Media Publicity
Helpful tips to assist in obtaining local media attention.
“Top 25 Sound Bites”
Short facts about blood to incorporate into local recruitment materials.
Local Press Release
A sample release written from the local perspective.
Blood Fact Sheet
Informational fact sheet about blood and blood donation.
Local Fact Sheet
A sample fact sheet to be localized for your blood center/facility.
Taking Advantage of Public Service Advertising
Steps you can take to get PSAs aired on your local radio stations.
PSA Cover Letter
A sample letter to accompany PSAs for your local radio stations.
PSA Scripts
Sample scripts that can be recorded at your local radio stations by local talent/celebrities.
Gubernatorial Proclamation
A sample letter, and proclamation to assist in obtaining a proclamation.
Mayoral Proclamation
A sample to assist in garnering a proclamation at the local level.
CAMPAIGN MATERIALS FOR
LOCAL BLOOD COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Generating Media Publicity
The news media in your community/service area present your facility with a number of opportunities for accomplishing your National Blood Donor Month (NBDM) communications objectives. The news media reach a significant portion of your target audience of frequent and former donors every day. Your challenge will be to use your creativity, hard work, and communications strategies to generate ongoing publicity for your facility’s work in January and all year long.
The following steps will help you generate media publicity for NBDM and throughout the year.
Step 1 – Understanding the Media
What Reporters Want
When it is important to generate publicity, it’s important to understand how the media work. A vital part of that understanding is knowing what reporters want. Reporters want to accomplish a number of things, including to:
- Develop stories or produce programs that have good audience appeal;
- Have access to newsmakers, experts and valuable information;
- Maintain objectivity about their stories;
- Get the jump on their competitors;
- Get space or air time that other reporters at the same paper or station are competing for; and
- Find or uncover a new angle to a story.
Some things that reporters in general try to avoid are—
- Printing inaccurate, incomplete or irrelevant stories;
- Covering topics or issues that have already been covered;
- Missing their deadlines for filing stories;
- Covering the same topic or issue that another reporter at their publication or station is doing; and
- Wasting their time.
What Your Blood Center Wants
Your facility’s needs are very different from reporters’ needs. Generating publicity for your facility’s campaign efforts essentially means you have to mesh your interests with reporters’ interests. That is, you have to make the topics and issues that are of interest to you of interest to reporters. Reporters may be interested in technical advances to make blood safer, special events to meet ongoing needs, lifesaving stories, and so on.
Dealing with Reporters
Most of the time, when an organization fails to generate publicity it is because they’ve failed to give reporters what they want.
When dealing with reporters, you should be sure to:
- Contact the appropriate reporter at the appropriate publication or program;
- Respond quickly to their requests for additional information or interviews; and
- Be prepared to answer questions and discuss issues in depth once you have piqued their interest.
On the other hand, do not:
- Offer them stale news or hackneyed story ideas;
- Call them when they are on deadline;
- Persist if a story idea is rejected; or
- Pressure them to cover a topic by “going over their heads.”
Step 2 – Do Your Media Homework
Reviewing Donor Media Habits
It is important that you learn as much as possible about donor media habits. Doing so will help you focus your efforts on the media channels most effective in reaching potential donors.
You can find specific information about donor media habits in your area. Start by calling the advertising departments of local newspapers, magazines, radio, and television stations. Even if you are not going to buy advertising, ask to be sent a copy of the advertising media rate kit, which typically includes information on the demographics of readers, listeners, or viewers.
Step 3 – Develop a List of Reporters
Creating Your Press List
Once you have done your homework and have a good idea of which media the potential donors in your area watch, listen to and read, it is time to develop your press list. You will want to know who the reporters are at each of the local newspapers, magazines, radio, and television stations who write about blood donation. They would include health, community, and lifestyle reporters.
Identifying Key Reporters
Working successfully with the press over the long term essentially means you have to establish good, ongoing relationships with reporters. If you are not familiar with the reporters who cover health topics for the media in your area, spend some time finding out who they are. For smaller newspapers, the city desk editor may be the person to contact for local events.
Look for their bylines on articles about health or other issues related to blood donation. Or simply call each newspaper or broadcast station and ask for their names. Local chapters of the Public Relations Society of America also may have current lists of media contacts they would be willing to share.
To make sure your list is complete, be sure to contact:
- Newspapers (dailies, weeklies, monthlies, and any other small community newspapers);
- City and regional magazines;
- Local trade and business publications;
- State or local bureaus of national wire services (such as AP and Reuters), and religious and ethnic news services;
- News operations at local radio and TV stations, including university stations;
- Local cable television stations;
- Public broadcast stations (which may not have news operations but may have programs on health); and
- State or local bureaus of national television and radio networks (if available in your community).
