Media Relations

Ella, is the press officer responsible for all the press releases and media relations for the region. I was surprised by her workload for just herself but it was very interesting to observe her working. She has been with the charity for a new of years, after gaining a degree and a masters in Advertising.
I worked with her for the majority of time, watching how she selected stories and chose which angle to use when writing press releases. She also showed me the database, with all of her contacts and lists of publications that she sends to in the region. They were sub devided by media type, and then also by readership and circulation figures. The majority of press releases are sent to newspapers, sometimes magazines although Ella explained that they seem less likely to publish feature articles. The most successful way she said, was if there was an editioril piece or an interview then they are more inclined to feature the Children's Hospice South West Precious Lives Appeal.
It is only for occasional major stories that she contacts BBC Spotlight or ITV West country as television appears to be the most difficult to get coverage. In terms of other media, Radio is working very well for the appeal, they have Pirate FM as their media partner which last for one year and they get unlimited free advertising on the station.
They have recognised the importance of social media also, however its not widely used within the P.R strategy as the facebook group has a limited amount of members, updates are not very frequent and they are not on Twitter.