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GUIDE TO GETTING PUBLICITY

CONTENTS

1. FINDING AND TARGETING YOUR AUDIENCE
2. DEALING WITH JOURNALISTS
3. BEING CREATIVE AND WRITING PRESS RELEASES
4. BEING INTERVIEWED
5. IN A CRISIS

FINDING AND TARGETING YOUR AUDIENCE

Through your local media you can reach a huge number of people. Use Yellow Pages and Benn's Media Directory (available at most public libraries) to find contact details. Local newspapers (both free and paid for), magazines, and radio stations, as well as regional television programmes, are all often looking for stories and pictures with a local angle. Local authorities, political parties and larger local companies often have newsletters and in-house magazines that can also be used for publicity purposes.

For maximum impact, you need to decide who your target audience(s) are, which magazines and programmes reach these audience(s), and how you can tailor your message to interest both the media and your intended audience. For instance, a message aimed at retired people would likely succeed if phrased differently from one for teenagers and placed in different media.

• What sort of topics are they interested in?
• Who is responsible for covering, say, education or local events? Try to get a name or names, though you will need to make a phone call to check that this is still the right person.
• When is the best time to contact them?
• Would they like you to provide a story and a picture, or would they prefer to do an interview, a feature or even a series?
• Do they want a photo opportunity? Invite a photographer (via the Picture desk) to anything suitably visual.
• What length of story do they want? If you write to the right length you are less likely to have your piece cut in ways that might not suit you.
• What are their deadlines?
• How do they prefer to get information: post, fax, e-mail?

If you are working with others, keep notes of contacts, deadlines and other useful information, and share it. Others in your group may be the next point of contact and need to be briefed. If you have a choice, appoint someone calm and charming to deal with the media - a hothead or a grumpy or aggressive communicator can do more harm than good.

If you have large numbers of contacts it is worth keeping them on a database so that you can print out address labels etc. quickly

Other ways of reaching the public:
If you can't get a story into the local media, write letters to the local and national papers, keeping them short and pithy.

You can also gain considerable local and national publicity by joining in radio phone-ins and on-line discussions, and attending local recordings of programmes such as BBC Question Time or Radio 4's Any Questions with pithy and timely questions ready.

But the media are not the only way to reach your audience. Here are some other ideas, and you will find other relevant ones locally: the Citizens' Advice Bureau; libraries; schools and adult education centres; Women's Institutes, Rotary and other local clubs and societies; shops with notice boards; leisure and sports centres; local branches of national charities; stalls at civic events and summer fairs; any place that will display a poster or leaflet.

DEALING WITH JOURNALISTS

If you have planned ahead and made your media contacts, you will be ready to swing into action and meet deadlines when you have a newsworthy event to launch.

A personal approach to the right journalist is usually the most effective way - try to talk to the journalist and gauge her/his reaction. Make sure that s/he gets key facts straight away: dates, the message(: you want to convey, any angle that might grab her/his interest. If you want her/him (and/or members of the public) to attend an event, give plenty of notice and clear directions. If you can't talk to her/him by phone, send an advance notice a few weeks beforehand - you could call it "A date for your diary".

Always try to be helpful to journalists - with information, facts, quotes, useful contacts. But if you need time to find the facts or to articulate an answer or a pithy quote, say you'll ring back in a minute - and do so, with some notes in front of you. But news perishes fast, and if you take too long to respond, they will find someone else. Always have someone available to talk to journalists, preferably a regular contact that can get to know them and become a useful and reliable resource for them. When journalists need information that you haven't got to hand, make sure that you note her/his name and phone number(s) to call back later (preferably within the hour), details of their deadlines and the publication/feature/programme it is for.

Don't worry if you get called up from time to time about things that you know little about. No one is an expert on everything, but listen carefully, note down exactly what they need, and help if you can. If you can put them in touch with someone else who can help (including BHA), do so. It may not directly help your cause but it will earn you "brownie points" and improve your relationship with that journalist.

Try not to say "No comment" unless there is a crisis (See Section 5). Journalists tend to strike you off their contacts lists if you fail to be helpful.

"Off-the-record" comments can be risky - avoid the temptation. If you are part of a group, make it clear whether something is an "official" group view, or your personal opinion - but don't rely on journalists maintaining this distinction, and remember that you will probably be seen and quoted as a representative of the group, whatever you say.

BEING CREATIVE

What will make your story newsworthy or interesting?

• Exploit (in the nicest possible way) any support you can get from local celebrities - including your MP. Maybe they can supply a quote for a press release, write an "open letter" (which you could draft), or appear at an event.
• Carry out a mini survey - outside a secondary school for young people's opinions, outside a primary school for parents' views, or in the High Street for a cross section of local people. Keep questions simple, with YES/NO type answers and turn figures into something snappy like "3 out of 4 people in Coketown think that..." The results can be an ideal hook for local media.
• Have a local angle and name the school, the area, the street, the people (with their permission) involved.
• Write a good press release. Press releases, sent out well in advance, are the usual way to send a message to the media. If you write a good one, it may well be used verbatim. At the very least, it will give journalists a written reminder of the facts for reference. It should be concise and to the point. If possible it should contain a quote from a local expert, celebrity or spokesperson. (Obtain their written permission first.)
• Make an impression when important people visit your area - carry a placard, speak to them, create a photo opportunity.

