How to Get Your Share of Media Attention

Media relations are an important piece of the marketing of your nonprofit. They, in fact, can make you and even sometimes break you. Make sure that your media relations are up to par with these tips and resources.

Nonprofit stories are all over the media these days. That's because they so often reveal the human condition and show courage, strength, or overcoming the odds.

How Do Journalists Prefer to Receive Your Nonprofit Press Release?

Recently, I received this winning pitch about The Dan Marino Foundation/Samsung campaign to raise money for autism. The campaign is clever, social, and heart warming.

CNN Heroes is the jackpot of exposure for nonprofits. A new CNN hero is highlighted each Friday and that coverage is repeated over and over on the CNN news broadcasts.

Even if you are a small charity, the odds are good that media will be interested in your story, if told well.

Nonprofit Press releases will vary but the standard format is usually similar to the example below.

Even though the media are more fragmented than ever, with many newspapers going out of business, but online news sites flourishing, press releases can and should be a major component of your media strategy.

Every business and nonprofit has challenges, today and in the future. Those challenges can come from a dozen different sources, but if you don't know what they are, they can't be managed. If they aren't managed, your organization will be taken by surprise again and again and put on the defensive by the media and the public. Issues identification...

Don't delay your crisis planning. Don't ruin your hard-won reputation by handling difficult situations badly.

Whether your nonprofit is in a large city or a small town, reaching your local media is essential to your public relations program. Here are tips for becoming a favorite source for your local reporters.

Even if your organization is struggling and there are so many other priorities than hiring a good pitch man or woman, there is help in Joseph Barbato's easy-to-read and practical "Attracting the Attention Your Cause Deserves/"

Your news release must include all the information needed to persuade the editor to inquire about doing a feature story. You are not writing the story for the media. Your news release needs to contain just enough information to convince the editor or producer to call and get the rest of the information.

Pitching nonprofit stories to the media takes time and planning. Understanding how to make the story appealing is the secret.

Miller's book is especially strong on nonprofit communications, especially about how to get known through the media.

Here are four steps to approaching a blogger with your nonprofit story.