Recruiting: Publicity and General Media

Publicity is a much sought after, and sometimes elusive, avenue to building membership. For groups just starting out, and even those already established, it is important to constantly be aware of opportunities for publicity and to learn to create these opportunities.

Everything you do is an opportunity for publicity. Start small, and be aware that even a new angle on an old activity might prove newsworthy. Regularly announce meetings to the local papers and radio stations. Invite reporters and photographers to your events. Make these events personal - with the permission of a person involved in the activity, highlight his or her participation. You can also get information into the local media without paying for space by submitting a calendar item or press release.

Another way to do this is to submit a press release. A press release - more properly a news release - gives a brief description of a new event, discovery, or achievement and then provides a short description of your organization, with contact information. You can use wire services to distribute these releases, which newspapers then pick up as source material for articles or as notes for future articles.

Wire services also distribute calendars that indicate when information needs to be submitted to publishers in consideration of special calendar dates, such as holidays. If you plan events in conjunction with holidays or have other ways to tie your organization to a holiday, you can coordinate a news release with this editorial calendar to increase the impact of your release.

You can contact major media outlets more directly with your story - look for radio, newspaper, and television connections. Do you have a member who has an interesting story? Does one of your members do something incidental to the condition, but the condition can be mentioned as a part of the story? Is the individual or family willing and ready to go public with their story? Your story is interesting, and news outlets are eager to tell it, you just need to connect with the media. Does someone in your organization have media experience?

Be sure to let media know about every event you create, including all your fundraisers and meetings. Don't just alert them. Give them a press kit, educational information, contacts they can use for interviews, and story angles. Relate your event to other newsworthy items wherever possible. A media report on gene therapy, the Human Genome Project, and all kinds of studies and discoveries can use a human interest story - you just need to show the publications the connection between the big event and your condition. The media relies on personal examples to help flesh out the human dimensions of these stories for readers, and your organization can help them while getting visibility for itself.

That said, do not compromise the safety or comfort of your members just to get some air time. Make sure you know the implications - particularly when affected individuals and their families are being interviewed or having their pictures used. There are, at present, no protections in place for genetic discrimination in employment or insurance, so be sure that interviewees are not risking discrimination by being public about the condition - and that they understand the implications of participating.

You should also be aware that the media is looking to hook its audience as surely as you are looking to hook the media. For human-interest stories of good deeds or with good outcomes, this can be a very helpful thing. But understand that the media may also find a less than flattering angle, particularly if there is controversy surrounding some aspect of your condition or the research or treatment for it. Understand that the media usually illustrates controversy by focusing on two extreme and diametrically opposed opinions - and this could create a negative impression for your group or your condition. Know what your interviewees will say, and work with all members who have media contact to agree on a strategy for that contact, a party line, so to speak. You may want to have a half page of "talking points" about the condition and your organization for the person being interviewed. Keep in mind that the media organizations are all in business to make news and not necessarily to educate the public or fulfill the goals of your organization.

» Genetic Alliance's Media Tips