PR Tactics on an Ordinary Budget

Tactics are the lifeblood of communications and public relations. They are the deciding factor in not only garnering media attention but also fulfilling campaign goals and objectives. By creating opportunities to highlight a campaign’s objective, tactics ensure that neither the campaign nor its intended target is overlooked by the media. If my campaign goal is to ensure school disciplinary policies are uniformly applied in a school district, I may pursue a host of tactics, such as publishing a report detailing racial inequities in school discipline, publishing an opinion essay from a student or parent on their experience, staging a press conference involving all students, or meeting with the editorial board to share facts and findings pertaining to school discipline. In this regard, tactics are a means to the end, not the end itself.

In the preceding chapters, I focused on the principles for successfully promoting your issue, organization, or grassroots campaign: being credible, creative, responsive, and relentless. While tactics are decided by the respective campaigns and organizational culture, I want to share a small range of possible tactics you and your team might employ to garner positive media attention that will help reinforce for donors and constituents the efficacy of your organization and mission. This ensures you can continue to fulfill your mission over the long term.

As I walk through a variety of tactics, I’ll also detail the principles that are most important for each tactic to underscore the CCRR framework.

TACTIC 1
Proactively Pitch stories

A gardener plants seeds with the full expectation of a harvest. You cannot enjoy a harvest absent time tilling the ground and preparing the soil for the seed. Only once the ground is prepared and the seed is planted can you anticipate a harvest. From a communications standpoint, proactively pitching a story is a lot like planting seeds. It involves thinking through potential story ideas, news hooks, and the time frame you want your story to run. While the publication date is ultimately determined by the editor and publisher, you should have a general sense of when events in the future might make a story on your topic more relevant. On the contrary, sometimes you may want to share information with reporters without expecting a story in return—at least not right away. Periodically reach out to reporters, editors, and producers to share information on issues they cover or are passionate about in order to keep you and your issues top of mind. I occasionally send articles, reports, or links to TV segments on issues when I know a reporter, editor, or producer may have interest.

While communications entails an element of passivity—since communicators must react and respond to media inquiries—you should proactively pitch reporters, editors, and radio and TV producers. If you wait for reporters to contact you, you’ll be waiting a long time and get few stories placed in the process. Or the stories you are contacted about will do little to advance the narrative or message you are working to promote.

When reporters contact sources, they are usually working on a particular story with a particular angle. When I worked for Advancement Project, I routinely received four to five media requests per week. Many fell right in line with my work, but some did not. While I work to be as accommodating as possible, if I am not proactively pushing my own organization’s agenda, our narrative will not be elevated. While it’s sometimes good to occasionally accept unsolicited media requests, doing so may not advance your issue. In other words, you’ll be playing on someone else’s court.

To proactively pitch a story idea, you need an understanding of which reporters cover which topics. Prior to pitching, research your media target and get a sense of the types of issues they cover, as well as the stories they’ve recently covered. If your organization focuses on mass incarceration, research media articles and determine which reporters are writing about the topic or related topics. Equipped with this information, you can target the appropriate media contacts and craft a more effective pitch. A pitch can be delivered via email, on the phone, or by voicemail.

There are several types of pitches. One is sent for long-term stories when you are sharing information in the hopes of getting a story at some point in the future. Alternatively, a pitch can also be delivered in anticipation of an upcoming event, such as the release of a report or a major announcement. A pitch that is shared for a future report or story idea is proactive in that you are planning weeks, sometimes months, in advance.

Proactively pitching stories takes on other forms as well. Advancement Project’s core issues include voting rights, voting rights restoration for persons with prior felony convictions, eliminating the over-criminalization of youth of color in schools across the country, and ending racial disparities in school discipline. On any given day, my team and I were facilitating media events on one or more of these topics. While my natural pitch list for an announcement pertaining to school discipline included education reporters from various outlets, I occasionally planted seeds of information with education editors as well as editorial board writers who focused on education from various newspapers. I didn’t expect the editors or editorial boards members to cover every story idea. However, I wanted them to think of me and call me prior to writing or editorializing on an education story, or any of the other issues my organization covered, for that matter. This was a no-risk, no-pressure pitch. I had already developed my targeted pitch list, and anything extra was a bonus.

The pitching strategies I mentioned earlier worked well for me. Of course, there are other options. I learned one while working as a legislative agent (lobbyist) for the Ohio Department of Transportation under former Ohio governor, Ted Strickland. The Strickland administration was pushing a high-speed rail project connecting some of Ohio’s largest cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton. While it was an exciting time, we were constantly beset by negative press and hostility from policy makers. We were often forced to explain the value of the train project. I quickly realized that one communications professional–turned lobbyist was spending hours on end phoning reporters to disparage our efforts. This resulted in dubious stories and distortions about our project. While this was a distraction for the administration, I marveled at the approach, vowing to appropriate a similar tactic of pitching reporters and peppering them with different ideas for future articles.

