PSA 101: What Makes a Good Public Service Announcement Campaign?

Just like baking a cake requires the right mix of ingredients, creating an effective Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign also follows a recipe. It takes skill and expertise to blend the ingredients perfectly to create success.

With decades of experience managing PSA campaigns, we know what makes a good public service announcement to ensure your PSA gets noticed. Keep reading for our expert tips on creating a successful PSA campaign.

Four Essential Ingredients for Any PSA

The success of any public service announcement depends on four key ingredients:

• Creative: how you craft your message
• Distribution: how you share it
• Tracking: how you know it’s been shared
• Reporting: how you measure the value of airings

Many organizations focus on the creative but often overlook the other three ingredients. A good public service announcement skillfully integrates all four components in just the right way to get the message out and reap all the benefits of a successful PSA.

Produce Compelling Creative

Successful PSAs deliver a clear and compelling message. You’ll know your message is strong when you can sum it up in a single line. Some memorable PSA examples include:

• “Click It or Ticket”
• “This is Your Brain On Drugs”
• “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires”

You may not repeat this summary verbatim in your script, but it should guide all of the creative decisions you make. From music to spokespeople, everything in your PSA should work together to share this single, clear idea.

Additionally, avoid corporate branding in your PSA creative. Since broadcast PSAs are earned or “free” placements, stations won’t air PSAs featuring a corporate sponsor, as companies have the financial resources to purchase advertising.

It’s also worth nothing that direct requests for donations can also unsettle some stations. General awareness message PSAs generate the most coverage (e.g. “To learn more” or “Join us”). However, if your campaign requires a donation message, we suggest creating both a general awareness PSA and a donate version. This allows stations the flexibility to choose which creative aligns best with their guidelines, programming and audience.

Lastly, a well-made PSA fits the mold set by television and radio stations. Create :15, :30 and :60 second versions to match the ad slots that stations have available, giving them options based on unsold inventory.

Optional Ingredient: Celebrities

Some nonprofits feature celebrity spokespeople in their PSAs. Sometimes this is an effective strategy, but it’s not for every PSA. Celebrity involvement can be risky, especially if they get embroiled in a scandal that could tarnish your organization by association. Think of celebrity spokespeople as the cayenne pepper of your PSA recipe, best used sparingly.

Plan A Strategic Distribution

Distribution is a key ingredient in any successful PSA campaign. Even the best creative won’t make an impact if no one sees or hears it. Make sure your message gets out by working with an established distribution partner.

At Connect360, we distribute broadcast PSAs through Extreme Reach, the gold standard in ad delivery, ensuring they land in the inboxes of PSA Directors nationwide. We handle formatting the PSAs in the required specifications so stations can download broadcast quality files and seamlessly traffic PSAs into their rotation.

Additionally, your broadcast-ready PSAs and campaign information will have an online presence on our digital platform, PSA Connect. Through our ongoing promotions, we drive station traffic to the platform where PSA Directors can easily preview and download your PSA and related campaign materials.

Extend your reach by integrating digital marketing to target your audience online through connected TV, streaming services, and audio streaming on popular platforms like Spotify.  While these strategies require an additional investment, they can significantly boost your visibility.

Track PSA Results

Distributing a PSA without tracking results is like putting your cake in the oven without setting a timer. Something is likely to get burned. The IRS requires nonprofits to report the value of donated airtime from stations. To do that, you need to know when and where your PSA aired.

Since stations don’t directly share airing information with nonprofits, you’ll need to partner with a skilled distribution provider who has access to Nielsen’s SIGMA monitoring service for TV PSAs and Media Monitors for radio airings. At Connect360, we provide comprehensive tracking and reporting for all our campaigns.

Report Results in Financial Statements

The final ingredient in any good PSA campaign is reporting. Accurate reporting keeps your nonprofit in compliance with state and federal guidelines and also strengthens your credibility with donors and funding organizations.

Charity rating organizations tend to use a ratio of overhead to program expenses as a way to measure how well a nonprofit is doing. Since donated advertising time is used to promote the mission of your nonprofit, it is considered to be a 100% program related expense. Accurate reporting of PSA expenses is the cherry on your PSA cake.

Learn more on how to make public service announcements with our 9-step guide. For expert help getting the right mix of all the ingredients for a successful PSA campaign, contact the Connect360 team.

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