Do Your PR Efforts Include Diverse Audiences?

When we build media-relations strategies for our clients, we preach the importance of being focused.

Instead of casting a wide net, you are often better served by identifying a handful of journalists who are influential in reaching your highest-value audiences – then working to build relationships with those journalists.

In turn, you are more likely to get your story told in a meaningful way to the people who are most likely to support your work.

We lean on this strategy because it works. 

But as many organizations are assessing whether their practices and strategies are reinforcing racial and social inequities, we’ve been taking a long look at whether this strategy unintentionally leaves some important audiences out.

In some cases, that answer is yes – particularly if the efforts are focused exclusively on getting stories told to wealthy donors or customers, business owners, or policymakers.

So, moving forward, we’ll be designing strategies that also explicitly attempt to reach more diverse audiences. 

And as you develop your media relations strategy and calendar for 2021, it’s important to consider doing the same.

This is critical -- especially if your organization is taking steps to reach more diverse audiences, have its board more accurately reflect the makeup of its community, or build trust.

This doesn't mean you should stop working to get your story told to your current audiences.

But you should also be making sure you’re taking deliberate steps to expand your circles.

This might mean devoting a portion of your time and budget to developing relationships with journalists at neighborhood weeklies and websites in parts of your community that don’t include the richest zip codes.

It might also mean identifying story ideas that resonate with outlets that specialize in providing news and information to Latinx, Black, Asian-American, LGBTQ, Indigenous people and other audiences. 

You can also start leveraging resources like BlackPR.com – a service that distributes press releases to the Black media – and enlisting consultants or volunteers who are adept at reaching diverse audiences.

If you’re not taking any of these steps right now, it’s time to take reconsider whether your media relations efforts are aligned with your organization’s values.