The first step is identifying the destination. How do you want to be perceived? How are you perceived now? Focus groups, short street-corner surveys and team brainstorming sessions are ways to generate your individual snapshot.

Imagine you are a literacy association struggling to make people aware that you also help people with numeracy and computer training issues. A provincial public relations campaign linked to a library reading competition isn't raising the profile you need.

Once you've identified the perception you want to change, don't think the next step is calling the local paper and asking for a story to “clear this all up”. Again — ask yourself who cares? It's not the paper's job to clarify or explain on your behalf, although they often do so on slow news days.

What's better is to devise your own strategy or campaign that will make the public (and the media) take note, seek more information and, hopefully, hop on the bus. Keeping the above example in mind, you might decide to take part in or begin a used computer exchange program. The work would help the community, keep computers out of landfill, and give your organization a reason to approach the media.

This sort of project takes a lot of vision, cooperation and plain hard work. But it also offers opportunities to engage directly with many more people who would normally not be open to your traditional messages. You might engage high school students needing community service hours, a local computer store to donate some service, or another agency that would also benefit from improving public access to free computers. As you all work together, the missions and goals of your organization are communicated directly, potentially building your volunteer, client, or any other target base to your core programs.

Generating change creates news. If you build it, the media will come.

You now have several legitimate reasons to contact the media: to launch the project and call for volunteers and donations, to update progress, and, at the conclusion of the event, to name a few accomplishments. Apply standard media relations techniques here. Send out clear press releases well in advance and follow up by telephone or a reminder fax in the days before the event.

Target your media appropriately, remembering the readership value of your local free weekly newspaper or other community newsletters, websites, or call-in radio shows. In your media sweep, send second copies of your releases to the same organizations, specifically addressed to the individuals who produce free announcement columns, or radio and television morning shows. Meet their deadlines and create flexible appearances and personal photo opportunities to improve the chances they will cover your story.

Once the media attend the event, you can talk about the broader issues. Again, the story might be about the launch but now there's a reason for a secondary story about the local issues of computer training availability and your core programs.

The key here is that you're the one driving the bus — you've generated a sincere and legitimate purpose that helps you, helps your mission and helps your community. The media will come, but so will a new group of individuals. The mutual relationships you build will strengthen your community and your organization.

What a success story! I can't wait to read about it in the paper.

Maija Saari, B.A., B.Ed., M.A, is an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University's Brantford Campus, in a journalism program scheduled to launch in Fall 2005. Ms. Saari based this article on two workshops presented to OLC members in May and September of 2004.