It’s March Madness and many have basketball on the brain. While I am not a basketball fan at all (call me when football, baseball or hockey is on) everyone gets wrapped up in the excitement in some way or another. For the Philadelphia region, many are rooting on Villanova University, even those – like me – who don’t ever follow basketball.
There are many things to learn from colleges and sports networks during this time related to overall communication methods and processes. I will mention three that you can begin working on now to avoid unwanted “madness” in the future!
1. Get your lineup ready. A lot of interviews will be conducted with various people, coaches, players, college officials and even just students who attend the respective schools. It is always important to have your key spokespeople ready to go at a moment’s notice. Things happen that aren’t planned. Media will call and request interviews with an immediate deadline and you don’t want to pass up the opportunity to have your organization mentioned. Make sure that you have three to four people (staff and volunteers) who can speak to your association and its messages. They should be spokesperson trained and have some experience with working with the media. Those who hold key positions in the organization (President, VP, key committee leaders, etc.) should be trained and prepped as part of their onboarding process.
2. Make sure your messages can deliver in the clutch. Interviews can happen rapidly. Your trained spokespeople should already have your association’s key messages and talking points on hand. These are messages that can be found in your mission, purpose, etc. There will obviously be questions that will not be able to be answered with “canned responses” but there is always a way to work in your points. Prepare your spokesperson by obtaining the questions in advance and giving them both the questions and the answers at the same time so that they can practice their responses to become comfortable for the interview. For many of our clients, we create spokesperson packets that have standard information about the association in one place. This is also a great tool for those stepping into leadership roles.
3. Make your Social Media Strategy a Slam Dunk. If your interview is digital, make sure to link to it wherever it is – YouTube, a website, etc. You can distribute messages (if appropriate) leading up to the interview as well, especially if it’s a big media outlet that is conducting it. Using images, hashtags and the handles of media, interviewers, etc. can increase the visibility of your messages. If it has something to do with an event or current topic that is already trending, use the hashtag associated with it. For example, if your association is made up of orthopedic doctors who are commenting on sports injuries during the month of March, using #MarchMadness is a must. Those searching for articles, messages and posts around the topic of March Madness will also see your post.
Bottom line: make sure your team is ready to represent your organization in a positive light, no matter the situation. Go Nova!
