|
Who
Stepped Up
New Media Means Old Media Doesn’t Rule The Road:
There’s no doubt, the media will beat a path to your door when the world is collapsing in on you. But when you have a positive story to tell, the media is usually nowhere to be found. When that happens, you need to find your own voice.
With new media like Facebook, blogs and websites, an organization can create its own momentum to communicate its side of an issue.
One of my friends recently posted a comment on Facebook about the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) and I followed the link. First of all, I never knew that organization existed. Secondly, I found a treasure trove of PR tactics.
The association’s mission is to improve road safety. Sounds admirable, but lately they’ve been in the crosshairs of media reports claiming that federal regulations to improve the reflective quality of road signs are a big waste of money.
The ATSSA believes the money is well spent because of the lives that will be saved. Personally, I like the reflective signs due to my lack of night vision.
As we all know, when the media’s scorched-earth news cycle runs its course, they are not very interested in revisiting the issue to get your side of the story. The world is moving fast and there are other things to cover.
Thanks to new media, the old media doesn’t own Information Road anymore. There are many ways to communicate to the public your side of an issue. And that’s what the ATSSA did. Here’s how.
The ATSSA added to their website a “Sign Retroreflectivity Vault” at www.atssa.com/vault. Inside the vault, readers can click links to media articles written about the issue. The vault also includes Letters to the Editor from ATSSA’s CEO that respond to many of the articles. Some of the letters are positive; some are corrective in nature.
The association also posted its own letter in The Vault, as well as short video clips of the CEO responding to dozens of questions about the topic.
This type of proactive public relations work means that even if newspapers do not run the CEO letter or write follow-up stories revealing other angles of the issue, readers interested in this topic can still be exposed to ATSSA’s side of the facts.
Updating the website and using a Facebook campaign to get ATSSA members and friends, as well as concerned citizens across the nation, to comment on the policy is outstanding public relations. This data can be shared with federal leaders and reporters to help shape future decisions and stories.
New media is changing the media landscape. Never be afraid to write your own ticket as long as you can back it up with facts.
For a no-cost phone consultation, feel free to call David Rourk at (757) 478-0150.
About Rourk Public Relations
Our public relations agency is expert at media relations and generating media coverage for a wide range of clients in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, Hampton Roads, and throughout Virginia.
|
