An essential component of your voter education planshould be media outreach. These are opportunities toget media coverage for your campaign or about specificissues affecting the AAPI community. When developingyour field plan, be sure to allocate time and resourcesfor media outreach.
Developing an Earned Media Field Plan
Incorporate Media into your Field Plan
Develop a media calendar within your overall field planallotting space for time and budget. This includes paidmedia and earned media as described below.
Incorporate Your Message
Remember you are conveying a message with everythingyou do. All your messengers must deliver a clearand consistent explanation of your goals. With everyintentional message, there are implicit messages. Takecare to ensure that your implicit messages are accountable,reliable and on message. Make sure that campaignstaff, volunteers and the press are aware of themessage you want to send. Repetition and consistencyare the most effective communication tools.
Choose your Media Strategy
Determine the best means to communicate your messageto your target audiences.
Paid Media vs. Earned Media
Paid Media
Paid media is media coverage obtained through buyingadvertising space. While paid media is the most effectiveway to communicate and reach out to a large audience,you need to buy a significant amount of advertisingto communicate your message effectively.Paid media includes TV advertisements, radio announcements, newspaper advertisements, magazine advertisements.
Earned Media
Earned media is coverage of events or campaign obtainedthrough outreach to media. While coverage isfree, campaigns have to work hard to earn this coverageand even then, it is unknown what type or amount ofcoverage your campaign will receive.Earned media includespress conferences,press releases, letters to the editor,op-ed pieces, radio/TV, talk show appearances, interviews
Decide to whom you are targeting and outreaching. Besure to develop a media strategy so that all members ofyour community, not just your target groups, knowabout your voter outreach efforts. Mainstream mediaoutlets have specific audiences and might be more interestedin AAPI issues. Mainstream media outlets mayreach a wider audience, but may be more difficult toaccess. In-language ethnic media reaches potential voterswith limited English proficiency.
Issue and Candidate Forums
Issue and Candidate forums can be organized to informprospective voters, particularly people in your database,to become more informed in the upcoming election. Itprovides your community the personal touch to engagewith the issues and ask the specific questions that affectthem.Nonprofit organizations may also invite candidates topublic meetings or forums but only on the conditionthat “all serious candidates” are invited. It is importantto give equal treatment to all candidates and ensurethat the organization does not support specificcandidates. Candidate forums are opportunities notonly for the public to learn more about the candidatesand issues in the election but to educate the generalpublic and candidates about issues affecting the AAPIcommunity.
Press Releases
Press releases are short notices to the media describingan issue or event that has just occurred. Press releasesare generally short and concise. Be sure to incorporatesound bites into your press release as reporters often usequotes to convey their message.
*Refer to the Sample Press Release below.
Op-ed Quick Tips
Most newspapers and magazines publish opinion essayssubmitted by community leaders, experts, electedofficials, and just plain citizens. Known generically asop-eds because they often appear opposite the editorialpage, these items offer people an opportunity to speakabout issues they care about in their own words. Theymay not be the most read part of a newspaper, butthose that read them tend to be the most influentialopinion leaders in the community. An op-ed also carrieswith it the unspoken support of the paper as being anopinion to which it is important to pay attention.Op-eds are short, 700-800 words maximum, but eachpaper that runs them determines its own guidelines forlength, submission, topics, etc. Observe what type andstyle of op-ed is running, from whom, and see if theyhave published their guidelines either in the paper oron the paper’s website.
Messengers
While you may be the best person to write an op-edbecause of your knowledge on the issue, you may wantto enlist someone prominent or influential in thecommunity to submit it under their name.Ghost writing op-eds for others is very common.Sometimes it helps get the piece published or readbecause the person is well known. It can also help thepower of your message because the person is looked upto, is an expert or academic, or because they have noobvious self-interest in the issue being discussed.
Op-ed Quick Tips
Most newspapers and magazines publish opinion essayssubmitted by community leaders, experts, electedofficials, and just plain citizens. Known generically asop-eds because they often appear opposite the editorialpage, these items offer people an opportunity to speakabout issues they care about in their own words. Theymay not be the most read part of a newspaper, butthose that read them tend to be the most influentialopinion leaders in the community. An op-ed also carrieswith it the unspoken support of the paper as being anopinion to which it is important to pay attention.Op-eds are short, 700-800 words maximum, but eachpaper that runs them determines its own guidelines forlength, submission, topics, etc. Observe what type andstyle of op-ed is running, from whom, and see if theyhave published their guidelines either in the paper oron the paper’s website.
Messengers
While you may be the best person to write an op-edbecause of your knowledge on the issue, you may wantto enlist someone prominent or influential in thecommunity to submit it under their name.Ghost writing op-eds for others is very common.Sometimes it helps get the piece published or readbecause the person is well known. It can also help thepower of your message because the person is looked upto, is an expert or academic, or because they have noobvious self-interest in the issue being discussed.
Sample Press Release
Elevator Speech
Message Box
Ethnic Media (Includes Quiz)
Media Relations Training