Both health reporters and consumer reporters are likely to be interested in blood donation issues. While you are composing your list, you might also want to identify calendar editors. Calendar editors may be more likely to be interested in listing the time, dates, and locations of special community blood drives. Health and consumer reporters would be less interested in covering a specific drive and more interested in covering news and feature stories.
Step 4 – Build Rapport With Reporters
Introducing Yourself
Once you have compiled a list of reporters, you will need to call and introduce yourself. Do not wait until you want to try to place a story or article—do it right away. Tell the reporters the kind of information and experts you have access to and offer yourself as a resource to them on blood-related issues.
Find out how reporters like to have information brought to their attention—by phone, fax, mail, or email. Also, it is wise to find out when their deadlines are so you know when not to call and by when you must get information to them. Keep your introductory conversation brief, but follow it up with a letter and a press kit.
As you read, view, or listen to a reporter’s story, write a brief note acknowledging the piece. Everyone appreciates a kind “pat on the back.”
Proposing Story Ideas
When you deal with the press, remember there are essentially two kinds of stories: news stories, which are stories the public needs to know about right away, and feature stories, which can run one day just as well as the next.
What is a news story?
An example of a news story could be your facility’s kick-off event for NBDM or a blood shortage in the area that requires immediate attention.
What is a feature story?
During January, you might include a profile of frequent blood donors that describes their reasons for giving and personal motivations, a profile of a patient who was saved by blood transfusions, or an interview with a physician who uses the blood provided by your center in transfusions. These are all ideal feature stories.
Whether a story is a news story or a calendar announcement may depend on the size of your community or the size of the newspaper. A small community with a biweekly paper, for example, might consider a blood drive announcement to be a solid news story. It may, for instance, announce the drive, cover and photograph the collection, and report the drive results. In larger communities, the story would most likely end up on the calendar page, if it appeared at all.
You will find some fill-in-the-blank feature releases in this section of the guide that present story angles that might interest reporters in your community. You may think of other ideas as well. You can use these samples as guides for drafting your own.
You do not have to draft a feature release in order to pitch a feature idea to reporters, although it helps. All you have to do is supply the idea and the resources the reporter will need to write the story: background information, fact sheets, names of experts to interview, possible locations at which to shoot, and so forth.
Maintaining Contact
Once you have established contact with reporters for NBDM, be sure to maintain it. Send reporters information when you have newsworthy stories and feature releases or when you have a story idea that may interest them. And remember, if reporters call you and ask for assistance it is important to respond quickly to help them. You can also send them thank you notes in response to stories they write and holiday cards and greetings.
“Top 25 Sound Bites”
- An adult of average weight has about 10 to 12 units of blood.
- Fewer than 5 percent of healthy Americans eligible to donate blood actually donate each year.
- More than 10 tests, most of which are for infectious diseases, are performed on each unit of donated blood.
- Just one unit of donated blood can help save the lives of up to three people.
- One unit of blood can be separated into several components (Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells, Plasma, Platelets and Cryoprecipitate).
- Platelets help blood to clot and give those with leukemia and other cancers a chance to live.
- Red Blood Cells must be used within 42 days.
- Platelets must be used within five days.
- Plasma can be frozen and used for up to one year.
- Some anemic patients require blood transfusions to increase their iron levels.
- Plasma helps maintain blood pressure, carries blood cells, nutrients, enzymes, and hormones, and supplies critical proteins for blood clotting and immunity.
- White Blood Cells are the body's primary defense against infection.
- There is no substitute for human blood.
- Volunteers provide nearly all of the nation's blood supply for transfusion.
- Approximately every two seconds someone needs blood.
- Approximately 39,000 units of blood are used each day in the United States.
- Blood centers often run short of type O and B blood.
- Shortages of all types of blood often occur during the summer and winter holidays.
- If all eligible blood donors gave at least twice a year, it would greatly help in maintaining an adequate blood supply for our country.
- If you are at least 17 years old, and weigh at least 110 pounds you may be eligible to donate blood every 56 days.
- The actual blood collection takes approximately 10-20 minutes. The entire process, from when you sign in to the time you leave, takes about 45 minutes to one hour.
- Any company, community organization, place of worship, or individual may contact their local blood centers to host blood drives.
- Apheresis is a special kind of blood donation that allows a donor to give specific blood components, such as Platelets.
- You cannot get AIDS or any other blood disease by donating blood.
- If you began donating blood at age 17 and donated every 56 days until you reached 76, you would have donated 48 gallons of blood.
Sample Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date |
CONTACT:______________
Phone #
Email Address |
TITLE
[City, State]—Since 1970, January has been recognized as National Blood Donor Month (NBDM). To help ensure an adequate blood supply, the [blood collection facility] has joined with AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) to stress the importance of donating blood.
According to [spokesperson], the need for blood is constant, and volunteer blood donors contribute to nearly all the blood used for patient care in the United States. “If all who are eligible to donate would do so on a regular basis (three to four times per year), blood needs could be met and shortages could become a thing of the past,” said [spokesperson].
Everyone, whether it is realized or not, depends on blood. Every two seconds, someone needs blood. Each day, patients across the country receive approximately 39,000 units of this lifesaving resource. This year alone, as many as five million patients will require blood transfusions, as accident victims, people undergoing surgery, and patients receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer and other diseases.
People who are interested in becoming blood donors should call [blood collection facility] at [phone number] for more information. Schedule an appointment today to with [local blood collection facility] to donate blood.
Sample Press Release - Word document (.doc)
Facts About Blood and Blood Banking
How much blood is donated each year?
AABB estimates that eight million volunteers donate blood each year. According to the 2005 National Blood Collection and Utilization Report about 15 million units of whole blood and red blood cells were donated in the United States in 2004.
Typically, each donated unit of blood, referred to as whole blood, is separated into multiple components, such as red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitated AHF (antihemophilic factor). Each component generally is transfused to a different individual, each with different needs.
Who needs blood?
The need for blood is great — on any given day, an average of 39,000 units of red blood cells are needed. Blood transfusions often are needed for trauma victims — due to accidents and burns — heart surgery, organ transplants, and patients receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer or other diseases, such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia. In 2004, nearly 29 million units of blood components were transfused. And with an aging population and advances in medical treatments and procedures requiring blood transfusions, the demand for blood continues to increase.
Who donates blood?
Fewer than 5 percent of healthy Americans eligible to donate blood actually donate each year. According to studies, the average donor is a college-educated white male, between the ages of 30 and 50, who is married and has an above-average income. However, a broad cross-section of the population donates every day. Furthermore, these “average” statistics are changing, and women and minority groups are volunteering in increasing numbers to donate. Persons 69 years and older account for approximately 10 percent of the population, but they require 50 percent of all whole blood and red blood cells transfused. Using current screening and donation procedures, a growing number of blood banks have found blood donation by seniors to be safe and practical.
Patients scheduled for surgery may be eligible to donate blood for themselves, a process known as autologous blood donation. In the weeks before non-emergency surgery, an autologous donor may be able to donate blood that will be stored until the surgical procedure.
What are the criteria for blood donation?
To be eligible to donate blood, a person must be in good health and generally must be at least 17 years of age (although some states permit younger people, with parental consent, to donate). Minimum weight requirements may vary among facilities, but generally, donors must weigh at least 110 pounds. Most blood banks have no upper age limit. All donors must pass the physical and health history examinations given prior to donation.
Volunteer donors provide nearly all blood used for transfusion in the United States. The donor's body replenishes the fluid lost from donation in 24 hours. It may take up to two months to replace the lost red blood cells. Whole blood can be donated once every eight weeks (56 days). Two units of red blood cells can be donated at one time, using a process known as red cell apheresis. This type of donation can be made every 16 weeks.
Who should not donate blood?
- Anyone who has ever used intravenous drugs (illegal IV drugs)
- Men who have had sexual contact with other men since 1977
- Hemophiliacs
- Anyone with a positive antibody test for HIV (AIDS virus)
- Men and women who have engaged in sex for money or drugs since 1977
- Anyone who has had hepatitis since his or her eleventh birthday
- Anyone who has/has had cancer
- Anyone who has had babesiosis or Chagas disease
- Anyone who has taken Tegison for psoriasis
- Anyone who has risk factors for Crueutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) or who has an immediate family member with CJD
- Anyone who has risk factors for vCJD
Where is blood donated?
There are many places where blood donations can be made. Bloodmobiles (mobile blood drives on specially constructed buses) travel to high schools, colleges, churches, and community organizations. People can also donate at community blood centers and hospital-based donor centers. Many people donate at blood drives at their places of work. You may use the online Locator or consult the yellow pages to locate a nearby blood center or hospital to donate.
Sample Local Fact Sheet
(YOUR FACILITY’S NAME)
Service to the Community
- (Your facility’s name) supplies more than _______ units of blood and blood components a year to ( ___ hospitals, if applicable) to help an estimated ___ patients.
- (Your facility’s name) must collect ____ units of blood a day to meet the need of area patients.
- (Your facility’s name) also (add information here on other special services your center may perform).
- (Your facility’s name) is a private, nonprofit community agency that was established in (year). It has been serving (community) for more than (number) years.
Service Credentials
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration federally licenses (your facility’s name).
- (Your facility’s name) is inspected and accredited by AABB (and other bodies, if applicable) and is as a member of (list other affiliations including your center’s state/regional/national blood banking association(s)).
Educational Services
- (Your facility’s name) offers a wide variety of educational services that inform and educate the public and health professionals about tissues related to blood donation. (Describe your facility’s specific programs here.)
Locations
- (Your blood center) has blood donation centers located at (list addresses, phone numbers, dates/times of availability). For information on our mobile donation sites, call ____________.
- (Add maps to blood center locations here if appropriate.)
Sample Local Fact Sheet - Word document (.doc)
Taking Advantage of Public Service Advertising
Participating in a media campaign will help your local recruitment efforts by increasing the public’s awareness of the need to donate blood.
Extending the PSA Reach
Your facility can use these materials by localizing them and working with local radio stations, especially since many of the radio stations may not use the PSAs without being convinced that there is a local tie-in.
Research of public service directors in all types of media has demonstrated that even if a PSA campaign is produced by a well-respected national organization, and even if the spots are good ones, the chances of the media using a PSA increase if there is a community tie-in (i.e., if a local organization is involved in the campaign).
Experience has shown that smaller community newspapers (dailies, weeklies, and monthlies), regional magazines and business publications (such as employee newsletters) will include PSAs if they receive them and believe them to be important.
Working with Public Service Directors
It is no secret that competition for public service space and airtime is intense. In trying to get the media to use PSAs, your facility will be competing against a host of other national and local nonprofit agencies.
Public service directors are the staff people in radio and TV stations who decide whether to run PSAs, and when and where to place them. These directors are also, in many cases, responsible for initiating community affairs projects for their stations or papers and often look to local organizations such as your facility for support, ideas, statistics, and background information.
Your facility’s task is to convince local public service directors that blood donation is an issue that is of importance to the community, their listeners or viewers, and warrants their airtime or print space.
Here is a suggested outline of the steps your facility may take to get the PSAs used:
- Identify the public service directors at local radio stations and the advertising managers at newspapers. Using the media list you developed for your publicity efforts as a guide, make a complete list of the public service directors in the area.
- Send a letter to the directors introducing your facility and describing your public awareness campaign. Be sure to indicate that you will be calling to set up an appointment to discuss your facility and its PSA campaign.
- Follow up your letter with a call. Try to arrange an appointment to discuss the PSAs and the community’s blood needs. You should need only 15 or 20 minutes of the director’s time. Remember that radio stations and newspapers are busy places, and requests for airtime and print space are abundant. Be flexible and courteous.
- Think up an innovative way to deliver the letter and your PSAs. PSA directors are inundated with requests, so yours has a better chance of being run if it stands out.
- If you can not get an appointment, follow up with a detailed letter. Fully describe your campaign and its implications for the community. Include copies of your press kit and the PSAs. If you are able to schedule an appointment, take a press kit and fact sheets with you.
- In your meeting, emphasize the importance of the campaign to the station’s or publication’s audience. Talk about efforts your blood center will undertake to recognize the station’s or newspaper’s commitment and support.
- Follow up your visit with a thank you note.
Sample Cover Letter for PSA Distribution
[Date]
[Mailing Address]
Dear [Public Service, News or Programming Director]:
As an integral part of [name of community’s] health care community, [name of blood bank/center] provides a lifesaving service that benefits [name of community’s] citizens everyday.
[Name of blood bank/center] collects blood and blood products, which help take care of and save the lives of patients in our community (or region). Blood not only makes many medical and surgical procedures possible, but also saves the lives of accident victims, cancer, cardiac, and organ transplant patients.
We would not be able to provide this lifesaving service without the generous time and effort of volunteer blood donors and many other of [name of community’s] citizens. With this in mind, we would like to solicit your help.
The enclosed PSAs are part of the 2008 National Blood Donor Month (NBDM) campaign.
We hope that you will promote National Blood Donor Month by airing one or more of the enclosed PSAs.
We are certain that your listeners will be receptive to this public appeal for blood donors. I will call you shortly to follow-up on your station’s interest in helping our community save lives. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
[Blood Bank/Center Executive Director or Spokesperson]
Enclosures: PSAs
Sample Cover Letter for PSA Distribution - Word document (.doc)
Sample Radio Public Service Announcements
15 second spots
Make lifesaving a habit starting this January – National Blood Donor Month. Just one blood donation can help save up to three lives. Call [blood bank/center] at [phone] for more information.
New Year’s may come and go, but one thing remains the same, the need for blood. There's no better time to donate than National Blood Donor Month. Call [blood bank/center] at [phone] to schedule an appointment to donate blood.
Wonder what it feels like to help save someone’s life? Become a blood donor and you will know. Call [blood bank/center] at [phone] to make an appointment to donate blood during National Blood Donor Month.
30 second spots
Too many Americans wait until they need blood before they truly realize the importance of volunteer blood donation. Donating blood saves lives. It may not be your neighbor or co-worker or best friend who needs your blood today. But someone does. Every two seconds, someone needs blood in the United States. Make lifesaving a habit starting this January – National Blood Donor Month. Call [blood bank/center] at [phone] for more information.
Many people know that when you donate blood it goes to people in need, but what you may not know is how great that need is. Every two seconds, someone in this country needs blood. That need continues to grow, but with just one blood donation, you can help save up to three lives. To learn more about donating blood during National Blood Donor Month, call [blood bank/ center] at [phone].
Sometimes it’s scary to try something new – like donating blood. But wouldn’t it be worth it if you knew you could be helping to save up to three lives? There are millions of blood donors in America and each of them had to start some time. Isn’t it time for you? During National Blood Donor Month, come see how easy and safe it is to become a lifesaver. For more information, call [blood bank/center] at [phone].
You don’t have to leap from tall buildings to be a hero. Donating blood saves lives. Your blood donation could help save as many as three patients who need you to be a hero. Celebrate National Blood Donor Month this January by donating blood. Please call [blood bank/center] at [phone]. It doesn’t take superhuman powers to perform a superhuman act. Donate blood. Call today.
Sample Radio Public Service Announcements - Word document (.doc)
Sample Solicitation Letter
for Gubernatorial Proclamations
[Date]
[Your Governor]
[Address]
Dear Governor [Your Governor]:
The [Blood Bank/Center] respectfully requests that you proclaim January as National Blood Donor Month in [State/Commonwealth] to highlight the importance of and need for blood donation. Make Lifesaving A Habit is the theme for this month-long celebration.
January is traditionally a time when it is difficult to recruit blood donors, and a gubernatorial declaration would be extremely helpful in this regard. The [Blood Bank/Center] feels that a gubernatorial proclamation would have a tremendous impact in encouraging the citizens of [State/Commonwealth] to give blood to their neighbors in need.
Every two seconds, someone needs blood. Each day, patients across the country receive approximately 39,000 units of blood. The demand for blood is greater today than ever as the nation’s supply needs constant replenishment. An estimated eight million people donate blood in the United State each year, but many more donors are needed. Accident victims, people undergoing surgery and patients receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer, or other diseases, all utilize blood. An auto accident or gunshot wound patient can require up to 20 units of blood.
Enclosed is a sample proclamation for your reference. If you need additional information or have any questions, please contact [Blood Bank/Center Representative].
Thank you in advance for supporting National Blood Donor Month.
Sincerely,
[Blood Bank/Center Representative]
Sample Solicitation Letter for Gubernatorial Proclamations - Word document (.doc)
Sample Gubernatorial Proclamation
Whereas, in (state/commonwealth), there is a need for __________ units of blood per year for the protection of patients, and there is a need for additional healthy, regular volunteer donors to join the ranks of those who already give of themselves so generously.
Therefore, I, _________________________, Governor of the state of _________________, hereby proclaim the month of January as “National Blood Donor Month” for the state/commonwealth of (state/commonwealth) and urge all citizens to pay tribute to those among us who donate for others in need. I urge citizens in good health to donate regularly. I also urge all civic and service organizations and businesses, if they have not already done so, to form blood donor groups to provide blood for others.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have here set my hand and caused the seal of the ________
_____________________ to be affixed this __________ day of __________, 2007/2008.
Sample Gubernatorial Proclamation - Word document (.doc)
Sample Mayoral Proclamation
Whereas, in our community, there is a need for ____________units of blood per year for the protection of patients, and there is a need for additional healthy, regular volunteer donors to join the ranks of those who already give of themselves so generously.
Therefore, I, ____________________________, Mayor of __________________, hereby proclaim the month of January as “National Blood Donor Month” for (city) and urge all citizens to pay tribute to those among us who donate for others in need. I urge citizens in good health to donate regularly. I also urge all civic and service organizations and businesses, if they have not already done so, to form blood donor groups to provide blood for others.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have here set my hand and caused the seal of the _________
_____________________ to be affixed this __________ day of ________, 2007/2008.
Sample Mayoral Proclamation - Word document (.doc)