What Are PSAs?

Public Service Advertising - also known as Public Service Announcements (broadcast) and Public Service Ads (print) - are used by hundreds of organizations at the national, regional and local level. They generate support for all different kinds of social issues, ranging from AIDS to Zoo appreciation and everything in between. The single factor that all these issues have in common is they must be advanced by an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in order to qualify for PSA airtime and space. PSAs cannot promote profit-seeking organizations in any way, nor can their logos or products be shown or mentioned in PSAs as a general rule.

One of the most important things to recognize about PSAs is that the media is not obligated by law or any other requirement to provide you with free air time and space. The only exception is that stations are mandated by the FCC to air a prescribed amount   of responsible children’s programming under the Children’s TV Act.¹

While it is true that broadcasters must prove they are broadcasting in the public interest, there are many ways to achieve that goal. Accordingly, you must find ways to elicit voluntary media support and make a strong connection between your cause and the local media that are supporting it.

In simple terms, PSAs are messages produced for public benefit, on behalf of a non-profit organization about an important social issue. Nearly all forms of media - national and local - use PSAs to fill unsold airtime and print space.

That's the good news. The bad news is that there is a tremendous amount of competition for PSA airtime and space, and the demand far exceeds the supply.   It is not unusual for local TV stations to air several hundred PSAs in a given month, and many more never get on the air or in print. This guide is designed to help both national campaign planners and the local public affairs representative in getting increased PSA exposure.

Importance of Localism

Due to tremendous competition for PSA time and space, your success in PSA placement depends on how well you market your issue locally. All things being equal - creative quality of your materials, relevance of your issue and having appropriate materials - the organizations which do the best local marketing job will be most successful in getting exposure.

There is an old saying among politicians that "all politics are local." The same could be said for PSA campaigns. While the national office or its ad agency may create your campaign, they obviously don't know the local community like those who live and work there.

On the other hand, local organizations may not have the financial or material resources necessary to produce a high-quality PSA campaign, so it requires both parties working in tandem to maximize exposure.

Many national organization don’t have a network of local public affairs specialists with whom they can work to implement PSA campaigns, but there are still some ways to localize your issue. Here are a few:

• Look for a campaign partner that has a local network and a similar mission to yours. For example, the American Savings Education Council which has no local network, teamed up with the Social Security Administration, which has an extensive network of public affairs specialists around the country to promote a PSA campaign to encourage increased savings.
  
  
• Consider ways to localize the impact of your issue by using local statistics or facts on the problem you are trying to solve. For example, we used local boating safety statistics in our national packaging materials to increase the interest on this subject among local media gatekeepers.
  
  
• Look for ways to tie your issue to a local activity or special event such as a walk-a-thon, fund-raising drive, bike race, etc. where you can partner with the media. They will be especially interested if you can help them garner corporate support for promoting your issue.

If you have a network of local community partners, there are lots of ways to bridge the gap between national and local interests when placing your national PSAs at the local level. They include:

• Producing local tags which identify your local organization or leaving room for tags to be inserted by the local station. This permits the local media to have some “buy-in” identity and brand the PSA, giving them credit for using the PSAs.
  
  
• Producing a customized PSA or a “donut” which is a national PSA with a hole in the middle where you can insert localized information.
  
  For the National Association of Insurance Commissioners we inserted video clips of each state insurance commissioner into a national PSA such as that shown below.
  
  
  
  
• If you have the time and resources, you can even completely package a national campaign to localize its impact, including producing personalized letters on local chapter stationery, using localized return address labels, and local impact data in your factual material.

Building Your Media List

If you are working with a national distributor, they will be able to provide community outreach specialists lists of the public service media contacts you need to reach. They should be able to break the media down by your particular geographic territory and by media type.

For our clients, we post distribution lists to a client website so they are universally accessible.  If the lists are not accessible to you from your national distributor, you can use directories available in your local library or use the Internet to build local media contact lists. (See list of Media Resources at the end of this article).

Making the Contact

There is no single individual or department that controls PSA access for different types of media. The decision-making process differs by media type, from one market to another, and by the size of the media outlet.

Generally, however, the media contact you want to reach at larger broadcast (TV and radio) stations, is the Community Affairs, Public Affairs or Public Service Director. At smaller broadcast outlets, the title will most likely be Program Director, News Director or perhaps even General Manager. At print outlets you would normally try to contact the Advertising Director, Production Manager or perhaps Editor and/or General Manager at a smaller newspaper. If your campaign includes outdoor advertising, the General Manager or Posting Supervisor is the person to contact.

Once you have compiled your list of local media, the next step is to contact them either by letter or phone. We recommend sending a brief note to local media contacts before any phone calls, because it paves the way for your call and helps the media representative understand your issue and why you want to meet with them.

Presenting Your Case

When making media contacts, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Know Your Issue Cold - There's no substitute for having all the facts and information you can compile on your issue, including research data, news articles, opinion surveys or anything else to help you sell the media on the importance of your issue. Prepare a brief fact sheet on your issue that you can use as "talking points" in your discussions.
  
  
• Be Compelling - Facts alone can be impersonal. Compelling stories about how your issue affects people in the local community can be a powerful argument and demonstrate local relevance. If you've had PSAs on the air before and they were successful, let the media representative know how important media involvement is by pointing to your successes.
  
  
• Offer Other Assistance - Space doesn't allow a complete refresher on media relations, but there are other ways to get the media involved through news stories, on-air promos or editorials, remote broadcasts, etc. Encourage the media to cover your issue in different ways because it all adds up to valuable exposure.
  
