You may get more coverage as a supporting character

Years ago, a nonprofit hired me to get national coverage for its role as one of Walmart’s few corporate charity partners.

It was a challenge, but it happened. And it was nowhere near as challenging as it would have been for Walmart to get that kind of feel-good coverage on its own.

Journalists are naturally friendlier toward nonprofits than corporations. As they should be, because so are their readers and viewers.

So if you rep a company, venue or institution, find an adjacent organization to partner with in a news-friendly way. Your partner doesn’t have to be a traditional advocacy group or charity. It could be an association, a cultural institution or even an annual event.

This only works when the partnership is real. Journalists can smell a decorative nonprofit slapped onto a corporate pitch.

And if you rep a nonprofit, start hitting up the PR pros at adjacent companies. Tell them you’re not looking for (that much) money, just a newsworthy joint venture.

These recent wins come from my Inner Circle members – I highlighted them earlier this year during one of our monthly training sessions.

Give the gimmick a mission.

Cappuccino Day is Nov. 8, and that got Jason Brown thinking. He reps a café chain in Metro Detroit, and he reached out to the friars who run the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. They teamed up: The café donated $1 for every cappuccino sold, and the friars came to the cafés to mingle with customers and collect further donations. Jason landed standalone segments on the CBS and Fox affiliates in Detroit!

Let the great visuals carry the venue.

Pennsbury Manor is a 43-acre preservation of William Penn’s estate outside Philadelphia. Sarah Maiellano, their PR rep, knows she needs to mine her own angles or she’ll have nothing to pitch. So when she found out that the regional chapter of an arboriculture society (think tree trimmers) was holding its tree-climbing competition at the Manor, she jumped all over it. Landed the Philly Inquirer and the ABC affiliate.

Lead with the nonprofit. Let the client come along.

Also in Philly, Edel Howlin reps a seafood market. In her digging around, she discovered that the market’s oyster shells are collected by a nonprofit that uses them to help restore the Delaware River. Her pitch led with the nonprofit and lists other companies that donate their used oyster shells (of course, none are competitors of her client). Yes, the resulting stories on the ABC affiliate and the NPR affiliate’s popular newsletter focused on the environmental nonprofit. But her client CEO got valuable airtime in both.

So don’t repeat what we did during after-school dances in junior high. Get off the wall and ask someone to join you.

The right partner may be the difference between no coverage and a segment your CEO forwards.