How we make a difference
Simply
sending out a press release is not enough. Outstanding media relations requires
establishing relationships of mutual respect with the reporters and editors
who cover our clients stories. We have done that consistently in every market
in which we have worked.
Our story placement tracking includes statewide print and broadcast media,
monitored on a daily basis. We provide monthly written reports to clients
to let them know not only what news releases were sent out, but which ones
were run and where. We also alert clients when news coverage happens or
stories appear that would impact them.
Our work focuses on
getting coverage for our clients. When the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation Race for the Cure came to us, it was because they had never been
able to get more than minor mentions about its race, had 8,000 people and
closed down Tucson city streets for an entire Sunday morning. We worked
with the media to get race registration newspaper and TV coverage, identifying
a TV reporter who trained for and then ran in the race all of which was
covered; received print and broadcast coverage of stories of cancer survivors
participating and got the daily newspapers to run a map of the race and
street closure locations in four color. We've been working with Komen for
the past three years. Last year the race had 11,000 participants, and got
front-page full-color coverage.
Examples
of success:
Voters had overwhelmingly defeated a regional transportation plan and funding mechanism for Pima County,
not just one, but four separate times over the past 20 years. For the May
2006 election, Strongpoint, in a joint effort with Zimmerman & Associates,
a Tucson consulting firm, turned that tide with a successful campaign that
hinged on effective public participation ranging from a wide variety of
local organizations to individual citizens.
The challenge was trying to communicate an extremely complicated issue to
hundreds of thousands of people in a compelling, meaningful way.
Diversity of support began at the top of the organization and was a constant
theme in all communications and activities throughout the campaign. The
comprehensive communications campaign included print, television and radio
spots, a series of direct mail pieces, a phone canvass and yard signs as
well as extensive grassroots work to secure coalition building and organizational
endorsements, a website maintained with timely information, a speakers bureau
(more than 600 presentations made) with training, PowerPoint presentations
and handouts, media relations - from editorial board meetings to solicit
endorsements, the development of campaign volunteer media buddies (civic
leaders cultivating direct relationships with local reporters for secondary
messaging support) and news releases, to opinion pieces and letters to the
editor. Other custom writing was provided, including editing support for
letters to the editor to keep content to 150 words or less, identification
and editing of opinion pieces and articles about the upcoming election for
groups, companies and other association's publications.
It worked. Voters passed the plan by 59.9 percent to 40.1 percent and the corresponding sales tax by 57.5 percent to 42.5 percent.
Sometimes we work to keep our clients' coverage as positive as possible. When all of the residents
of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's beloved hummingbird exhibit began
mysteriously dying, it could have been very negative news. Instead, by developing
a careful strategy and clear messages, the story centered on how well the
Museum had cared for its birds for a long time, how the birds' illness was
caused by tainted feed from a long-time, established supplier and how people
could get involved to help the Museum. It was still a sad story, but was
covered as positively as possible.
Strongpoint staff members have helped lead communications about traffic changes and construction,
both from the government's perspective, but also firsthand as a business
facing this. News about the renovation and expansion of I-10 and the potential
impact of ramp closures from Prince Road to 29th Street caused a great
deal of apprehension among patients, physicians, employees and related businesses
on the Carondelet St. Mary's Hospital campus.
To a business depending on the smooth arrival and departure of thousands
of people every day, the construction and ramp closure was sure to bring
a significant change in transportation patterns, meaning the loss of life
for emergency vehicles trying to bring a critically injured patient to the
hospital's emergency center, the loss of millions of dollars in revenue
from patients unwilling to drive through the construction zones and the
departure of hundreds of employees and physicians to other, much easier-to-reach
local hospitals.
Community education and outreach became a very important communications
tool in finding ways to influence decision makers of the I-10 construction
project and to motivate these impacted groups as well as local neighborhood
groups to find the best way to solve all these issues while spending tax-payer
dollars in the most effective way possible.
A series of employee and physician interactive meetings was held to identify
key issues and obstacles, the information compiled into a variety of materials
for hospital leadership to share with Arizona Department of Transportation
representatives. Focus groups and one-on-one meetings were also conducted
with patients and neighborhood residents to identify their perceptions of
how these proposed I-10 traffic changes were going to impact their driving
and lifestyle patterns. This information was also used to identify key communications
points for negotiations with government officials and solidify these stakeholder
groups for ongoing government influence efforts.
