It was 2011 and my nonprofit just had a major victory in federal court. Full of euphoria, we ran around the office for about two minutes before reporters started bombarding us on Twitter: where’s your statement? Then louder: I’m writing NOW! If you want to be in the story, call me or send me your statement!
Yikes. We had a statement, but it was being minutely examined by our brilliant attorney, who also wanted a chance to fully read the court decision before commenting. Communications staffers pushed as hard as we could, and got our statement out about an hour after the decision dropped. Lightning speed for lawyers, but too late for many reporters.
We missed being in many stories—despite the fact that it was our case—because reporters were able to find speedier responders to quote. Lesson painfully learned.
The news cycle has gotten faster and more relentless since 2011, and even for nonprofits with dedicated communications staff, it can be hard to keep up. How can a small nonprofit be part of the public conversation? Here are some quick ideas:
1. Prioritize media. Because being in the media can help your organization raise money, recruit volunteers, and execute its mission, you need to prioritize media response. That message should come from leadership, and you need to work on staff buy-in.
2. Set up a media protocol: Even without dedicated communications staff, you should set up a protocol for when the media calls. Who do media calls go to? Designate someone to shepherd media requests quickly through your system and make sure calls are returned promptly. Most importantly, get the reporter’s name, news outlet, phone number and email address, what they’re calling about, AND their deadline.
3. Do advance work. If you know something big will be happening in your nonprofit’s universe – a bill introduced, a significant event, an important anniversary – prepare your statement and get it vetted internally ahead of time. Then you can send it out as soon as the event happens.
4. Get to know some media. It’s not as hard as it seems. If your organization follows a reporter on Twitter, they will follow you back. If you see a good story on your subject, email a nice note. Pick three reporters who cover your issues, and give them a call to introduce yourself and your group (I do believe in phone calls). And then keep in touch, by email, Twitter, press release, and when possible in person.
Convince yourself that this is mission-critical, because it is! Don’t be a tree that falls silently in the woods.
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Learn more about media relations expert Carisa Cunningham, author of this post and associate consultant at Just Giving Communications.