|
Proactive Planning Pays Off
As summer draws to a close, the pace of media calls has slowed significantly.
Between the first of May and the fifteenth of August there were over 300 million
media impressions, including 265 million national
media hits. It was a fruitful summer indeed. Positive camp messages were
relayed more often than the negative stories, with the media feeding on the
importance of an independent, unplugged experience for children, cooking at
camp, and camp enrollment trends. Now the public
relations team can sit back, prop our feet on our desks, and relax . .
. right?
In truth, the frantic summer media phone
calls and interviews are just the icing
on a very large, very calculated cake.
Most of the interest in ACA and the camp
experience is generated as a result of
some careful planning, preparation, and
relationship building that begins NOW.
Careful review of successes and failures,
goal setting, and alignment with the ACA
20/20 Vision gives us a starting point
for the 2009 public relations plan.
In order for a public relations plan to
work it must begin with strategy. The plan
needs to be detailed, including objective
statements, goals, and an outline of how
all of this will be carried out. In addition
to the national ACA public relations plan,
your ACA local office works with local
media to achieve the goals and objectives
that are specific to your needs. While
some ACA local offices may already have
an ongoing plan in place, others may be
looking for opportunities to improve proactive
media relations. Camps can also develop
effective public awareness programs and
media initiatives.
To assist in this process, a sample communications
plan is included in the ACA
Communications Toolkit. The sample
plan includes goals, target audiences,
messages, and measuring successes. It is
designed to guide you through the planning
process. As always, the ACA national public
relations team is here should you run
into any obstacles, or have any questions.
As part of the national public relations
plan, we will be working to identify new
positive camp stories and new resources for
the media. In the last year, ACA received
over 300 media requests. We would like to
expand our media resource list to include
more camps and more voices who can share
with the media the depth, breadth, and importance
of the camp experience. With your help, ACA
can influence print and broadcast stories
that appear throughout the country. If you
would like to join the ACA Media Resource
Team, or if you have any questions, please submit
our online form or contact Public
Relations at 765-349-3317.
Top of page |
 |
|