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREATIVE. When I draft the original pitch and subsequent pitches, I try to identify as compelling and interesting a subject line as possible. I’m looking for a subject line that begs a reaction. Here’s the catch though: I’m not interested in bait-and-switch tactics in which I use a provocative headline that leaves reporters, editors, and producers let down after they open the email. Instead, I’m looking for something that will entice them to read my message.

BE RELENTLESS. When I pitch, I typically send the pitch via email first and then follow up with a phone call. In most cases and when time permits, I’ll give the reporter a couple days to review my email or listen to my message. Then if I haven’t received a response, I’ll follow up again with another email or voicemail message.

Speaking of email, there is some disagreement over whether email is preferred to phone pitches. In many cases, I’ll do both. I will craft a carefully worded, informative pitch and send it via email. However, sending an email can be passive, and I don’t want to rely on the reporter to see my email and then respond. Sometimes I will also leave a voicemail message calling attention to the emailed pitch. When I leave a message, I am essentially repeating my pitch. Sometimes this works. I once pitched Ed Schultz—who at the time had a show on MSNBC—on a senate hearing organized by Illinois senator Dick Durban about school discipline and the school-to-prison pipeline. I left an impassioned message on Schultz’s cell phone, and much to my surprise, he called back within thirty minutes and covered the hearing the very next day.

Regardless of the preferred format for sending pitches, the follow-up is incredibly important. Reporters’ inboxes are inundated with press releases, white papers, and other material. More than half of the information is not relevant to the topic the reporter covers on a day-to-day basis. The blog Ragan’s PR Daily estimated the three largest press release distribution services sent more than 642,000 press releases in 2013.¹ This doesn’t include the smaller distribution services; nor does it include organizations that don’t use press release distribution services. If you factor in the decline of staff in many newsrooms and the fact that there are far more public relations professionals than there are journalists (remember, PR reps outnumber journalists 4.6 to 1), you’ll begin to gain an appreciation for the importance of crafting a winning pitch and the art of the follow-up.

Given these dynamics, I’m sure you can appreciate how easy it is for some messages to get overlooked. Additionally, if a reporter is bogged down covering another assignment, they may lose sight of or not have an opportunity to review or respond to your inquiry. Remember, a lack of an immediate response doesn’t always signal a lack of interest. That’s why gentle email or voicemail reminders are helpful. In some cases, the journalist may see the pitch but want to refer it to someone else in the newsroom who either is more inclined to do a story or may be able to get to the story sooner. They could also refer it to a colleague who has a history of covering the topic or ones like it.

BE CREDIBLE. Whether you’re sending an email, leaving a voicemail message, or engaging a member of the media directly through a phone conversation, always bring your A game. If you’re lucky enough to get a reporter on the phone, be well rehearsed, to the point, and compelling. This means practicing or role-playing your pitch. If you decide to role-play, select a partner who will seriously challenge you. This will allow you to prepare for any number of questions the reporter might hurl your way. It may also calm your nerves, especially if the reporter or editor is brisk and attempts to rush you off the phone, which can be jarring, if not downright intimidating.

In addition to role-playing, I find writing my pitch helps keep me on track as it allows me to have critical points at the ready. If you decide to write your pitch, share it with a colleague to get his or her impression on whether it packs a punch or is filled with extraneous information. Reporters are typically jammed for time, so you’ll want to quickly get to the point and then move on to the next person on your pitch list. In case it’s not apparent, there is an important relationship between proactively pitching and planning. Proactive pitching requires advanced notice. You decrease your likelihood of success by calling a reporter the day—or even a couple days before—you want your story idea to appear in print. Give them enough notice to review your pitch and decide whether they will cover your news item. They also need time to pitch your concept to editors. A reporter may love your pitch on a protest involving singing grandmothers (such as those who joined the weekly Moral Monday protests in North Carolina in 2013) but forestall action on it if they don’t have time to work it into their schedules or if current events present something more compelling.

As a rule of thumb, provide as much notice as possible. However, there are exceptions depending on your industry and the nature of the story you’re pitching. If you are working on a political campaign or a union-organizing campaign and are planning an action, such as a press conference, picket, or rally, you want to notify the media on the day of the action or, in some cases, the night before. There’s a reason for this approach. What you’re trying to avoid here is tipping your hand and informing your opponent of your plans. For example, if you are planning a picket line outside of a company over the wages paid to workers, you’ll want to advise the press the day of the event. Remember, once you send the advisory, the reporter may call the opposing entity to gain their thoughts in an effort to provide balance, or two sides to the news story. The company may ask the reporter to share your press advisory or release, thereby detailing all of your plans. I’ve had press releases I’ve sent to the media shared with the opposing party, and I’ve received press releases from employers and opposing entities simply by asking the reporter nicely. They usually oblige such requests. A good media relations person will always ask to see the opposing group’s press release if the action or report in question targets their organization.

