The Top 5 Reasons Your Organization Should Have a PSA Campaign

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the members of Connect360’s PSA Team to learn about what they feel are the five most important reasons why nonprofit organizations should employ a public service announcement (PSA) campaign to promote their message.

These insightful women, each of whom has a number of years of experience in the industry, were pleased to oblige.  What follows, is the first in Connect360 Blog’s “Top” series, including insights directly from members of our PSA Team:

1. PSAs Are a Great Way to Spread Your Organization’s Message to Both Vast and Targeted Audiences

“Public service announcements are a great tool for creating awareness about a cause or issue, while generating visibility for nonprofit organizations. “ – Ivette Achong

“If a national network such as ABC, NBC, FOX or CBS airs a PSA, they will also feed the PSA down to their local affiliates who also have the option to air the spot.” – Shaliza Thomas

“PSAs will often remain on the air with stations for up to a year or longer.  This can help generate long-term exposure for nonprofit organizations and lead to a strong return on investment.” – Ivette Achong

“PSAs are easy to localize and can be geographically placed. It makes them an effective tool in reaching targeted communities (ie. local chapters, special events, special programs only available in specific areas).” – Katarina Sunthorn

2. Social Good Creates an Incentive for Radio and TV Stations to Broadcast PSAs

“Although media outlets are no longer required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to air PSAs, TV and radio stations use these regularly to fill unsold air time and as a community service to their audiences.” – Ivette Achong

“Stations include PSAs as a part of their social responsibility report.  Airing public service announcements under specific topics such as health, government, children, education, etc. can be counted as fulfilling a social responsibility to their audience.” – Sharon Persaud

“PSAs can display diversity which is an attractive element for stations and reflecting this message of their support to all cultures and races via what they air.” – Sharon Persaud

“PSAs are also very effective for targeting the Hispanic community.  Based on our ongoing outreach with Hispanic media outlets, Spanish-language TV and radio stations indicate they are underserved when it comes to PSAs.  As such, they are often seeking PSAs in Spanish with culturally-relevant messages for the Hispanic community.”- