connexions_apr09 - local CFA Societies

public awarenessDeveloping Society Media Relationsin Four Simple StepsCase Study:CFA SpainMedia relations can play a vital role inraising awareness of societies and theirwork. Here are four steps to help increaseyour knowledge and understanding ofthe media:Step 1Getting started / fine tuning yourexisting approachn Assign a person to be the main mediacontact responsible for implementingmedia relations.n Arrange media training if necessary.n Identify society members who cancomment on their areas of expertise.n Have a few written key facts andmessages to share about the societyand its goals.Step 2Know your median Identify key investment newspapersand magazines.n Understand the audience and thinkabout what will be of interest to them.n Build a database of key journalists,including e-mail addresses and phonenumbers.Step 3Build relationsn Meet and greet: introduce yourselfand build personal relations (e.g., getin touch to explain who you are, whatyou do, and how you can help; perhapsarrange a coffee or lunch).n Keep journalists informed (e.g., addthem to member communications,such as newsletters).n Provide editors with somethinguseful: the media are often keen tobe educators and thus are willing toaccept informative and/or educationalarticles that will be of interest to theirreaders. Write an article on a timelytopic and seek its publication viathe editor.n Invite contacts to your events:journalists need information andcontacts to do their job; invitations toeducational or social events can buildrelations.Step 4Help journalists do their jobn Set up a media resource or “presscentre” on your website. Includebasic content information about yoursociety, key members, plus your pressreleases (including CFA Institute pressreleases, if you wish).n Earn respect as a commentator: sendletters to the editor commenting onkey issues in the news.n Have a society calendar of news andissue press releases.n Organize an education event just forjournalists, such as a short seminaron how aspects of the market work(e.g., “What Are Derivatives?”).Borja Durán, CFABorja Durán, CFA, president of CFASpain, organised several mediainterviews for CFA Institute DeputyCEO Bob Johnson, CFA, during hisrecent visit to the country. Borjaexplains how he arranged theinterviews and achieved his goals:“We prepared Bob's visit to Madridthree months ahead of his actualarrival in order to develop acomprehensive media campaign andto organise meetings. We wanted toget the most out of his visit, so ourfocus for each media meeting wasdecided according to the journalist’sspecialist subject. This meant thatwe used different angles to pitchthe meetings to each publication sowe could increase the breadth anddepth of the message: Bob’s visit toSpain and the virtues of CFA Instituteand the CFA Program.Through this targeted approach,we achieved meetings with fivepublications, including Spain’sleading daily financial newspaper,a television channel, and anotherleading daily financial newspaper.The media campaign was a greatsuccess. We managed to get CFAInstitute and CFA Spain featured in awide variety of publications throughdifferent approaches. Without adoubt, the number of contactswe have made has led to a majorbreakthrough for the disseminationof the CFA Institute message in ourlocal financial community. Throughthis campaign, we have reachedregulators, employers, students,professionals, and headhunters.”9