If I’m seeking a feature, I try to pitch the concept or idea four or five weeks in advance. This allows time to find the appropriate reporter for the story and allows them time to ponder the idea and then pitch an editor. Another benefit of pitching early is that it allows reporters time to possibly clear other items from their plate. Let’s face it: Reporters are not sitting around waiting for story ideas. They have a portfolio of work and, assuming they deem it worthy, need to work your idea into their to-do list. With shrinking staff in newsrooms, it is imperative you plan early.

When pitching, focus on broad story ideas or concepts that have not previously been covered. Remember, many national media outlets, unlike local outlets, do not cover events. The New York Times, for instance, is unlikely to cover events. If it’s not part of a broader trend or developing story, your chances of getting an event covered by the New York Times are slim to none. You will have to find a different angle. Remember, the job of the media is to report the news, not serve as an extension of your PR team. Prior to pitching a news outlet on an event you should have a good understanding of the circumstances that might make such an idea appealing.

BE RESPONSIVE. There also have been times when members of the media have sent highly confidential reports in exchange for my organization’s candid feedback. Whenever a government entity releases a report, the media will look for feedback, good and bad, and may turn to advocates or industry leaders for input. It’s difficult to offer meaningful and honest feedback without having had an opportunity to review the report in question. Reporters understand this and may share embargoed copies of reports and major policy announcements on the condition the source not disclose they received the information prior to the official release. This process helps members of the media with pre-reporting by ensuring they can file their story quickly after a report is released, rather than tracking down sources, waiting for them to read the documents in question, and then providing a response. Since reporters and producers are under a deadline to break the story as quickly as possible, try to be as responsive as possible. By the way, I’m not saying all reporters and producers follow this pre-reporting process, but many do.

The rule of not tipping your hand applies if you’re in a communications role for a political campaign, government body, candidate, or a labor union working on an organizing campaign or negotiating a collective bargaining agreement. Aside from these exceptions, you cannot wait until the day of to pitch reporters. Give them a lead time of at least three or four days. If your item is a major issue, such as a closely watched trial or a rapidly escalating crisis, you may be allowed some wiggle room. As a general practice, however, aim to pitch (and re-pitch) reporters as early as possible. Remember, everyone has a boss, and reporters are no exception. Once you successfully pitch a reporter, giving them enough information to pique their interest, the reporter then must sell the story to their editor. You want to allow time for this process to run its course.

TACTIC 2
Develop and Use Your Network

I’m not a fan of waiting until I need a reporter to call them and ask them to cover a story. I want the reporter to know me and my organization before I even pick up the phone to make an ask. You don’t always get this opportunity, but cultivating relationships with the media and potential sources is always the goal. As such, I work to build my network.

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREDIBLE. My network includes not just journalists, editors, producers, and media executives who cover or are interested in the topics my organization advocates, but also third-party validators who can attest to the claims of my organization on any number of issues. I also work to ensure my network includes “real people” or those impacted by the issues I’m advocating.

With respect to third-party validators, it’s certainly easier to involve them in the story when they know and trust you. For example, it’s much more powerful to identify youth who have been directly impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline than it is to offer only the media lawyers who can talk about the phenomenon. Both lawyers and impacted people are important. If my PR work focuses on education equity, such as school closures and overly harsh school disciplinary policies, my network should include people at all spectrums of the education continuum: educators, students, advocates, as well as juvenile justice reform advocates. I distinguish myself from other PR pros and advocacy groups when I can offer the media strong validators.

If you were a reporter, who would you trust: a communications director or a sitting judge? My vote is with the sitting judge. When thinking about your network, give thought to people whom the public deems trustworthy messengers. Teachers, nurses, judges, and students are examples of respected messengers. The extent to which you can combine your organizational leader with a trusted public messenger will maximize your media coverage. This is why a robust network is crucial for promoting your work or leader over the long term.

Just like members of the press, you should know these people before you enlist their help with something as significant as speaking to the media, as this can be intimidating. When you hear compelling stories, get to know the people behind the stories. Make a genuine effort to build a trusting relationship with them before you need them to advocate for you.

