Media work is a great way to promote Scouting, whether it’s to parents or other parts of the community. Scouting is about adventure for everyone and at every level. This message runs through all of our media work and is what we call our ‘brand’. Underpinning the idea of adventure is that Scouting is about fun, friendship, trust, being confident and inclusive. It’s also a great way to communicate our key messages as part of the national strategic and local development plans. Use media for recruitment to extend your share of voice.
Helpful guide
Here is a one pager to help you in considering media activity – a step by step media engagement guide. And below are a few things to consider when generating good media coverage:
Media contacts
Who should you contact? If you have an inspiring story about Scouting why not tell the world about it? You can promote Scouting online, in print and through TV and radio. Many outlets would love to hear and share your story. A list of media contacts can be found here – Media contacts.
Examples
Here are two recent examples of good coverage generated to widen the reach and engagement pending the overall objectives:
Edinburgh Reporter – Midlothian Virtual Volunteering event
Edinburgh Evening News – Squirrels
Don’t forget to tell Scouts your story
Submit your story to the Scouts and it could feature in their communications! You can send your story in here.
Generating media coverage
You can generate media coverage for everyday Scouting events with these useful tips and a template press releases.
All good media work begins with a press release and the all important ‘why’ question. When starting out writing your press release make sure you answer the following questions.
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
Who was there? What happened? When it happened, Where it happened, and Why the event occurred.
Key messages are essential tools in all communications work. To be effective as a communicator you need to identify the key messages that you want to deliver and use them as a way of structuring your writing.
Every piece of communication should have a key message. Is it obvious? Do you know what it is? If a story your writing doesn’t have a key message and demonstrate Scouting as a modern, growing, adventure based organisation why are you writing it?
All of your stories should provide an opportunity to deliver Scouting’s key messages. These messages can be demonstrated in every part of your story from the who, what, when, where, why to the images and quotes. All of the information that you include should support your messages.
Make sure you get a quote from a young person. The quote should reflect their excitement at being a part of {whatever the story is} and the positive experience they have gained. This could be about a new activity they have tried, building friendships or simply enjoying themselves. Also include the quote of an adult volunteer. What have they gained from the experience? It could be organisation skills, confidence or just the reward of helping young people have a positive experience.
When taking a picture to go with your press release try to be as creative as possible. Static or posed shots aren’t nearly as effective as action shots. Try to get a picture of some group members involved in an activity. Capture them having fun and looking like they are enjoying themselves. Action shots tell more of a story, try to spend some time prior to the event thinking about what activities will offer a good photo opportunity, and if there is anything you might need to bring along to help get the right shot. Also consider your surroundings, backdrop and lighting. It is hard to get a great shot in a dimly lit Scout HQ. Ensure you have the necessary permissions of course.
Organising a major camp or event then check out this advice here also.
Images/Media Library
Access the Scouts media library for high-resolution images and video footage for media use. Alternatively for better representation use local faces – with permissions of course. Videos or GIFS work best for increasing views and sharing.
Branding
For information on how you can use the Scout branding and logos, visit the brand section of the Scouts website.
Members communications
There are lots of tools available to help you communicate Scouting, whether it’s to parents, other members, other parts of the community, or the wider media.
Got a question?
Speak to Scouting Support Officer Kirstie Armsworth. She’s available to offer advice and guidance to support your communications.