Behind the Headlines

By Paula Wethington, paula@monroenews.com

Yesterday I got a call from a non-profit volunteer who wanted to promote her event. I told her the announcement was on file in the newsroom, and I’d double-check that it was running as scheduled for The Community Page.

She complained that nobody seems to have heard of her organization and wanted to know if there was any media coverage possible beyond the advance announcement.

I am familiar with her non-profit, and told her there had been stories and photos in the past. Specifically, I knew about two feature stories that ran within the past two or three years and there was additional publicity last fall … and while I didn’t remember the exact dates, I did tell her circumstances and what those pieces focused on.

I also told her an article ran in another area newspaper during the past year that mentioned her non-profit.

She didn’t remember any of the media coverage – either from our newspaper or the other one.

But what particularly upset the caller is that hardly anybody she has spoken to while promoting her event was familiar with their group. During the past month, she’d only met one person who had heard of her non-profit.

“Well, you can tell those people that they’re not reading the newspaper,” I replied. And I talked about some of the other marketing efforts I know her group is doing.

Now … while this is a story about one local non-profit, the fact is I’ve had similar conversations in the past with local volunteers and promoters.

Don’t take it personally if nobody’s heard of your non-profit. In order to become a widely recognized group, you need to work the marketing from a variety of angles like a business does. While a front-page story results in a lot of attention, it’s quickly forgotten as people go about their daily lives. The most effective marketing campaigns get the message out in a repeated manner under a variety of formats. (The more you see something, the more likely you’ll remember it.).

So this fall, while your clubs and non-profits are starting their activity seasons, hold a brainstorming session among your board of directors or members as to all the different ways you can market your event or organization to the public.

A front-page feature story is just one possibility with The Monroe Evening News. There are a lot of free options available on both The Community Page in our print edition and on our community web site at www.monroetalks.com. Feel free to contact me at paula@monroenews.com to discuss what can be done at the Community Desk. (The possibilities available at the newspaper increase if you have an advertising budget.)

Depending on what audience you’re trying to reach, you may also want to place notices in church bulletins, at school offices, on public access cablevision, the area’s weekly newspapers and the metro newspapers.

Internet sites also can be very effective ways of reaching your audience. One organization director recently told met that her group’s web site takes care of the “frequently asked questions,” and the phone queries they get involve more specific questions. (And if your group has a web site, we can link to it from an event notice on MonroeTalks.)