  
• Build a Partnership - Don't forget successful PSA placement is a partnership. The media can offer more than simply using your PSAs. They can help you frame strategies for getting your message out to the community if you ask for their help. Sometimes they may be able to offer production assistance or introduce you to other station personnel who can help. Perhaps they would be willing to serve on your board, judge a creative contest or volunteer in some capacity.

Making media contacts is definitely an art. Compiling the list of appropriate contacts is only the first step. Now you’ve got to make a strong case for why the media gatekeeper should let you through the gate to state your case. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

DO:

• Make an Appointment and promise to keep your meeting with the media representative brief - 15 to 20 minutes maximum. They are very busy people and don't have time to waste.
  
  
• Be Prepared - learn as much as you can about the media organization i.e. program format of radio, coverage area, the kinds of stories they air or print,  personalities, etc. and how your issue and their station can mutually benefit from a partnership.
  
  
• For TV, bring a sample of a tape in both a preview format (VHS) and the on-air dub format the station requires (typically a BETA SP tape), a storyboard and brief fact sheet for your issue to be used as a "leave behind."Stress the local importance of your issue and how it benefits the station.
  
  
• For radio, bring a portable CD or cassette player and a CD or cassette of your PSAs and a live annoucer script for use in live voice over broadcasts.
  
  
• For print, take PDSs in camera ready form or “hi res” (high resolution) .pdf files with a space left for local tagging by the newspaper. Also have editorial information that can be used on the news side of the print outlet and ask your contact to forward this information to the appropriate editor or reporter.
  
  
• If you are asking for the public to write for materials, have samples on hand to show the media. Share any success stories from previous PSA campaigns in terms of the impact they have made on your issue or cause.
  
  
• Remember to Say” Thank You”- Write thank you letters to all media outlets that use your PSAs and if they have given you a lot of support, think about a special plaque or certificate of appreciation. Have your local chapter president present the plaque to the station’s general manager and have a photographer present for use in local publicity.
  
  When sending letters of appreciation, have the most important person in your organization (president, chairman, Executive Director) write to the General Manager of the media outlet which provided support to your organization.  Thank them for the support and time provided and cite the person who assisted you at the lower level. Also, send that person a copy of the letter, so he or she will know what you've done.

DON'T:

• Be a Nusiance. Don’t keep calling the media to ask when your PSA will appear on air or in print. Since PSAs are placed on a "time/space available" basis, the media person can't give you any guarantees about usage. Many media people regard these calls as a nuisance, so find a more engaging way to make contacts.

  Postcards such as these can be useful as pre-campaign alerts, for sending notes to local media to set up appointments and as thank-you notes.

• Try to Force Meetings with media people. They are very busy and if they can't see you personally, handle your contact in writing, with a follow-up phone call.
  
  
• Expect the Media to Do Your Work for You.   Prepare your materials ready to use. Do the work for media and you increase your chances of getting your materials on the air or in print.

Your national office should share PSA usage data with you, so you know what type of follow-up action is appropriate. The evaluation reports from the national office will provide usage data by media type, and broken down to show PSA usage in your local community.

These reports will show the name of the call letters or print media outlet, the city and state where exposure occurred, the number of plays or print ads that were used, and the estimated dollar value of all PSAs. 

When your campaign is distributed, your distributor should provide a list of all media outlets to which your PSAs were distributed and an indication of previous usage practices. By reviewing these reports, you can see specifically which media outlets have and have not used your PSAs. (Your national coordinator will give you the URL for the website where you will be able to access both distribution and evaluation reports).

If you have not seen or heard your PSAs and they are not on local evaluation reports, follow up with a reminder phone call or postcard 45 days after your initial contact, and see if there is something more that you can do.

Just remember that the media have dozens and perhaps hundreds of issues presented to them, all of which are important to the organizations vying for time and space.

We often send a two part, postage-paid reminder postcard such as this to media which have not used a PSA.

LOCAL PSA/MEDIA RESOURCES

Planning

If you are planning a campaign at the national level and looking for ways to engage your local network, be sure to read the article titled: “Involving Your Community Partners in PSA Program Development” which can be found on at: http://www.psaresearch.com/gap.html.

Formulating Contact Lists

Your distributor should be able to provide you with PSA lists broken out by your particular geographic area. If you need to formulate your own lists, go to the local library and ask for Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook, which has a comprehensive list of all U.S. TV and radio stations by state.   If they don’t have it, you can purchase it for about $220, at: http://www.bowker.com/catalog/000061.htm

Perhaps the most comprehensive media resource service on all the nation’s media, is Bacon’s which   provides data that is updated daily in electronic format http://www.us.cision.com/resources/resources_overview.asp. They also provide a national clipping service in case you need them to monitor your local PSA clipping usage.

PSA Resources

Every state has a state broadcast association that may help you in developing creative ways to engage their local media members. For a list of state broadcaster associations, go to the Table of Contents in the Broadcasters Yearbook mentioned previously where you will find a list of all the associations, a phone number and contact name.

To learn as much as possible about the media mindset, selection criteria and to access lists of national media organizations, most of which have local chapters or affiliates, go to http://www.psaresearch.com/biborgan.asp.

In conclusion, be professional and thorough in your approach and respect the media's time. Make them a part of your issue, and you stand a good chance of getting your day in the sun.

¹ See article at http://www.psaresearch.com/caf1019.html