When I heard the story of honor student Kiera Wilmot, who had been suspended over a science project gone wrong, I asked one of the attorneys in my office at the time, Alana Greer, if she could get in touch with Wilmot’s mother and her attorney. When Greer provided the contact information for the lawyer, I called him, introduced myself, and offered help sharing Kiera’s story with the media; I was genuinely saddened by her experience and believe it was a classic example of the school-to-prison pipeline. The family attorney welcomed my call but asked me to touch base with Kiera’s mom, Marie. After a series of conversations with Marie, I built a relationship with her and her daughter. They knew I was there to help rather than take from them. In this way, I planted the seeds for a long-term relationship that I still maintain to this day. Cultivating a relationship with sources and the media doesn’t require a huge expenditure of resources. Even with a cash-strapped budget, it can yield outsized results.

BE CREATIVE. Reporters want the story. Never let the fact that you don’t know the person you’re pitching be a stumbling block for engaging them on a story idea. The first time I pitched Donna St. George of the Washington Post, I didn’t know her. I saw that she covered education and thought she might be interested in Senator Dick Durbin’s hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline, which I reference earlier in the book. Sometimes success has more to do with being bold than it does luck. The key is to try; and while you’re at it, take some time to find a novel approach that will capture reporters’ attention.

TACTIC 3
Develop Weekly Call/Pitch Lists

Each week, think about the reporters, editors, columnists, and media executives you want to contact and then develop a corresponding call list. Your list doesn’t have to be incredibly long; just a few names will do. Of course, if you’re planning a press event such as a media conference call, press conference, press briefing, or public gathering, you will automatically contact members of the media, if for no reason other than to ensure they know about your event. The concept of developing weekly call or pitch lists is for weeks when you have nothing planned. If you aim to do this every week, you may fall short, but not as short as if you had no goal in place at all.

The purpose of the weekly call/pitch list is to cultivate relationships with journalists and keep your organization on the radar. But keep in mind you must have something to say. You could share an article or blog post, give your media contacts a heads-up about a potential story, or invite them to coffee. To be clear, the call or pitch list is less about picking up an actual phone and more about initiating some form of contact, whether it’s via the phone or email.

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREDIBLE. Every few weeks, I try to dedicate time to thinking about the work my organization is doing and studying which journalists are covering similar topics. I ask myself, “What is the media covering?” versus “What should they be covering?” I also think about which member of the media or which outlet might be most interested in the work my organization is doing. As I’m going through this thought process, I encourage others on my team to do the same thing.

For example, in thinking about restrictive voting laws and talking to members of my team, it occurred to me that many outlets were covering the mechanics of the various laws, but few were covering the hidden costs they incurred. I reasoned a story on the true cost of voter ID laws would be incredibly insightful. I thought about the reporters who might be interested in such a story and mapped a plan to pitch it.

BE RELENTLESS. For months I worked (albeit in vain) to get that article on the cost of voter ID laws placed. I was buoyed when the study, “The High Cost of ‘Free’ Photo Identification Cards,” by Richard Sobel, was released in June 2014.² Sponsored by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, the study affirmed what many intuitively believed, and it offered a mechanism for estimating the costs of so-called no-cost state IDs.

The expenses for documentation, travel, and waiting time are significant, especially for minority-group and low-income voters—typically ranging from about $75 to $175. When legal fees are added to these numbers, the costs range as high as $1,500. Even when adjusted for inflation, these figures represent substantially greater costs than the $1.50 poll tax outlawed by the 24th amendment in 1964.

Doesn’t this sound interesting? Like an article or feature begging to be written? I thought so too. I began pitching this concept in July 2014 to the New York Times, NBC’s Dateline, and Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight blog. Later that year (in October 2014) the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report titled, “Issues Related to State Voter Identification Laws,” which offered empirical evidence that voter ID laws do indeed come at a cost for communities of color and lower-income families.³ The GAO study received media coverage, which meant my desire to be the first person who brought the issue to the press, linking it to the work of my organization to challenge voter ID laws, had fallen short. However, I used the reports as an opportunity to share information with reporters on my weekly call list. So while I didn’t actually place the story on the myth of “no-cost” IDs, I was able to share the information with my network of reporters.

Maintaining a call list obviously requires an investment of time. You cannot allow yourself to be so bogged down by the details that you miss the forest for the trees, as the cliché goes. PR pros must allow ourselves time and space to think a few steps down the line to what could and what should be covered.

BE CREATIVE. To assist in this forward-thinking process, I enlist as many thought partners as possible. During my team meetings, I encourage all team members to offer ideas for people we should be targeting in the press and stories we should be working to elevate. Since reporters will develop different types of relationships with different communicators, I try to learn who on my team has relationships with whom in the media and then determine the best person to do the outreach. In the end, we identify and plan outreach with far more reporters than one person could working alone.

