Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media

Why PR? Cost of Advertising - Expensive Value of Advertising – With no brand, very little Cost of PR - Inexpensive Value of PR – Builds brand awareness and allows you to tell a story

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o What PR can do for you?  Inform your target about your league, tournament or club Drive registration Raise awareness among potential new sponsors Help current sponsors see additional value in sponsorships Increase spectators

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o What else?  Generate goodwill and excitement about your event or organization  Establish yourself in the community  Promote your teams and athletes  Report your results

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Get Started  Read the newspaper, watch television and listen to the radio – this will help you identify who within your local media to contact and what is going on in your area  Place introductory calls to build your media lists Or  Contact sports departments at local newspapers and find out who covers soccer or youth sports  Contact local television stations and find out who covers local sports  Contact local radio stations and find out if there are programs covering youth sports or community events

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Interact with the Media  When you contact media, state your purpose up front and ask if they have time to speak  Don’t expect them to be interested  Ask about special sections, columns or beats for soccer or youth sport writers  Find out when deadlines are  Determine their preferred methods of communication Fax Phone

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Inside the Mind of the Media  Try to find out what information they want and how they want it Ask what is important Ask what are their objectives  Members of the Media are busy people, help them by preparing information ahead of time Schedule Rosters Player bios

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o "Reality Check"  Youth sports and/or soccer news is not above the fold in today's sports landscape. Understand that a Thursday night league game will probably not yield great media coverage and may not even receive interest at all o So what is interesting to the media?  Human interest stories  Play-offs  Big events  What else? o Ask, they'll tell you...

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o "Connecting with the Media"  Develop a relationship with the media member who covers soccer or youth sports Find out what you can about them Where their interests lie What other sports they cover, etc.  Be a resource to the writer Offer them the opportunity to contact you for background information, feedback, perspectives  Find out their personal information When you feel you have developed a good relationship - ask if they have "another" address that they might prefer you send information to or a cell phone number that you can call with news and scores as soon as a game ends.  Respect the media -They "don't have to cover your team/league"  Remember, regardless of how comfortable your relationship becomes you are ALWAYS on the record

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Now What?  After preparing all your media contacts, create a distribution list, either e- mail or fax-based, depending upon media preference, to send out information

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o The Press Release The press release is a news story that puts an organization or individual in the best light possible, garnering media coverage What factors should be considered when writing? - Short - Sweet - To the Point

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Basic components of a Press Release  Headline The first opportunity to grab an editor’s attention It should transmit the core news/message so that the editor immediately knows what the story is about. It should be informative, but not necessarily sensationalized  Leading off The most important part of a release is the lead paragraph The lead should answer 5 and if possible 6 questions –Who? –What? –When? –Where? –How? –Why?

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Basic components of a Press Release (cont.)  Make your case The body of your release should bolster and explain the points you made in the lead. Fully describe your story You might include a quote or two providing further definition or endorsement  Define or remind writers who you are If you have a web address, remember to add The boilerplate should offer a brief description of your organization

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Boilerplate  Try to tell your organizations highlights in a few sentences. About US Youth Soccer – US Youth Soccer - The Game for ALL Kids!® is the largest youth sports organization in the United States and member of the US Soccer Federation, the governing body of soccer in America. US Youth Soccer registers more than 3.2 million players annually, ages 5 to 19, and over 900,000 administrators, coaches and volunteers in 55 member state associations. US Youth Soccer programs provide a fun, safe and healthy environment for players at every level of the game.

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Some keys to remember for writing and distributing press releases  Try to keep the release to one page. Don’t confuse background with the essentials  Stay away from hype, keep the article factual. Avoid the superlatives and adjectives  it, If your contact accepts to save time and avoid errors  Other than in the case of trademarked names, never use caps. Editors have to take the time to convert all caps to regular type  Always write from a journalists perspective. Never use “I” or “we” unless it’s in a quote

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Some keys to remember for writing and distributing press releases (cont.)  Include contact information at the top of your release  Follow up with a phone call within a day or two to confirm that the article was received  Read lots of good newspaper writing, such as the Salt Lake Tribune or New York Times to get a feel for good writing and what is newsworthy

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o Some keys to remember when working with photos  If you have a photo to go with your story, make a note at the top of your release. PHOTO(S) AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST  Ask the media outlet if they prefer digital or film photography  If film and you want a photo back, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope  If digital send photos in a JPG at 200 to 300 dpi resolution. If you’re in doubt, call the publication and confirm their requirements

Equipping Yourself to Engage with the Media o What’s your angle?  You have your media lists  You know what your press release must contain  You know how to get it to the right person What are you going to write about?