When the Delaware Department of Education embarked on creating K-12 statewide standards for student achievement,
the public had to understand what a standard was and why it was needed.
They had to realize the impact on student performance and on a student's
ability to graduate. Finally, they had to understand each standard what
would an eighth grader be able to do in mathematics, for example, to meet
the level required. The work involved developing an overall communications
plan that included implementing town hall meetings across the state, as
well as organizing a speakers bureau, writing and managing presentations
at every local school board meeting in the state, and preparing presentations
to the state legislature. Also involved was interpreting public opinion
survey information and creating a wide variety of targeted communication
materials specifically written and designed for each audience segment, such
as newsletters, progress reports and public education pieces directed separately
to parents and teachers. Media relations efforts were extensive: creating
televised town hall programs and accompanying educational newspaper inserts,
handling media speaker training, orchestrating editorial board presentations
and responsibility for day-to-day publicity. Finally, the work required
developing and managing committees and partnerships with parents, teachers,
school administrators, universities, the teachers union, small business
owners, corporate CEOs and state, county and local government.
In another example, gauging what the citizens of Tucson Unified School District
understood about school funding and the current situation in the district
was key to crafting a communications plan, educating the public about the
issues and formulating messages that would persuade them to support the
November 2004 bond election. This was accomplished through citizens' meetings,
creation of presentations and a speakers bureau, formal surveys and other
outreach methods, including direct mail, public information pieces, voter
calling, website development, editorial board meeting management, and proactive
placement of news stories. TUSD's bond issue passed successfully.
An integral part of any public relations plan is to use the tools of community relations, from
one-on-one and door-to-door interactions to education and public forums
to facilitate awareness and motivate changes in behavior or attitude. These
approaches were used to solve a number of important public relations health
care communications challenges in Pima County over the past 20 years.
A multi-tiered approach using a hot-line, interactive website, ongoing media
relations, community education forums, posters at key locations and targeted
distribution of flyers and literature was used to keep the public apprised
of flu vaccine availability and tactics to keep healthy during the winter
of 2000 when a nationwide flu shot shortage caused general widespread panic.
Compounding the problem for Pima County was an influx of winter visitors
bringing their flu viruses with them, an emergency care system at capacity
and a flu season which traditionally started two to three months behind
the rest of the country. Placing local experts to provide community education
in a variety of settings, especially in mobile home parks, recreational
and nutrition centers, health clinics, nursing homes and public gathering
areas was key to helping the public understand who most needed the flu vaccine,
so there could be self-selection, to establish health habits designed to
prevent the spread of colds and flu, and to identify when illness did strike,
what would be best treated in a physician's office or emergency care setting.
Emergency community education was needed for Carondelet St. Mary's Hospital
when the loss of the only obstetrics group caused the closure of the hospital's
Maternal/Newborn Services program. As the oldest hospital in the state,
generations of Tucson residents had been born at St. Mary's, and public
sentiment weighed heavily against the hospital which is located in a heavily
Hispanic neighborhood, accusing the hospital leadership of racial discrimination.
Public forums were immediately organized to bring hospital executives, local
residents and local elected officials to air their opinions in an orderly
manner, identify specific concerns to address and most importantly provide
factual information about the service changes, helping dispel rumors and
second-hand information. Again, a phone triage system was established for
the public to use to reach in-house experts, extensive media relations and
reporter briefings were used to disseminate accurate information and a system
was established to let those public participants know their opinion was
valued and would be used to help improve the provision of health care services
at St. Mary's. Out of those meetings, a community advisory committee was
created, which is still active and regularly interacts with hospital leadership
to maintain open communication channels with the neighborhoods surrounding
the hospital.
Other
Experience
Additional experience
includes developing all public communication for the statewide children's
safety program for The Arizona Republic, all of the public information pieces
for the Greater Baltimore Committee's efforts to create public support for
its initiative to make life sciences the driving force behind all sectors
of the area's economy, and the public partnership strategies and public
relations execution for the first and subsequent annual community event,
First Night, which drew 30,000 people without incident to downtown Wilmington,
Delaware on New Year's Eve.