TACTIC 4
Engage Editorial Boards

The primary responsibility of the editorial board is to publish editorials that represent the voice of the board and its publisher. The editorial board is separate from the newsroom and includes the Letters to the Editor and Opinion pages of a publication. While the editorial board is distinct from the newsroom, editorial page editors will sometimes invite reporters to participate in editorial board meetings, giving you the opportunity to potentially get your message into an editorial or a news article. There are four possible outcomes for every editorial board meeting:

• The paper can take a position in favor of your issue.
• The paper could write an editorial opposing your issue.
• The paper may elect to remain neutral and not weigh in at all.
• The news department could do an article explaining your position.

One of the benefits of editorial board meetings is that they can include more than just editorial board members. Sometimes the publisher of smaller outlets will attend editorial board meetings, and many editorial board editors also invite the reporter who covers the topic that you are discussing. This partly explains why editorial board meetings are on the record unless you explicitly request—and the paper agrees—to an off-the-record discussion. Once you’ve met an editorial board member, reporter, or publisher and impressed on them who you are and what you represent, it is usually more difficult for them to vilify you. While they may not agree with your position on every issue, a face-to-face meeting with editorial boards could neutralize the board or dissuade them from weighing in on an issue. I highly recommend them.

When thinking about strategies and tactics to promote your issue, organization, or grassroots campaign, engage the editorial boards of publications that are local or national. If an issue gains prominence, editorial boards often weigh in and issue their opinion on the topic. Moreover, policy makers and other leaders routinely peruse this section of the publications. Since there is always a chance an editorial board could weigh in on a major issue, wouldn’t you like them to have your perspective in mind before crafting a piece that could influence how others view a topic that is important to you?

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREDIBLE. Assign someone on your team to research the editorial page editors for all the papers in the cities and states where you work. For instance, if your organization is based in Ohio, you’d include all the major and smaller newspapers in Ohio: the Columbus Dispatch, the Plain Dealer, the Akron Beacon Journal, the Toledo Blade, Dayton Daily News, Youngstown Vindicator, the Cincinnati Enquirer, et cetera. If you don’t have sufficient staff to do this, use a summer intern or call the communications or journalism department at a local college or university and ask them if they have a student who can work with you on this project. If all else fails, do it yourself. Just take your time, and try to identify one editorial page editor per week.

Next, read the editorials the publication has written in the last several months. This will give you a sense of whether the paper skews conservative, liberal, or libertarian. If a paper is an opponent of the issues I am espousing, I may forgo an editorial board with them, and opt for an editorial board memo.⁴ Alternatively, I’ll do an editorial board meeting with the understanding that I am seeking solely to neutralize the paper, not change their mind.

After I’ve researched the paper and its views, I begin thinking about who to take with me to the meetings. I want a subject matter expert, the leader of my organization, and perhaps an impacted person. I try to limit the number of people involved in the editorial board meeting so as not to outnumber the media outlet’s representatives. Part of being credible in this instance is taking the right people who can effectively answer the array of questions that may be lobbed your way.

Another part of being credible is ensuring the team that will participate in the editorial board meeting is fully prepared. At this point, I begin prepping the team for the types of questions they’re likely to receive. I also develop a prep memo of the members of the editorial board, the paper’s position on any range of issues, the messages I want to convey during the meeting, and controversial topics that could be raised in the discussion. From here, I begin engaging editorial boards to see who will meet with me and my group.

If I am arranging multiple editorial boards, I normally try to schedule the smaller and the most ideologically similar outlets first. I want to allow the members who are participating as much practice as possible before moving them on to larger or more hostile outlets.

BE RESPONSIVE. Follow-up is usually required after editorial boards. Sometimes you need to provide reports and supporting documentation to undergird the claims you’ve made. In other cases, you may need to connect editorial board members with third-party validators. In some instances, the editorial board editor may offer you the opportunity to submit a guest column on the topic you discussed in the meeting. In a lot of cases, an editorial page member or editor will call you to fact-check claims just before they publish an editorial on the topic you all discussed. Whatever the follow-up, it’s critical to respond in a timely fashion, to be responsive.

TACTIC 5
Utilize Op-eds (Guest Columns)

Op-eds, or guest columns, provide an opportunity to offer unfiltered commentary on a given issue. They allow the writer to tell a story on his or her own terms. Once published, the essay can be promoted through various digital media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and websites, making it evergreen. Opinion essays can live on into perpetuity.

Crafting opinion pieces can be time consuming. In addition to writing and editing, the piece must be successfully pitched to media outlets one at a time. Even though this is a time-intensive process, opinion editorials are worth the effort. In 2014, I set a goal for my team at Advancement Project to write, edit, or place twenty-four opinion editorials per year. We surpassed this goal, placing forty-one essays in news outlets as wide-ranging as LatinaLista, CNN, the Hill, and Essence magazine. And in 2015, we more than met this goal and placed forty-two opinion essays in outlets across the country.

