Assigning one person from your organization as your media relations liaison is going to make things easier on everyone by reducing confusion and information overload. This person will be responsible for disseminating information, handling media inquiries, and coordinating interviews and appearances. All materials distributed to the media should include the name of your media liaison with his or her daytime and evening telephone numbers so reporters can get answers to their questions at any time.

Be sure you have all your bases covered by creating a list with every media outlet you want to contact.   To obtain a media list, contact your local Chamber of Commerce or look in the yellow pages.   Your complete media list should include the name, title, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Turnover is high, so it is important to keep your media list up to date.  Plan to call and confirm your contacts before sending your marketing piece.

One of the first things you need to do is decide how you are going to get your message out.  Once you have determined this, then you can begin creating your marketing materials.

Paid Advertisements
To guarantee that special attention is focused on your organization during National Home Care Month, you can purchase and place several types of preproduced advertising within your local media market. Unlike public service announcements, paid advertisement ensures the placement of your ad on a specific date and at a predetermined time and location to reach a particular audience.

Billboard Advertising
Billboard advertising is another effective and inexpensive form of paid promotion. Billboards offer the lowest cost per-thousand impressions, high frequency and reach, and select demographics. Billboards work all day, every day, for as long as your ad is posted.

Placing Audio and Video PSAs
Target stations to run your PSA based on the audiences you wish to reach. Contact the stations' community development or public service departments to find out whether they prefer taped or live-read PSAs and the procedures you should follow for submission.  Send your PSA with a cover letter explaining the value of your message. Call your contact(s) shortly after sending the information to confirm that it was received.

Public Service Advertisements
Published in newspapers, magazines, and newsletters, public service advertisements (PSAs) resemble the format of paid advertisements, but they are published at no cost.   When speaking with your contact, explain the dimensions of your PSA and how its message will benefit readers. If they agree to place the clip ad or camera-ready column, they can download the images from the sample materials section of this kit.

Placing Print PSAs
Competition for free space is fierce, so start working with your local print media early if you are seeking placement in November. When attempting to place a PSA in a newspaper or magazine, get in touch with the publication's community development and/or public service departments. Larger publications may have several departments that cater to specific advertisements, so you may need to contact the advertising division responsible for the health section.

Public Service Announcements and Advertisements
If your agency is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization, you can call widespread attention to NHM free of charge by tapping into the community, public service, or public affairs departments of your local broadcast stations, which run public service announcements (PSAs), and similar departments of your local print media, which run public service advertisements (also referred to as PSAs).

Public Service Announcements
PSAs are radio or television commercials, usually from 10 to 60 seconds long, that are broadcast at no cost to the sponsor. PSAs always include a "call to action" statement, which asks the audience to do something such as participate, call, write, or contribute. Broadcasters use three primary criteria for determining which PSAs make the air: (1) the sponsor must be held in high esteem; (2) the message must have a strong relevance to the community (announcements aiming to market a specific agency's services or recruit home care patients would not be accepted); and (3) the message design must be original and thought provoking.  Three formats are used for broadcast PSAs - preproduced CDs for radio, preproduced videotapes for television (in beta format, NOT vhs), and "live-read" (scripted) PSAs to be delivered by a station personality.

Creating Your Own Live-read PSA
PSAs usually are written in advertising-copy style-punchy and sharp. The challenge in writing PSAs is to develop a short message persuading the listener or viewer to take the desired action.

The following are some basic steps to follow when creating your own live-read radio or television PSA:

• In your company's letterhead, type your copy in capital letters and double-spaced with wide margins to ensure easy readability.
• List the date with the name and telephone number of your media liaison in the top right-hand corner, along with the dates the station is to start and stop the broadcast in the top left-hand corner.
• Write your message as you would speak, without using abbreviations.

When developing your story and writing your own materials, identify your key points early in your message by answering "the five Ws:" who, what, where, when, and why. Your information should be listed in descending order, with the most important facts listed first. Be concise, but also try to have your words form a compelling picture in the readers’ minds.  Include information that is going to catch a reader’s attention and also keep them reading to the end.  Be sure to personalize your message by including information about your own organization and the services you provide to the community.  Try to include something that is going to set your agency apart from the others in your area. 

Following are some key messages to communicate for National Home Care Month:

• Home Care provides care in the patient’s home and in familiar surroundings which in itself has a positive and therapeutic effect.
• Seniors prefer home care over institutional care by a margin of better than 90 percent.
• Home care keeps families together while nursing home care, even at its best, breaks families apart.
• Home care promotes independence and human dignity for seniors who lament the loss of freedoms, which often accompany nursing home placement.
• Visits to patients’ homes by home care nurses and other workers bolster the self-esteem of infirm seniors who often believe they are of little value in society.
• Wellness and disease prevention as well as the management of chronic disease are benefits of home care.

