big lottery fund 2009 welcome to publicising your grant workshop

Big Lottery Fund 2009

Welcome toPublicising your grant workshop


Communications Team

East Midlands Regional Communications Manager

Amanda Miller

Tel: 0115 872 2961

Press Officer

James Nicholls

Tel: 020 7211 1706


What the regional teams do:

– Publicise projects that have received Lottery funding from Big Lottery Fund and Awards for All

– Organise events

– E-bulletins and web pages

– Support for projects – help with press releases, cheques, banners, merchandise

– Work with MPs

– Work with National Lottery Promotions Unit

– Work with media partners such as BBC & ITV


What the press office do:

– Write press releases

– Answer press enquiries/rebuttal

– Write letters to editors

– Devise media campaigns

– Features

– Write articles for magazines

– Set up television and radio interviews

– Organise photocalls


Signposting

– Press enquiries: BIG press team 020 7211 1888 or out of hours 07867 500 572

– Branding & merchandise enquiries: BIG branding team [email protected]

– For leaflets and publications contact our BIG advice line 0845 4 10 20 30

– For information about getting a grant contact our BIG advice line, or your local funding advice worker

– For information about your grant, contact your grant officer


Generating publicity


Generating Local PublicityProactive Work

BEFORE YOU START:

Be clear on your aims:

– Why are you doing this?

– What do you want to achieve?

– Have you got the capacity?

– Who is your audience?



BEFORE YOU START:

– Know the news agenda

– Know how your organisation is viewed

– Know what other groups are doing in the field



BE PREPARED:

– Updated key facts and figures about your project– Case studies with contact details– Spokesperson available for interviews– Contact details for key members of your organisation



KNOW YOUR LOCAL MEDIA

– Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet, including student or community-based stations

– Read the publication, watch or listen to programmes

– Identify key contacts

– Consider new media such as social networking sites



LOCAL JOURNALISTS

– Identify key interests for individual journalists

– Build relationships by supplying relevant stories on deadline

– Put information in context relevant to your contacts

– Explain issues clearly

– Return their calls



WHAT ARE JOURNALISTS LOOKING FOR?

– News - a fact or event that hasn’t been made public before

– News comment or feature – putting events into context, letters

– Features – in-depth coverage of events or trends

– Diary pieces – entertainment, possibly a charity event


Exercise

Working groups discuss:

– What is the purpose of a press release?

– What should a press release include?



PLANNING A PRESS RELEASE:

– Identify your story– Find a hook– Have a clear message – Have case studies and images ready– Identify and brief your spokespeople– Obtain quotes from key spokespeople to include– Alert all relevant team members about your plans



WRITING A PRESS RELEASE:

– Grab attention with a headline and first paragraph – keep it simple

– Put your news in the first paragraph of the release, don’t bury it in the last paragraph!

– Subsequent paragraphs should be in order of priority

– Include what, when, where, why, who, how– Be concise



WRITING A PRESS RELEASE:

– Use headed paper– Clearly mark ‘News Release’ at the top of the page– Add date and embargo date, or ‘For immediate release’– Include your name, telephone (including an out-of-hours

number), email address at the bottom– Include Notes To Editors at the end– Don’t forget to credit Fair Share Trust/Big Lottery Fund if

appropriate



SENDING OUT YOUR RELEASE:

– Check how journalist would like to receive it – fax, post, email

– Follow up your release with a phone call– If you are holding an event, ask if they will send a

photographer – Be there to meet the press & make sure you give them

the key messages about the project– Monitor the results


Exercise

Working in groups:

Read through the press release examples

– What do you like about them?

– What don’t you like?


Generating Local PublicityReactive Work

When approached by the media consider the possible reasons for the enquiry:

DON’T PANIC!

IS IT A COLD CALL OR IS IT A FOLLOW UP TO YOUR PUBLICITY WORK?



WHEN APPROACHED FIND OUT:

– Context of the enquiry

– Nature of the enquiry

– Name of the publication

– Name and contact details for the journalist

– Deadline for information



ACTION PLAN:

– Exercise judgement – don’t open up too much– Alert all relevant members of your organisation– Agree and disseminate lines to take to all your

spokespeople – Offer to supply statement in writing – it’s harder to take

words out of context– Exercise your right of reply, if the information

printed/broadcast by the journalist is factually incorrect



IF ENQUIRY RELATES TO BIG:

MAKE SURE THAT YOU PASS THE DETAILS

TO BIG LOTTERY FUND PRESS OFFICE ASAP on

020 7211 1888 or out of hours 07867 500 572


Provide a snapshot of the benefits a project brings to the community and to local people.

Follow this three step structure:- outline what the problem was- outline how the project tackled the problem- the results

Case studies can either focus on an individual’s personal journey or on a project as a whole

Case Studies


Case studies - examples

– Food for Life

– New College Nottingham Learning Bus

– Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry


New Media - websites


New Media – social networking

– Facebook.com - has an older, professional user base

– MySpace.com - focuses on fashion, music and film– Bebo.com - mainly a teenage following– LinkedIn.com - network for professional people to

build contacts and do deals– YouTube.com - biggest video upload site.– Twitter.com – a micro blogging and messaging site



– Amanda’s Facebook page

– Woodland Trust

– Breathing Places

– Ambergate Carnival



Do– Give your group time to develop and grow– Make it interesting– Think about how to promote the site

Don’t– Assume that people will join just because it’s there– Bombard your group members with frequent

messages – Become impatient– Put up photos, unless you are happy for them to be

used across the internet


Any questions?

big lottery fund 2009 welcome to publicising your grant workshop

Documents

big lottery fund

publicity slide

big press team

lottery funding

big branding team

big advice line

organisation slide

photocalls slide