Below is a PR tip to get your church media profile up & running. But don’t tell anyone …
Most pastors and church leaders don’t think media are interested in reporting what is happening at their church in a positive way.
As long as they think like this they are probably right, but there is always a way to present a story to the media that usually results in a great outcome.
First it is important to think of what makes a story newsworthy in the minds of the media. A news editor is receiving countless press releases and story ideas every day and makes a decision on each in an instant – so your story had better stand out.
There are many factors that lead an editor or news director to follow a story and most are rather obvious. Things like the proximity, the scale of the impact, the nature of the event and the timeliness are all major factors. But for the sake of this example we will look at two significant factors that a news story must have: 1) The timing, and 2) the angle.
So here’s one (free) PR tip for your church:
Inject your church into current news stories and issues of the moment.
Doing this ensures that the story you present to the media is at least current, so you’ve covered the timing issue. Now you need an angle. You’ll find the right angle by looking at the big stories of the day and asking yourself how you and your church can add “interest value” to the story. In other words how can you piggy-back onto a current news theme to present a different angle and give the news outlet a way to extend their reporting on the issue at hand?
You will notice that the media tends to exhaust a theme if they feel there is enough interest. For example if there is a major story on the rising cost of fruit and vegetables, over the next few days you’ll see lots of similar stories – all coming from different angles. Did you notice that word – “angles?”
You may be asking, “That’s good but my church can’t add “interest value” to a story about fruit and vegetable costs.” Maybe you can’t, but …… maybe you can! Does your church operate a food ministry that offers low-cost groceries? If so, a great media release relating your food ministry back to the current media stories just might give your local newspaper or television station a great follow-up angle.
Here are some other relevant examples:
- Current story: A high profile or celebrity marriage that has broken up, Your angle: Present tips from your pastor to help strengthen marriages
- Current story: Interest rates increasing, Your angle: A media release quoting the pastor urging political leaders to remember struggling families
- Current story: Obesity in children on the rise, Your angle: Comment from children’s pastor on the importance of a good self-worth in children
- Current story: More military deaths, Your angle: A special prayer service for military personnel, or maybe a special ministry to bless the families of serving military personnel.
There are countless other examples, and thinking of them is fun. Maybe you should get your church staff together, go over the lead news stories of the day and brain-storm a way to inject your church into the media coverage. (By the way, whether you are in a smaller town or a large city, the principle is the same).
I guarantee you that it will pay off. You may not get interest every time and it might take you a while to get the right angles but eventually you will not only lift your profile but people – including unchurched people – will want to know more about you and will come and check you out. I’ve seen the results first-hand.
