Using events and direct mail to get your reporting in front of target audiences
Michelle Faust Raghavan, Medium,When KPCC ran a three-part series on the growing rates of elder abuse in Los Angeles, the news organization was concerned that the target audience — older adults and their caregivers — may not listen to or read the story. So it partnered with local health organizations and set up information booths at their events.
It also used USPS’s Every Door Direct Mail service to deliver postcards, printed in English and Spanish, to neighborhoods with high populations of elderly residents.
The work was mostly an investment of time rather than financial resources, writes Michelle Faust Raghavan. It was also key that the KPCC staff members involved spoke Spanish and were able to connect not only with a large segment of the target audience, but also many of their community partners.
This article outlines five tips for getting reporting to the audiences who need it most.
- Be present
- Find ways to be in the preferred language, platform, and geography of your target audience
- Find distribution partners
- Identify trusted messengers
- Do the hard work
Faust Raghavan wrote this post while the healthcare reporter at KPCC; she is now with Solutions Journalism Network.