The beauty of opinion essays is they are unfiltered commentary. They also allow people who don’t always have a voice to share their thoughts on any number of issues with the world. They can greatly boost an organization’s or leader’s brand and, further, assuming you have communications staff with writing skills, they can be prepared with little to no resources other than the time it takes to write and pitch them to news outlets. Opinion editorials are one of the few earned media tools and tactics that give you the same benefit of paid media. Another is promoting your work via digital and social media channels such as Snapchat, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. (See Chapter 6 on social media.)

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREATIVE. If you’re going to write an opinion essay, be sure your guest column coincides with the news cycle, as this will make it easier to have the piece published. Think about upcoming news hooks, and craft your opinion essay using one of those hooks. This may mean writing your essay and then holding it until current events make it timely.

Additionally, to the extent possible, try to recruit impacted people to write their own opinion essays. This ensures an authentic and unique voice and perspective. For some people, writing is intimidating. I normally tell people I work with to get their thoughts on paper and then send them to me to edit. When this doesn’t work, I’ve also met with people one on one and recorded them as they relayed their experience. Armed with their authentic voice, I can then craft an opinion essay using their words. The bottom line is you want to include the appropriate voice and lived experiences of the authors in opinion essays.

BE CREDIBLE. Once the essay is written, I read it carefully and think about the most appropriate publication. Some essays lend themselves to the Washington Post and others to the Hill. It just depends on the types of essays each publication publishes and the style of writing. It’s important that once an essay is written, the communicator allows sufficient time to pitch different publications. It normally takes several tries before an essay is accepted for publication.

Practically speaking, opinion essays should be between 700 and 750 words. Some publications require shorter or longer submissions. Be sure to check the submission guidelines before submitting your opinion essay.

TACTIC 6
Maximize Digital Media

Many people are visual learners, preferring to grasp information through photos and videos. One of the reasons Rev. Barber’s Moral Monday protests in North Carolina were so successful was his team’s use and distribution of dynamic photos and videos. Many of the photos were taken by photographer Phil Fonville, who sometimes refuses payment for grassroots movement work. His work can be accessed at www.philfonville.com. Eric Preston of Fusion Films often travels with Rev. Barber, capturing videos of his sermons, speeches, press conferences, and other actions. Preston uploads the videos on YouTube and other social media channels ensuring wide distribution. For people who have not met Barber directly, watching the videos gives them a sense of his style, mission, and purpose. It can also give them the sense of being part of the movement even though they may live states away. The NC NAACP’s use of videos and photos also points to a broader lesson: Capturing videos, photos, or news articles is just the beginning. Once you secure these items, it’s time to promote and disseminate them through digital media platforms.

Once you’ve successfully pitched and placed a news feature or article, and the story has appeared in print or captured amazing video footage, you have an awesome opportunity to share the work with an even broader audience. Once an article appears in print, you should promote it via digital media, including posting it on your organizational website or blog, or on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Rather than scheduling a single tweet or post on Facebook, send out a series of well-timed and strategic postings. You should also share the article or video with colleagues, donors, and potential donors, people working in your issue area, and reporters and producers who have covered or may consider covering the given topic in the future. (For more on the importance of social media for communications, please see Chapter 6.)

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREATIVE. While there will always be a role for communicators who focus on traditional media, and certainly traditional communicators should learn basic digital media skills, there is no substitute for investing in digital media staff. When I say digital media, I am referring to websites, the Internet, email advocacy, as well as social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Medium. There are some people who are hardwired to appreciate digital media. These individuals are happy to investigate emerging trends and ensure your organization is prepared to maximize them. These are the people you want on your payroll.

I have had great success with hiring recent college graduates to support my organization’s digital media needs. I then invest in them and get them the additional training they want and desire. Some of this comes through digital media coaching. For years, I’ve worked with Alan Rosenblatt (Dr. DigiPol) of turner4D to coach and further develop the digital media talent at my organizations. Other times, I’ve sent digital media staffers to workshops and conferences. I’ve also hosted free communications skillshares with noted public and digital media experts for communicators in the Washington, D.C., area. These workshops help to expand the skillsets of communicators and also provide networking opportunities for attendees.

BE RELENTLESS. Social media is exciting and engaging, but one must still be relentless when using it. Once you craft a blog post or succeed in having a guest column published, your work has just begun. For instance, after you’ve published a blog post or guest column, share it on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn Pulse. You might also consider sharing your published piece on StumbleUpon, Reddit, GrowthHackers, or Quora. This expands the audience that receives your message and amplifies your campaign reach.

