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Keep going : Renewing your media strategy

The end of your volunteer recruitment campaign doesn't spell the end of your media work altogether. As one media project ends, your plans for your next media strategy should begin. It's important to keep your media work ticking over so that you don't have to start from scratch again with your next campaign. Aim to review your media strategy every 3 - 6 months (at least).

Hold on to your media contacts  

There will be periods when you'll take a more relaxed (rather than proactive) approach to media relations. Your need for volunteers or publicity will dictate this. But don't let go of your most precious resource - your media contacts. Having befriended or worked with journalists during your campaign, make sure you stay in touch with them: 

  • Always return journalists' and reporters' calls promptly. Help them out on their stories whenever you can. Give journalists your mobile phone number.
  • Use your media contacts strategically. Don’t bombard them with any old story. Select stories carefully tailored for them. 
  • If you find a journalist has left and moved on, find out who their replacement is and start building a new relationship with them.
  • Keep your media contacts informed about your charity. A personal email or a brief newsletter twice a year will do. Don't let them forget about you!

Where next for your media strategy? 

Having evaluated your PR work and measured the success of your volunteer recruitment campaign to date, it's time to look back at your original media strategy:

  • Note your progress and achievements.  
  • Look at which parts of your media strategy haven't worked and try to discover why.
  • To help you set new goals and aims, try using Media Team's Online Communications Audit to review your media activities.  
  • Work through the media strategy questionnaire again. It will help you to focus on your new priorities. More on this in How to devise a media strategy.
  • Think again about local and national events coming up in the year ahead which you may want to capitalise on and hook into. More on this in the article, What's news? How to get editorial coverage. 
  • As your experience and confidence increases, you may want to get even more targeted in the way you use the media to reach particular volunteers and social groups.
  • Be ambitious. As you begin to gain strength with one kind of media activity, challenge yourself with a new project. For example, take a first step into working with new media to broadcast your volunteering message. See the section New media adventures for more on this.

If you maintain your charity's profile in the media, it will be much easier to promote volunteering opportunities as and when they come up. If people know what you do and how you do it they're more likely to want to get involved. So keep the momentum going with your media work and let your target audiences know about your charity.

 

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