1. THE 5 P’s OF SUCCESSFUL PSA CAMPAIGNS Presented by: Goodwill Communications, Inc. www.goodwillcommunications.com www.psaresearch.com
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Hinweis der Redaktion
#1: Staff background comprised of professionals with advertising and marketing expertise, not PSA work exclusively #2: Public Service Advertising Analysis System provides a systematic approach to PSA distribution and evaluation “one stop shopping” for non-profits and federal agencies. #3: We don’t create campaigns, we are not an ad or PR agency PSA distribution & evaluation only service #4: We believe in sharing our expertise, not hoarding it so clients and colleagues avoid costly mistakes. #5: As an example, we created the PS Research Center, the only on-line library of information dedicated to PSA, Social Issues and Cause Marketing #6 Self explanatory
Before getting to the 5 P’s we need to define what PSAs are and some basic rules governing their use.
We have created this list using alliteration to help people remember the key elements of a successful PSA program.
Competition from paid advertising and the number of other PSAs submitted to the media Format flexibility – provide various spot lengths and print ad sizes and in English/Spanish What does the media know about your issue or cause; what can you do to inform/educate/motivate them? Does the message speak to the interests of the local community….if not, it should. Is the creative as good as what surrounds it in a media environment? Is your packaging compelling enough to make the gatekeeper want to open it?
Some PSA trends run counter to intuition or suppostion…in this case, the most used spot length typically is the larger length such as a :60. Always include a :60 in your package…worth more than shorter spots, you can tell a more compelling story and register the call to action longer.
ADD OGILVY QUOTE “ Advocacy advertising is not a job for beginners, but there is a tradition of it within the profession.”
If you hire a famous person as your spokesperson, make sure they are involved with your cause and check them out very carefully in terms of their lifestyle.
This campaign featuring Hillary Clinton was distributed to the media on the same day the Starr Report landed on news desks. Even though it was for a great cause – colon cancer - what are the chances it would get used?
The scope of the distribution plan should be multi-media in nature as different media perform different roles in the marketing mix. We have a system called the PUI – Previous Usage Index – which is the number of times a media outlet has ever used our clients’ PSAs previously and we use this in our targeting efforts. You want to make sure that your distribution plan focuses on primary and secondary audiences The most successful campaigns are those that have a community partner component. Our experience shows that satellite distribution simply doesn'
This graph shows the number of TV stations that have used our client PSAs previously and the frequency of use by various ranges
In this test, we sent TV PSAs to local public affairs people for them to distribute to stations in certain markets and distributed a similar number of PSAs directly to stations in other markets. While the locally distributed PSAs got nearly have the “resources,” they generated only 21% of the total airplay.
Americans are increasingly mobile and are spending much more time on-line these days. To reach them, you have to think outside the box and look at new media options such as those shown here.
Most PSA campaigns we’ve been involved in don’t have a strong promotional component and they should. These are just some of the many ways you can promote your campaign by cultivating the “big four” broadcast networks as well as leading cable networks like CNN. You should also find ways to engage the media in your campaign by publicizing your campaign in the advertising and media trade press, by localizing your message via tags and other techniques, seeking collaborative relationships with allied organizations and tying your cause or issue in with a special event.
We produce this newsletter quarterly and insert it it all PSA packages as a way to engage broadcast community affairs directors in our client campaigns.
Another way to engage the media is to send pre-campaign alerts out to them explaining your campaign and why it is important to them.
For almost every issue there are allied organizations with a similar mission to yours. You may want to ask them to get involved with your campaign in some way. In this example, we brought three different client organizations together to share the costs of distributing a PSA campaign.
One of the most important things you can do is to find ways to engage people at the community level in your campaign. On the PSA Research Center we have posted an article “How to Place PSAs in Your Community” and it amplifies these key points.
Still another way to involve your community partners is to make all PSA data accessible to them. We do this by posting all distribution reports to dedicated mini-websites we create for our clients, to let them see where PSAs were distributed and where they are getting used.
The phrase, ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ applies with PSA campaigns. PSAs are just one of many many ways to get your message heard, including these other mass communications techniques. If you use a variety of different methods to get your message out there, you increase your chances of getting heard and seen.
When we tell people to use good ‘direct mail procedures’ they often say ‘PSAs are not direct mail’ but in actuality they are because that is the method by which we get them to the media. For that reason, we must use the same things that direct mail experts use to call attention to their mailings including these things.
Use a cost effective, attractive label such as this for your TV packages and a storyboard that fits on one page. Give some brief facts on your issue and be very succinct because you have about one minute to command the attention of busy public service directors.
they have received a total of 782,000 leads, which in turn resulted in 58,558 applications, 21,456 invitations to join the Peace Corps, and 18,028 Volunteers who actually join.