Transcript Presentation title - Leeds Community Foundation

Communications and
Marketing session
Promoting your project
Alison Crawley, Regional Outreach Officer
Jenny Dobson, Regional Development Officer
16 July 2015
Promoting your project
Press
Existing
Channels
Social
media
16 July 2015
Top Tips
 Who is your audience
 What is your call to
action
 Human Interest
 Put together a plan
How to engage with local media
Get to know your local media
 Investigate and familiarise yourself with your
local publications/radio stations
 Use the internet to find out your local
newspapers – eg: www.newspapersoc.org.uk
 www.nrs.co.uk/toplinereadership - a way to get to
know what publications your readers are using
 Could you secure a regular feature in relevant
newsletters?
Think outside the box
 Would any of your project’s activities make a
good story for your local paper?
 Are you having any events and could
photographers and local journalists attend?
 Could you involve MPs or local councillors or a
celebrity at any stage of your project, helping to
attract more media interest?
 Get to know the national awareness days; could
you piggyback any of your stories onto these?
Try using http://www.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/specialday
s.htm to check for awareness days
What makes a good story
Journalists are looking for:
 News - a fact or event that hasn’t been made
public before: think FEWER, BIGGER, BETTER
 Man bites dog = something different
 Human interest
 Controversial – doesn’t always have to be
bad
 Features – in-depth coverage of events or trends
 Diary pieces – entertainment, possibly a charity
event
 News comment– putting events into context, letters to
editors
Planning a press release
 Identify your story
 Find a hook – is there something topical you
could link your PR to give it a stronger
chance of making the news?
 Have a clear message (when planning try to
put it in 2 short sentences)
 Make sure it is news-worthy and relevant: do
you have something new or interesting to
say?
 Answer the question – “Will the readers you
are trying to reach be interested in your
information?”
Planning a press release
 Identify and brief your spokespeople
 Obtain quotes from key spokespeople
to include
 Alert all relevant team members about
your plans
 Develop some lines to take
The news triangle
What, when,
where, who,
why
More details
Even more details –
quotes etc
Press Releases
 A photo increases chances of a story being
picked up by 30% (NUJ2004)
 Photography – always make sure you obtain
consent from those featuring in any photographs
 You could always submit a
press release after an event/
activity has taken place if you
have photography/video/audio.
Make use of free services
The Small Charities Coalition exists to help small charities
access
the skills, experience and resources they need to achieve their
aims.
Among other services the organisation offers a resource for
small
charities to get their voices heard within the media and
Government
Find out more at www.smallcharities.org.uk
Make use of free services
Media Trust’s Media Matching service brings together media and
communications professionals (advisers) with charities and voluntary
organisations that want to improve the way they communicate.
This free service aims to match skilled advisers, with charities or
voluntary organisations that require help with a specific media or
communications need. With hundreds of registered advisers, a
huge range of skills are covered including PR, marketing, design,
branding, digital media, web services and communications
strategies.
Free and easy to sign up at www.mediatrust.org/media-matching
Make use of free services
Community Newswire is a free service delivered by the Press
Assocation and the Media Trust to help charities and voluntary
organisations gain valuable news coverage.
A selection of uploaded press releases are written up into news
stories by a Press Association journalist and then sent out via the
Press Association newswire to thousands of journalists each day.
All you need to do is submit your press release by email or upload it
onto their website.
www.communitynewswire.press.net
Any questions?
Making use of your
existing channels
What do you currently do to
promote your projects?
What do you do?
Websites
Leaflets
Merchandise
Newsletters
Social Media
Events/Networking
Campaigns
Press
Competitions
E-bulletins
Blogs
What do you do?
What makes a good website
Update frequently
Think about your audience
Think about position of information (F Pattern)
Think about what fits on a users screen
Relevant/engaging content
Human Interest – people that have benefitted by your
project
Plenty of Images/photos
Short interesting pieces of text – web users have short
attention spans (The 5 ‘W’s)
Easy to use
Make your links believable
What do you do?
Other tips for printed materials
Case Studies – one of the best promotion tools you
have is word of mouth – include the people your
project has benefitted
Short interesting pieces of text, if longer break up with
subheadings, bullet points, colour. (5 ‘W’s)
Clear information – make items stand out that need to
If budget will allow – bright colours – you want to stand
out on a table with other materials.