TACTIC 7
Recruit and Utilize Third-party Validators

No one cares what you say about yourself. However, people do care what others say about you, which is why third-party validation is so important. As a public relations professional, you have no credibility until you earn it. Most journalists think we’re liars, anyway. Don’t believe me? Among other findings in a recent report put out by digital firm D S Simon, Kevin Allen writes, “90 percent of digital journalists say a PR pro has lied to them. Sixty-eight percent say that PR pros lie to them ‘sometimes,’ and 20 percent say they’ve been lied to ‘often.’ ”⁵ While perception is not always consistent with reality, I share these statistics to illuminate the barriers PR pros may face. Understanding this point of view helps explain the significance of surrogates or third-party validators.

It is critically important to build a coterie of well-respected people, individuals with a large and loyal following, and those regarded as having the ability to influence others. Your list of third-party validators could include traditional movers and shakers like politicians, academics, CEOs of large enterprises, celebrities, and ministers with large congregations who are commercially known (think TD Jakes).

Increasingly, corporations and others are also relying on online influencers (e.g., YouTube personalities, bloggers) to help promote their organizations or issues. I’ve retained high-profile bloggers—namely Danielle Belton (The Black Snob) and Alan Rosenblatt (Dr. DigiPol)—to serve as members of my organizations’ echo chamber helping to highlight key issues in the racial and social justice movements. In Vancouver, Jessica Thomas Cooke and Hilary Chan-Kent created Wanderlust Management to represent online influencers and handle their business affairs. Online influencers can be found by tracking people with large online followings, and then monitoring the issues they regularly post about to see if there is alignment with your organization.

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREDIBLE. As I mentioned earlier in the chapter, take time to develop relationships with third-party validators before you need them. One way to build relationships with third-party validators is to seek out academics and researchers who focus on your program areas. When you see reports or books that affirm your organization’s position on a given issue, reach out to the author or writer to express your support. Slowly begin to build a relationship with them by requesting a meeting, sharing information, and learning more about their thought process and beliefs. They should also know you and your organization’s positions on various issues.

As you’re identifying surrogates and third-party validators, be careful to ensure they’re credible. In the same way that your own credibility is important, you don’t want surrogates who will do more harm than good. Your surrogates should assist in garnering favorable media coverage, not create a media crisis that you then need to resolve. As I write, I’m thinking of then president-elect Donald J. Trump’s surrogate Mark Burns who allegedly exaggerated some of his professional accomplishments.⁶ The South Carolina preacher claimed to have had a Bachelor of Science degree and to have served in the United States Army. Both claims turned out to be false. Just a few days prior to the allegations of exaggerated accomplishments, Burns allegedly posted a cartoon of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in blackface.⁷ Both incidents detracted attention from Trump’s candidacy and created news stories that did not advance the candidate’s message. While it’s impossible to know everything a surrogate will or will not do, the key is to thoroughly vet a person’s past before enlisting them as a surrogate.

The Burns example may be a little more dramatic than what you or I might experience. Shortly after the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, I organized a media conference call for Advancement Project to urge parents, educators, and others to examine the unintended consequences of police in schools, including dramatic rises in school-based arrests, police officers becoming involved in minor disciplinary issues, and, in some cases, excessive use of force against students. We wanted a collection of well-respected speakers who could speak to the natural tendency to want to keep kids safe but also of the need to proceed with caution when deploying police in schools.

Obviously, in the aftermath of a crisis, time is of the essence when it comes to generating media attention to advance policy positions or organizational goals. In addition to responding to the crisis, we were preparing to release a joint report, “Police in Schools Are Not the Answer to the Newtown Shooting,” from Advancement Project, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (NAACP LDF), Dignity in Schools, and the Alliance for Educational Justice. I didn’t have a lot of time to identify speakers for the call. Some of the speakers—like Matt Cregor, who at the time worked for the NAACP Legal and Education Defense Fund; Damon Hewitt, who also worked for the NAACP LDF at the time; and students who’d had experience with police in schools—were people with whom my organization had worked closely. At least one speaker, Gregory Thomas, the former executive director of school safety for New York City Public Schools, was not.

Much to my surprise, during the media call, Thomas highlighted the benefits of police in schools. His message was different from the one we had discussed. Had we (read I) done a little more research, we would have been prepared for Thomas’s nuanced position. The call reinforced for me the need to thoroughly vet sources and validators before including them in our work.

BE RELENTLESS. It is easy to focus on the day-to-day activities of your job without focusing on relationship building with not just journalists but also third-party validators. Being relentless in this context is about being intentional about building relationships, while also regularly assessing who in your organization has relationships with whom. You do not need to know everyone, but you should have a good sense of who in your organization has relationships with influencers—academics, faith leaders, and other people who could potentially support your work as third-party validators. Surveying your leadership team and the broader staff of your organization to get a sense of their professional and personal networks is essential. You don’t need to be creepy to do this. As your organization releases reports and other communications, share them with your network and ask your colleagues to do the same. Go one step further and try to get a sense of who is in your colleagues’ networks as this will help you identify potential surrogates.

