Traditional Media
Lesson 5
Watch and listen to a recording with slides, or read the full text below. NOTE: Some pieces of the video content may be outdated. Rely on the text below for the most up-to-date content.
The primary goal of Give OUT Day is to drive donors to the Give OUT Day fundraising pages of your organization – your own page, and especially those of your peer-to-peer fundraisers. To drive traffic, your organization will rely primarily on digital channels, namely, email, social media, and mobile phones through phone calls and text messages.
Because the campaign is digital, we don’t recommend concentrating efforts on analogue channels. It can be extremely difficult to drive someone to a webpage from a physical letter, flyer, TV ad, or print ad, so why focus your energy there? (Not to mention, these channels can be very expensive.)
That’s not to say there’s no place for traditional media in your Give OUT Day campaign. In fact, traditional media, particularly when that media is digital, can effectively amplify your campaign to new audiences while bolstering its credibility. And a mention in traditional media can go a long way, because in addition to the mention itself, you can post an online news article, for instance, on your social media and feature it in an email or e-newsletter, too.
However, securing media coverage can be notoriously difficult in today’s competitive media landscape, especially if you don’t have existing media relationships. Certainly, if you have those connections, you should try to leverage them for coverage. And if other elements of your campaign are in tip-top shape, you could consider investing your time in finding and reaching out to relevant journalists and producers.
Keep in mind these principles if you try to get media coverage for your campaign. Then, we’ll look at these principles in action through examples of media coverage for participating Give OUT Day partner organizations. And we’ll share a media outreach template as a place to start.
Think hyper-targeted
The consumers of which media outlets are going to be most interested in your story? Chances are it’s those of the media in your organization’s city, especially media that explicitly covers LGBTQ or social justice issues. When looking for journalists to reach out to, look for ones at your local media who have covered similar topics before, and mention their previous coverage when you reach out to them. You can often find journalists’ contact info linked within the articles they write online.
Find a news hook
Why should the media cover your campaign? While it’s possible to secure coverage about Give OUT Day itself, it’s often easier to secure coverage about something else – and insert Give OUT Day as secondary. For instance, your organization’s views on recent relevant news, or the personal stories of your organization’s staff and clients, are probably more compelling to media, and could be a starting point for a Give OUT Day mention.
Reach out early and follow up
Reach out to media at the start of your campaign (May 1), and don’t hesitate to follow up to keep your story at the top of journalists’ minds.
Celebrate your success
After the campaign, we will provide a template press release announcing the success of the campaign, which you can adapt to your specific organization and send to your media contacts.
Example: Inside Out
Inside Out was able to secure media coverage from their local NBC affiliate in southern Colorado. Give OUT Day is at the center of the piece, but so are Inside Out’s critical programs. The piece explains what the campaign is funding and why donations are so important at that moment.
Example: Equality NC
Equality NC secured media coverage from their local CBS affiliate in North Carolina. The focus of the piece was workplace protections – a timely response to the relevant SCOTUS ruling – but it ends with a call-to-action about giving to the organization’s Give OUT Day campaign.
Example: Hudson Pride Center
Hudson Pride Center landed a media placement in a local media source in New Jersey. Although the piece was published just after Give OUT Day, it still included a donation call-to-action. The focus on this piece wasn’t Give OUT Day, but rather how the organization adapted its services to the pandemic: a more compelling news hook.
Example: Amor Para Todos, Leaderboard Winner
Amor Para Todos secured media coverage from a local LGBTQ publication in California. While Give OUT Day is at the center of the campaign, what made it compelling for the media to cover were the personal stories of the organization’s founder and her transgender child.
Template: Media Outreach Email
Subject: [LGBTQ Organization] launching campaign [to fund 1,000 calls with local LGBTQ youth]
I wanted to let you know that today [LGBTQ Organization] launched our campaign for Give OUT Day, a month-long fundraising campaign culminating on May 1, the only national day of giving for the LGBTQ community. I thought you might be interested based on [insert mention of past relevant coverage if known].
We are an organization [that runs a crisis hotline for LGBTQ youth], and we are [trying to raise $5,000 to fund 1,000 calls with local youth seeking support.]
One angle for a story is the experience of our program recipients, like [insert short story].
This campaign is important to our community because [insert importance of campaign].
Give OUT Day is May 30, but the campaign starts at the beginning of the month. It’s especially important for us because if we earn the most individual donors in our category, we could win thousands in additional prize money.
Interested supporters can contribute to the campaign at [insert link to organization’s profile page]. Supporters are also encouraged to set up their own fundraiser for [LGBTQ Organization] on the site.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!