It doesn’t have to be printed – could be an e-newsletter
Think about where it will go
Other useful contacts
Your local MP:
 MPs have influence
 They like hearing about what is happening in their
constituency – especially good news stories
 They can talk about your organisation to others
 Using your expertise, you can highlight concerns
in your community and help to combat problems
Your Local Authority:
 Most have newsletters that focus on local news
and services provided by community groups
 List events/services on their website
 Police
 Health Authorities
Local Mayor and other dignitaries
Social Media
Any questions?
Social media
“ Social media is a term for the tools and platforms
people use to publish, converse and share
content online. The tools include blogs, wikis,
podcasts and sites to share photos and
bookmarks.”
Social Media
 Share ‘real time’ activity
 Free online tool that allows you to
connect to your audience
 Raise awareness of your work
 Can reach thousands of people
 Can start small
Social media
What is it not?
The answer to everything
A fad
A waste of time
Your only channel of communication
Flickr
Facebook
page
TwitPic
Twitter
Widget
Blog
YouTube
RSS
Bebo
Website
iTunes
Technorati
Podcast
Microsites
Feedburner
Video
MyBlogLog
Content Tools
Photos
Facebook
app
Facebook
group
Premiumcast
Unltd world
Social
Bookmarking
Outreach Tools
Content Tools
Blogs
 “web log” or online diary – posts in reverse
chronological order




www.wordpress.com
www.tumblr.com
www.blogger.com
www.typepad.com
Content tools
 A podcast is a sound file
 Upload to Itunes
 It can capture background noise, sounds, effects,
laughter, interviews.
 Videos can bring your website to life with visuals
 Upload to youTube
 Videowire - New service that edits, packages and
distributes your news in video through the Press
Association to newsrooms throughout the day
http://www.mediatrust.org/get-support/communitynewswire-1/videowire/
Who does what?
• Facebook – Most popular social networking site.
Can invite friends/fans to join the page, share updates,
pictures and films
• Twitter – Micro blogging site. Have space for 140
character updates
• YouTube – Films do not have to be professionally
made. You can film something on your phone and
upload it immediately and link film to your webpage,
blog, Facebook page and Twitter feed.
• Flickr – upload your own photographs, from digital
cameras or phones
Creating a visual presence
witter
 You ‘Tweet’ comments of 140 characters or less –
these can be announcements, events, call to action
 You can follow people or organisations
 You can retweet (RT)other people’s comments
 You can reply to other people’s comments by putting
@username msg
 You can highlight a key term/phrase by a hash tag
which can then by used by others and also searched
upon i.e. #followfriday #Biglf
 You can categorise people/organisations using lists
 You can shorten website addresses (URLS) on sites
such as bit.ly
 Upload photos but only one at a time – can use
Twitpic or inbuilt uploader.
acebook
• Facebook – 500m users worldwide and growing
at a rate of 10 million per month
• 50% of the traffic is via mobile devices
• Average user is connected to 80 community
pages, groups and events
• More than 60million status updates each day
• Organisations can create a ‘Page’ which people
choose to ‘like’ and endorse you
• You can add pictures, notices, video, events
• Useful if you haven’t got a website
Benefits of social media
1. Drive traffic to your website
2. New ways to connect with your communities
– makes you approachable
3. Build trust, start a conversation
4. Create value, communities and relationships
5. Provide quick, up to date information about
your organisation, programme or cause
6. Raise awareness, raise funds
7. Low-cost, low-risk, effective
8. Real time news and information
9. Teaches you to communicate concisely
Principles of social media
1. Be authentic, open, transparent – build
social currency
2. Think about your ‘tone of voice’ – don’t be
too corporate
3. Don’t view it as just another marketing
channel
4. Don’t treat it as a one-way broadcast
medium
5. Be clear about departmental responsibilities
6. Be patient - social media needs a long term
approach
Contact us
Follow us on Twitter @BIGYH
Like us on Facebook: Big Lottery Fund –
Yorkshire and the Humber
Email us: [email protected]
Any questions?