Crossroads of America Council

Boy Scouts of America

District PR Chair MeetingDecember 9, 2008

Agenda

• Introductions• What is public relations?• Why media relations?• Getting your story out• Questions and Discussion

Introductions

PR Versus Marketing

Marketing is “selling what the company makes” and P.R. is “selling what makes the company” – Bob Gildea

For Scouting – this translates into:

Marketing sells the Scouting programs, P.R. sells the value of Scouting

• Join

• Recommend membership to others

• Recommend others to donate

• Doubt negative information

• Volunteer or work (and continue to work) for the organization

People who think well of Scouting are more

likely to:

Bottom Line

Increased awareness helps with:

• Recruitment and retention of Scouts and volunteers

• Fundraising efforts

• Positive feelings toward Scouting

• Differentiation from other youth programs

Council PR Support• Shelly Grimes: Marketing and PR Coordinator

sgrimes@crossroadsbsa.org/ (317) 925-1900 x. 224– Full-time staff member– Day-to-day pr/marketing contact– Your link to communications support– Lead for Crossroads newsletter, Eagle Scout

communications, etc.• Debbie Davis: Triad Public Relations

– Consultant (part-time)– Strategic planning– Crisis management– Major gifts campaign

Role of PR/Marketing Committee

• Communications expertise from community

• Connects Scouting with others

• Provide guidance to support President’s goal– Scouting programs and services– Crisis communications– Style Guide

Council-wide activities

Calendar Specific Events• Scouting Anniversary• Scouting for Food• Awards Dinner• Cookout on the Circle• Fall membership drive• Popcorn Sales• Good Turn DayOngoing• Human interest stories• Stories aligned with major gifts campaign• Preparation for 100th Anniversary in 2010

Council Responsibilities

• Council wide programs (popcorn, Scouting for Food, membership)

• Major media contact • Distribute public service announcements and scripts • Write and distribute Eagle Award press releases • Contact for TV stations and Indianapolis Star human

interest stories• Monitor press clippings• Lead crisis communications efforts• Keep district PR chairs informed• Manage style guide and media database

District Responsibilities

• Develop and pitch story ideas about Scouting to local media.

• Write and distribute district-specific press releases• Using master media list, create a district media contact

list• Work with district committee to develop & distribute a

district newsletter to volunteers• Recruit, encourage, motivate & coordinate activities with

unit public relations chairs• Share pictures and video of district events• Keep council informed of coverage in your area

Unit Responsibilities• Contact charter organization with unit news• Develop contact list for neighborhood, school,

church newsletters, etc.• Complete unit press release templates and send

to contact list • Notify district PR chair of potential stories • Share pictures & video of unit events• Contact newspapers or radio stations with

district PR chair approval

District PR Efforts in 2009

• Focus on recruiting and retaining district PR chairs

• Provide organized communications between council and district PR chairs

• Update toolkits and templates to make work easier and consistent

• Develop additional training

Unit PR in 2009

• Identify and recruit more unit PR chairs• Continue to focus on positive public

relations for units• Increased attention on human interest

stories• Provide more tools and communication

from council including more templates• Add more training • Update & promote Unit PR award system

Why media relations?

•Media is invasive in our society (we can’t hide from it)

•Media relations offers a way to take messages to the masses, without a million-dollar ad campaign

•Media relations offers third-party credibility, that no amount of ad money can buy

•Cuts through the clutter of messages that people receive

Media relations is critical

So how are we going to get our stories in the hands of media?

Building a plan• List activities you want to publicize as well as when and

how they will be publicized• Determine which media outlets are appropriate• List other sources that may be interested (newsletters,

etc.)• Determine contacts and deadlines• Establish a process within your district for submission

and review• Set ground rules upfront to ensure media doesn’t get

bombarded• Let the council know so we can watch for it!

Audiences

• Who do you want to reach? Why?

• Common audiences are:• Current Scouts/ families• Prospective Scouts/families• Volunteers• Alumni• Public• Media

How can we reach our audiences?

• There are many ways including: – News media– Crossroads newsletter – School newsletters– Church bulletins– Home owner’s association newsletters– Weekly community papers– Local radio shows– Community calendars– Community Web sites and message boards

Takeaways

• What you can expect from us:– Assistance in reaching your goals with appropriate

communications– Collaboration on materials– More effective strategies to reach your key audiences

• What we need from you:– Communicate early and often with us– Participate in training activities– Share all of the stories you hear– Support for deadlines (internal and external)

Questions/Discussion

APPENDIX

Ways to Communicate

• Press releases• Short summaries (for newsletters,

calendar events)• E-mails/ phone calls• Photographs (with signed talent releases)

• Letter to the Editor• Speeches• Word of Mouth

What makes something newsworthy?

Timeliness TrendsImpact Conflict Human interest Prominence Novelty Proximity

Good story ideas

Media Relations Tips and Tricks

• Know and respect deadlines• Respect reporter’s profession• Become a source; Stay in touch

with pitches and news• Never ask for or demand

coverage• Never try to buy a journalist• Read the paper AND the

journalist’s articles• Send thank you notes!

• Always call and call back; sense of urgency.

• Never bring up advertising• Know their preferred

communication channel• Never lie!• Don’t badger, SPAM or

generally stalk– only contact them with real news

• Have a database• Have ONE point of contact-

don’t shuffle them around!

Press Release TipsPress Release Tips

(or center “-MORE-”

if multiple pages)

Creating newsletters

• Timeliness is critical

• Documents need to be easy to read and non-threatening

• The design needs to be user friendly

• The key objective for the reader to understand the information, remember it and act upon it.

For more information:

http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/fcn/intro.htm

http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Press-Release

http://www.prwebdirect.com/pressreleasetips.php