As nonprofit PR specialists, we hear the same statement by nonprofit organizations all the time: “We are the best kept secret in town.”
Every nonprofit believes they don’t get the amount of publicity they deserve. After all, they do great work, have a dedicated staff and make the world a better place.
And they all are right.
But the reality is there are tens of thousands of nonprofits in America and only a limited number of media outlets. Even if all media did nothing but wrote about the good works of nonprofits, there wouldn’t be enough space or airtime.
That’s why nonprofits need to take a strategic approach to their media relations and marketing. It is not a good strategy to flood the press with news releases or pitch emails. These should be done when stories warrant. Doing great work is not always going to make CNN. Doing exceptional work, that is visual, extremely unusual, and has a twist the media look for, will.
It is important for nonprofits to adopt realistic expectations. No nonprofit, even the largest and most high profile, get their stories in the media every day. So work to create effective, impactful stories and pitch them correctly and the media will respond.