Contents of a press release - the famous "five Ws"

To ensure that you get all the relevant information across early in your press release, the usual method is to answer these 5 questions in the first few sentences: WHO is doing WHAT? WHERE? are they doing it, and WHEN? WHY?

For example: "The local "Learning Together" group will be launching its campaign against Coketown Council's plan for a new Church school, at a public meeting in Coalville public library on Wednesday 19`h September."

You can then expand on these bare facts in the next paragraph: who is involved already, why they oppose the plans, what the meeting hopes to achieve and who it is for...

For example: "Already parents from Sesame Street, Bradlaugh, and Conway Hall schools, local Liberal Democrats and members of Coketown Humanists, as well as Coalville Councillors Tom Brown and David Singh, have joined the Learning Together campaign. They are concerned that a new Church school will exclude many local families, including local agnostics, Muslims and Sikhs, and is no substitute for a new community school. Even Keith Wood, vicar of St Sebastian's parish church, has expressed doubts about the plans, saying: "I am not sure that this is what the Church should be doing in the 21 St century. I don't really appreciate the "Christians" who only turn up in my church for the year or two before their children get into the Church school, and I would prefer to see children of all faiths being educated together."

Coketown MP Brian Jones will speak at the meeting, supported by local resident and TV actor Will Shakespeare, whose nine-year old daughter Juliet goes to a local primary school. Experienced campaigners will be on hand to explain what to do next if you too are concerned about the divisiveness and discrimination that would follow a new Church school. For further details about the meeting or Learning Together, contact Nicola on ##### ######."

Presentation of a press release - making it look professional:

• Type it on headed paper, double-spaced, on one side of A4 paper.
• If it runs onto more than one page, type "more:/" at the bottom of each page, and "ends" at the bottom of the final page.
• Label it "PRESS RELEASE" at the top, and give it a short snappy title that sums up the contents.
• Mark it clearly with the date you are sending it out. If you do not want the information published before a certain date, mark it "EMBARGOED UNTIL..." with a note of the date and time it can be released.
• At the end, include the name and contact details (phone number essential) of the person who can answer queries and provide further information. Give a back-up name and number if possible.
• If you have background information that does not fit easily into the release, you can attach "NOTES FOR EDITORS" at the end. This is usually brief information in numbered points.
• A "CASE HISTORY" can also be attached at the end, clearly marked. Use names if you have written permission for the case to feature in the media, or keep it anonymous.

Phone just before the news deadline to remind the media that your event is still on and of great interest to the local community.

INTERVIEWS

Take up opportunities to be interviewed on radio or television. Often, interviews are pre-recorded and edited, so you can ask for a question and answer to be repeated if you are unhappy with your first attempt. But even live interviews can be easily managed if you prepare well and follow a few guidelines:

• Find out what kind of programme and audience you are addressing. Different stations and programmes cater for different audiences and will require different approaches. Very broadly, independent radio stations will have a "tabloid" approach, and Radio 4 style local programmes will have a more "broadsheet" one. Ask the producer / researcher / presenter when making arrangements.
• Find out in advance who is interviewing you, where, and what they are planning to ask. Sometimes interviewers will do a preliminary sounding out on the phone or welcome an idea of the questions you would like to deal with - they will almost always have the same interest as you in getting you, story across clearly and interestingly. Have answers ready for the most likely questions, and try to anticipate difficult or probing ones. But don't rely on interviewers sticking to their notes - some of them fancy themselves as the next Jeremy Paxman, and may decide to practise on you!
• If you have time, practise the interview beforehand, and consult other people in your organisation or campaign group. Ask someone to "interview" you, and try recording it.
• Decide on 2 or 3 main points you want to make, and jot them down or memorise them if it would make you feel more confident. Try to use the first answer to get your main point across, but keep answers concise and to the point. Use short sentences, try to be lively, clear and interesting, and don't bombard the audience with facts and figures. Make "human" points and use anecdotes and metaphors. It is important to provide a 'soundbite' that gets your main points across clearly and succinctly - if it's particularly good they may use it several times, or it can sometimes be the only bit they use.
• Distinguish clearly between your personal views and those of any group you are representing. If unsure of the "party line", use phrases such as: "I believe..." "As a parent, I want..."
• Never make assertions or invent "facts" that are not true. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you do not have all the answers, but try to work out effective ways of saying that, or of buying time to think.
• For television, dress smartly but comfortably - you need to look like someone to be taken seriously. Avoid spots or stripes that may make distracting moving patterns on screen. White and pale blue also don't look good on screen.
• Get there early so that you are not flustered on arrival, and accept the offer of water (or ask for some) - nerves can make your mouth very dry. Take several deep breaths before you begin.
• Be friendly and smile (even on the radio). Respond graciously to insults, and try to use humour.
• But don't look at the camera and never drink alcohol before a broadcast.

IN A CRISIS

You will probably never have to handle a crisis. However, in the unlikely event of your treasurer running away with the campaign funds or a spokesman being caught out doing or saying something unsuitable, you will need to limit the damage.

If there is time, prepare a short statement (in consuItation with others in your group if possible) and refuse to say more. If you have no time or are caught completely unaware of the crisis, it is safest to say nothing. This is the one occasion when it is better to say "No comment."

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