• Capitalize on no- and low-cost resources• Piggyback where possible• Be prepared for success

Traditional Channels Losing Power

Local TV News

Down

30%

Regular viewership is 54%

Nightly Network News Down 53%

Regular viewership is 28%

Regular listenership is 36%

Radio

Down 23%

Regular readership is 40%

Papers

Down 31%

Landscape changing with advent of satellite radio

77% spend “a lot of time” reading health and medicine stories

Local health news still popular

BUTExplosion in new vehicles such as blogging, texting, social networking

Understanding the Landscape

Social Media Use Climbing

• 31% go online for news – up from 2% – News aggregators, large sites dominate (MSNBC, Yahoo, CNN)

• Valued for headlines, convenience• Accessibility and speed are key • Online audience is aging – almost all growth among those age 25-64

– Younger audience knows the Internet as a community• New technology expanding news consumption

– 45% of adult internet users have created online content– 13% of young people get news from cell phone, PDA, iPod

• Social Utilities– Facebook users age 35+ increased 98% from May ’06 – May ‘07

• Blogs– Over the past 5 years, the number of times blogs and bloggers have been

mentioned in major newspapers and magazines has increased 16 fold.– 57 percent of surveyed journalists read blogs at least 2-3 times per week

Media Sources

• Reporters and bloggers are like you and me– 1st stop for information is the Internet

• Blogs, Internet chatter provide validation and relevancy

• Creates a wide world of experts

• Online outlets act as “farm teams”– Opportunity to develop relationships with future

media stars

Master the Basics: Targeted Messaging/Audience Segmentation

• Identify and target appropriate audience• Create relevance

– Understandable message– Credible – Breakthrough hurdles– Relevance to their daily life– Resonance = emotional response

• Offer the solution in an accessible forum

The Basics Still Work: Not Much Pixie Dust in Today’s PR

• Press releases and press kits remain relevant• Cultivate relationships with top-tier media – they

value 1:1 interaction• Create content for the communications channels –

nuance and style differ for Internet, print, broadcast• Know how to tailor your pitch – make it big, make it

local or forget about it

Capitalize on No- and Low-Cost Resources

• Harness the power of your members and advocates• Provide them with tools needed to amplify message

– Messaging– Training– Communications kits

• For community, chapter creation• For media outreach• For event organization• For blogging

– Post downloadable, template tools

Other No- and Low-Cost Tools

• Use free tools to cultivate news hooks, relevance and access to media opportunities– Surveymonkey – quick turnaround insights, support

your point-of-view from findings, uncover potential news-making opportunities

– HARO, ProfNet – free intelligence on media seeking comment, expertise

– Facebook, MySpace cause pages– slideshare – put your knowledge base here and let

information seekers find you– Open-source content management systems for static

or community-based sites (e.g. Drupal, Joomla)– Google Adwords, Grants, Checkout

Piggyback Where Possible

• Use existing gatherings, travel to leverage opportunities– Survey membership for people willing to share their story– Conduct training sessions at annual or regional meetings– When traveling for one purpose, book media interviews in

local areas• Leverage local outlets around national events

– PSA distribution– Ad placement– Local news carry-through– Offer experts or local spokespeople to speak to related

trends, news coverage

Be Prepared for SuccessCongratulations – you’ve landed a piece on an evening news

magazineshow…are you ready?

• What does the Web site look like?– Can you handle the traffic?– Is there a call-to-action, pull-through, and donation

mechanism?– Can you capture data on interested public?

• Have you alerted your local teams or spokespeople?• Have you negotiated use of the piece for future promotion?• Can you turn this into a fundraising event?

– Viewing parties, email blitz, ad or PSA during program, Web banner, Adwords

Thank You

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