Community and Media Access

Celebrity Spokesperson

Celebrities lend their names and their ability to attract publicity to many causes, paid and volunteer. If a celebrity has a personal connection to the condition for which your group advocates, you may have an advantage. That may not be a requirement, however. We'll talk more about identifying likely celebrities and making contact with them later.

• Do you have a celebrity spokesperson?
• Are you aware of a celebrity with a recognizable name and an interest or connection to your condition?

Media Attention

Media access and attention comes in many forms, from simple radio or newspaper announcements of upcoming meetings to full-length documentaries about specific conditions or treatments. Media attention is an important avenue to membership, donations, and just plain awareness for your organization.

Organizations of different sizes generally take different approaches for interacting with the media. A large organization with a significant budget can benefit from outsourcing publicity activities to an agency. Even if your organization consists of half a dozen parents that meet only online, you can nevertheless contact local writers and start using the media.

• Have you been able to get media attention?
• If yes, then how?
• Press releases that led to interviews
• Editorials by your group published in local daily or weekly newspapers
• Feature articles in newspapers or magazines
• Radio appearances by group spokespeople or members
• Television appearances by group spokespeople or members
• Do you have specific goals for media attention? Are they met?
• Do you have resources or contacts who can help you capture media attention?

You can download a PDF form to help with this activity.

» Step 4: Compare your goals and your resources, with the characteristics of the condition