Media Coverage Tips

Not all fundraisers need media attention and not all fundraisers are newsworthy. But if your event is newsworthy and you’d like to nab some ink, follow these top 10 tips.
  1. Know your audience. Create a fundraiser event that’s newsworthy. Is it significant? Does it have substance and meaning for your school and community?
  2. Be clear, be brief. Reporters are on deadline so be respectful of their time. Create a strong message using the 5 W’s: who, what, when, where, why. Cut flab, minimize hype and strengthen verbs. Get to the point and reinforce it at every opportunity.
  3. Stay Fresh. Build a great story – find the best angles, narrative elements, characters, data and details to make your event come alive to a wide audience. Do you have compelling and inspiring stories? Use them to illustrate your message.
  4. Make it compelling. Create a tip sheet of facts, stats and figures that can be used by the media.
  5. Grab attention. If you can draw in a local celebrity, all the better.
  6. Inspire confidence. Make sure your spokesperson—you, your teacher or your parent—can articulate your message (keep your bulleted key messages by your side at all times). Make sure your spokesperson is available at all times.
  7. Target your media appropriately. Target the appropriate “beat” reporters (features, news, sports). Read their work by visiting the online pages of the publication. If a reporter has written a similar story you like, mention it. Tell the reporter why he/she is an ideal fit for this event coverage.
  8. Be persistent. Wait three days after sending the release, and then follow up with an e-mail. If you receive no response within 24 hours, pick up the telephone. Remember that reporters tend to work 10am – 6 or 7pm. Don’t call early morning, or after 4pm, as they’ll be working on deadline.
  9. The work isn’t over when the event is over. Send thank you letters to all sponsors and supporters; update your website and Facebook pages. Submit an opinion-edited piece written by you, a teacher or your principal, that articulates your message, and outlines your successes. Don’t forget the obvious outlets: the school newspaper, school bulletin and school clubs.
  10. Give it legs. Create a final “Debrief” report that outlines what worked and what didn’t work. Add clean copies of original media clips, brochures, fliers, posters, copies of ads, letters for sponsors, and all other correspondence. That way, you’ll have a blueprint for future fundraisers, ready for hand-off.