TACTIC 8
Package the Story

Whatever your topic, when pitching you want to make it as easy as possible for the media to cover. Spare no effort in going out of your way to help the reporter, producer, or host to acquire the material they need to cover your issue. Come to the table with story ideas, third-party validators to bolster your assertions, and real people (as opposed to talking heads, such as public relations officials) who are willing to speak with the reporter or producer. For example, if you want to pitch a voting rights story that focuses on the impact new voting law changes have on voters, come to the table with a list of people (including their phone numbers and email addresses) who can speak to the adverse impact the policy will have on them. Obviously, you will want to speak with the would-be spokesperson first to ensure he is interested in sharing his story prior to disclosing his contact information to the media. You’ll also want to have an analysis of the voting law changes, why they were introduced, and the corresponding impact, with research and supporting documentation, such as reports or policy briefs, to back up your claims. It doesn’t hurt to also have academics and other experts who can attest to your point of view. If you get the reporter or producer on the hook to write or produce your desired story, you’ll have people lined up to help make it a success. It’s important to have this information and these sources already in mind and at the ready so if a reporter decides to write the article, you are not slowing the process to go out and find the sources who will help shape your article.

HOW TO DO IT

BE RELENTLESS. The communicator should see her job as making the life of journalists easier. This means coming to reporters and columnists with story ideas, the supporting research materials, and people who are willing and available to speak with reporters should they decide to do a story. This is an ongoing effort. You should consistently collect testimonials before you ever land a news story. You should also work diligently to build your Rolodex of people impacted by the various policies your organization supports before they’re ever needed. Here’s why. It takes time to earn the trust of people you are asking to share their stories with the media. A lot of people are reluctant and fearful of being interviewed. If they know and trust you, they will be more inclined to speak with a reporter you endorse. In instances where you are proactively pitching story ideas, it’s best not to wait until you get a reporter on the hook to do the legwork of identifying spokespersons, as this will slow the process.

BE RESPONSIVE. Of course, there will be instances when you are reacting to a media request, in which the reporter, producer, or editor, may have a specific profile of a person in mind with whom they would like to speak for a story, and you may not have the benefit of being prepared in advance. Even if you are reacting to a specific request from the media, you can still act quickly and identify the appropriate spokesperson. The broader point is to go out of your way to help the reporter with pre-reporting needs. Doing this will help solidify your relationships with the press while also helping to ensure you are elevating the issues for which you are most passionate. You cannot maximize the moment without carefully preparing the story you’d like the media to report.

Tactic 9
Organize and Facilitate Engaging Events

Sometimes we need to create opportunities to tell our stories. Solely relying on press releases is insufficient. We also need to create events that allow us to elevate the issue or campaign for which we’re working. Events also provide fuel for broadcast media; moving images can sometimes capture our stories in a compelling way that the written word cannot.

HOW TO DO IT

BE CREATIVE. Years ago, I worked for America Coming Together, a 527 created by Steve Rosenthal. America Coming Together was an independent expenditure campaign in support of John Kerry’s presidential bid. At the time, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card was coming to Columbus, Ohio, to campaign for George W. Bush. Our communications team wanted to use the opportunity to highlight what we saw as flawed policies of the Bush administration. As such, we created a six-foot-tall, fluorescent pink greeting card with a message for Washington. After first alerting the media of our plans, we took the greeting card and stood outside the Ohio Statehouse. Columbus’s WBNS Channel 10 attended our press avail and captured footage of our protest. This was a visual opportunity to highlight our message, and it proved incredibly effective.

The key to successful media events is being creative in your approach. Ensure your event is visually appealing with aspects that beg to be covered. Other examples include press conferences at the site of demonstrations, petition delivery drops, and counter-protests.

BE CREDIBLE. If you’re going to plan a media event, do your research and plan it at a time that increases the likelihood that the media will show up; avoid planning events that take place during the lunch or evening newscast, or on Friday afternoons. Please also remember that many media outlets are unwilling or unable to pay overtime for weekend events, unless those events are major or large in scope in terms of attendees. Generally, it is best to avoid weekend press events.

While tactics will invariably shift from organization to organization, I chose to highlight the nine tactics above because they can be universally applied regardless of the personality of your organization. But please don’t think they are exhaustive. They are offered as a floor and not a ceiling to help jump-start your own thinking around using creativity, responsiveness, credibility, and relentlessness to elevate noteworthy campaigns.