When it comes to charitable organizations, many of their marketing teams prefer having the media come to them, instead of going out of their way to get media coverage. However, charitable organizations could be doing a lot more in terms of public relations efforts, and seizing a lot more opportunities to share their stories with as many people as possible. Fortunately, even when an organization doesn't have a big or even a dedicated budget for PR efforts, there are plenty of beneficial strategies they can employ.
Charitable organizations should be working hard to show how their work differs from other organizations, and with the right strategies, that's relatively easy to achieve. Despite most organizations being limited in terms of time and resources, in today's media climate, they have plenty of promotional opportunities.
Press Releases
One of the most popular tools in public relations is the press release. However, many charitable organizations have a lot of things to state. That's why, instead of opting for sending out a single press release to journalists, these organizations can instead send out quick blog posts. That way, everything that the organization wants to say will be stated in the blog post without having to adhere to a page or a word length, while still keeping people's attention.
These blog posts are especially beneficial for charitable organizations when they're looking to respond to a certain statement or to comment on a situation. However, these organizations should keep in mind that journalists prefer sharing unpublished pieces, which is why the charity should wait until the post has been officially shared by an outlet, and then share the same piece with the audience itself. The added benefit here is that more people will already be interested in the story, which means the organization can reach more people.
Social Media Management
Plenty of people have had the shared experience of seeing a post on social media platforms that connects with them, but never bothering to do anything more than press the “like” button before moving on. However, charitable organizations can take this a step further by commenting and sharing that piece with their own audience. That way, more people that come across the article will become familiar with the organization, and the charity can work toward getting its message across to a larger number of people.
Additionally, plenty of journalists are very mindful of the comments they receive, as they're a great way to look for people or organizations they can communicate with on certain topics. That makes comment sections a great place for charitable organizations to gain more exposure as well.
Furthermore, the great benefit of social media platforms is that many allow users to keep track of various metrics as well as different conversations online. This makes it easier for charitable organizations to keep an eye out for potential topics of interest they can talk about or comment on, and get ahead of new trends surrounding the issues the charity supports at the same time.
