Week 10: Advertising & Public Relations

At a previous job with a non-profit organization, we frequently held events for the clients of our program. As a small program that was always in need of community donations, we recognized the need for media coverage of our events, so that our name could be more visible in the community. Unfortunately for a time, none of us actually knew how to write a press release or appropriately let the media know about our events. Several attempts were made to attract the media to our program, but without success. If only I'd heard the lecture by our most recent guest speaker during my time at that program! I'd know the appropriate steps to take to approach the media and would have had practice writing a press release.

Alas...I've since moved on from that organization and will have to settle for using that experience plus the new information I have about the difference between advertising, marketing, and public relations to inform any future work I do with organizations that would benefit from media exposure. Obviously these topics are complicated and do require some experience in order to be successful. It's not just a matter of writing a letter to a newspaper or television station and saying 'Our organization is great and we think you should feature a story about us!' How many times a day do they hear that? It's all about the emotion and the story told. You've got to really grab their attention and make them feel something. Otherwise, you're just another paper on the huge stack of minor stories that no one will hear about.