Referring Media to Patients, Families, and Other Resources

• The heart of the home care story isn't just the providers. It is also the patients and their family members whose lives are touched by the caring and compassionate services provided. On occasion a reporter may ask you for assistance in locating people outside of your organization who will consent to an interview and who can provide insight into their experiences with home care or home care.
• In addition to patients and their families, you may be asked to connect reporters to providers from other home care organizations, representatives of other related health associations, social service agencies and community programs, and experts on key issues affecting home care. In these instances, it is helpful to have an up-to-date list of people you can refer to.
• If you don't already have such a list, start developing one by identifying individuals who are articulate and well-versed in delivering positive messages. Ask them if they would be willing to share their perspectives with the media, and add their names to your list, along with their titles, work and home addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and a brief description of their association with home care. Before referring a reporter to any individual on your list, it's a good idea to verify that the individual is still receptive to conducting media interviews.

If you are going to include patient’s testimonials, following are some general rules when selecting patients and their families for a media interview:

• Select a patient who wants to speak about their home care experience. If there will be a television crew present, make sure the patient and family members are comfortable with being in front of a camera.
• Choose a case based on the appropriateness. Reporters should see caregivers actually providing care, but may not want to see a seriously compromised patient.
• Look for patients and family members who are highly supportive of home care and can articulate the importance of home care to the media. Make sure the individuals realize that just because they participate in an interview, there is no guarantee that the story will run or that their interview will be included. It is not uncommon for stories to be postponed or for some interviews to end up "on the cutting room floor."
• Obtain copies of transcripts, videotapes, or news clippings of the story and provide them to the individual. Thank them for assisting with the interview by sending a note or small gift.

Whatever is it you are planning to do to generate coverage of home care, you should contact the media at least two weeks in advance. Your first contact with the media should be by fax, email or regular mail.  Ask reporters up front what their deadlines are and when they are planning to run the story. If the media accepts your pitch, they are going to need time to do background research and other preparation before the actual event.  If you rush a reporter, they are more than likely not going to cover your story.  Many TV and radio stations are not going to commit to the coverage until that day.   If you are struggling to get reporters to notice your original contact, you may want to consider a media pitch letter.  Media pitch letters propose story ideas and reasons why an editor or reporter should cover a story or event.  Your pitch letter needs to stand out from the crowd.  Include something that assures them people are going to read the story.

The second contact should be by telephone after you think they have had time to take a look at your written communications.  When you call to follow up with the reporter, speak in terms of headlines, providing the key information quickly. Reiterate why your story will help educate their audience. Ask for his or her impression of your story ideas. Ask if the reporter has any questions or would like additional information. If he or she is interested, they will indicate so and may ask to speak with particular people in your organization to flesh the piece out further. If they rush you off the phone, don’t give up. Be persistent. Ask if there is another person at the media outlet that might be interested in your story because it is so important.   If you get voicemail, leave a concise pitch. This, as well as the “live” follow-up call you make should be scripted so you get your key points in quickly.

The third contact should be made by mail again. Reporters will cover only those topics they deem newsworthy for their target audiences. To enhance the likelihood of receiving coverage provide them with a media kit consisting of the initial news release and/or media pitch letter, fact sheets, background, related statistics, public service advertisements, announcements, brochures, and photos..  A media kit is an effective tool that reinforces your original news release and provides additional information to educate the reporter on the issues surrounding Home Care.  Your media kit is going to allow them to create a short outline to quickly identify the key elements of a story.

Tracking your news coverage serves two useful purposes: it enables you to evaluate the effectiveness of your media relations, and you may utilize copies of the coverage as direct mail pieces to market your organization. Assign one person from your staff to read the local newspapers you targeted and tape the TV and radio programs where you have secured coverage

Responding to Controversial Coverage

It is important to keep in mind that the opinions of consumers and elected officials are often influenced by what they see in the media. Therefore, when a story is negative, inaccurate, or unbalanced, the community must be ready to counteract damaging coverage.

If you encounter a harmfully unbalanced or misleading story, it is critical for you to develop and issue an immediate written response. It is usually best to fax or mail your reaction to the news organization in the form of a letter to the editor or an op-ed. When drafting your response, consider the following:

• Develop your arguments in a constructive, factual tone, without appearing hostile or overly demanding.
• Applaud the editors or producers for their interest in the home care community.
• Express disappointment over any major errors of omission or facts in the report.
• Refer to the millions of people who are extremely satisfied with and dependent upon quality home and home care care.
• Cite the community's long-standing history of providing competent and compassionate care. Emphasize how the vast majority of providers are reputable and fulfill their duties with honesty and integrity.
• Develop a list of talking points and include them in your response.
• Offer a knowledgeable and prepared spokesperson from your agency as a source to address any questions the producer or editor may have.
• Volunteer to coordinate interviews with patients and their families who have had positive experiences.
• Inform other providers in your area about the faulty news coverage and work together to develop a collective response. The media are more likely to listen to a response from a group than from an individual.