Better PR: It's Tough to Beat a Great Event
Especially when the Des Moines media lends a hand...
Photo courtesy Des Moines Skydivers
Today’s tip:
A great event can get earned media. But you have to ask for it.
When the Des Moines Skydivers announced last summer they were moving from Winterset to Knoxville I was thrilled. Knoxville is the “Sprint Car Capitol of the World,” and I knew the skydivers would fit right in. I don’t remember if I reached out to Randy Roth with the skydivers first, or if he reached out to me. Regardless, at the radio station in Knoxville I worked at, we gave them plenty of coverage.
I wrote a post on them for my Substack Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, and the Iowa Capitol Dispatch picked it up to spread the word. A national parachuting magazine also picked it up—more PR! All earned.
Airport management loves the skydivers, and so does the mayor, the City Council, and the community. Everyone is excited about them being here, knowing they will bring not only lots of fun but also hundreds of thousands of dollars to the community every year. This past Saturday, they held an open house at their new hangar, and hundreds of people came. I saw license plates from 20 counties and a couple of other states in the parking lot at the event.
Of course, the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting like none you have ever seen before. Check it out:
Before the event, members of the skydivers’ board Jake Sparks, Christy Brokens, Randy Roth, Brandon Stevens, and I held a Zoom call (screenshot below) about how we could get media involved. Local media were all in, but we really wanted to get some of the big media from Des Moines to come out, since it is an exciting regional event.
At that meeting, we learned that Christy knew someone at WHO-TV. She reached out to them and got this great coverage! Erin Kiernan, an Iowa treasure, was the anchor that night, and Jake did a fine job in the interview. The B-roll was fantastic. Below is a screenshot of Jake during his interview with WHO-TV.
Knoxville has a new Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, Nathan Sage. Nathan is an Army and Marine Veteran with a degree in Mass Communications and Journalism from Kansas State University. He previously worked in news and sales at the radio station. In sum, a great background to be Executive Director for the chamber. He’s only been at the job a few weeks, and has already rebranded Knoxville:
This was an easy example because of the intrinsic interest most of us have in skydiving, even if we know we will never fly. You might think it will be difficult to market your business or nonprofit the same way. You’re right.
We just have to find your story, and tell it the right way.
I’m an anthropologist who worked in commercial radio news in Iowa for nearly 20 years. I’ve retired from radio to move on to other adventures, including PR consulting. I have bylines on stories about politics and culture in the New York Times, TIME, USA Today, the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the Des Moines Register, the Kansas City Star, and many, many more. I have appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, Iowa Public Radio, WNYC in New York City, and WGBH in Boston, among other national and international network television and radio programs. My work has been featured on Fox News and in the New Yorker, among others.
I’m part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, and write about politics and culture at Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture and my observations on nature and people at the Cedar Bluffs Natural Area, Mahaska County, Iowa, at Cedar Creek Nature Notes.
Now I’m writing Better PR here. I’ve seen tens of thousands of press releases over the years, and as a member of the media, I know which pitches work and which don’t. My focus here is on nonprofits, but the lessons I share here will work for business and industry as well, as you can see from this post. I will pull examples from nonprofits, for-profits, and the government because there is much to be learned.
My new company, based in Knoxville, Iowa, is called Better PR, like this newsletter. Subscribe for my weekly updates. Contact me at rdwleonard@gmail.com.
Please check out this profile of my new company in the Des Moines Business Record.
A few years ago, I wrote an ebook called Sticky and Easy: a Guide to Marketing Your Nonprofit to the News Media. I wrote it and shared it with friends. Now I am sharing it with you.
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Fascinating back story!
Good advice!