Read Time: 3 minutes
Whew! Christian LoBue and I (Anne Thompson! Hi! 👋) just wrapped up our webinar, Broadcast Media: How to Think Like a Producer and Create the Win-Win. I dug into my history (and photo archives!) from my days in various roles at the intersection of advocacy and media to help advocates and comms professionals like YOU understand how best to partner with producers to create TV, radio, and podcast hits for the causes you care about. If you missed it or want to share with colleagues, give it a watch here!
I got to share some of my favorite (and I think, illustrative) stories from my producer days, and we loved getting to share some of the media successes we’ve had with our own M+R clients. But if you only take away three things from our conversation, here’s what you need to know:
1. Help a producer out! They are overloaded!
Producers are carrying a lot — both metaphorically and physically (omg the gear! Cameras, lights, mics, etc. My back does not miss that.) Anything you can do to make their jobs better and faster will pay dividends. Think things like:
- Calling out the timestamps for perfect sound bites in any footage you provide, and better yet, transcribing the clips, too
- Sending published stories that have already been fact-checked and have a headline to turn into graphics
- Making sure guests that you’re pitching are seasoned presenters and conversationalists. Smaller shows are a great place to build your conversational skills.
2. Help producers accomplish THEIR priorities to help you accomplish yours
I put together a handy checklist of the things I was balancing as a producer, which means they are things YOU should think about when pitching. Your pitches will be strongest if they help achieve one or many of these goals:
- Be on brand for the show
- Cover the news of the day in an engaging way
- Break news
- Get high-profile interviews
- Provide new data
- Use audio/visuals to tell the story
- Tell compelling personal stories
- Have engaging conversations
3. Track down good stories for shows that focus on original reporting
We gave a sneak peek at a Media Snapshot we put together on August 27 that takes a deep look at what stories shows were featuring, who was telling those stories, and what issues they were addressing. We’re going to share the full Media Snapshot analysis here soon (stay tuned!), but one big takeaway was that advocates and impacted people were featured most in original reporting – shows like the PBS Newshour, NPR’s Morning Edition and NBC News. Your organization can get a lot of value out of a reported piece! So that means it’s super helpful for you to get on the phone, get out in the field, and track down good stories you can pass on to shows that do original reporting.
Again, check out the recording for many more tips, analysis, and behind-the-scenes stories. And keep an eye out for our full Media Snapshot report coming soon!
———
Anne Thompson is Vice President of Strategic Communications for M+R Win. When she’s not photoshopping her face onto the body of the Hollywood star Amanda Bynes, she is watching Jeopardy!, riding her bike up mountains or trying to lower her cholesterol.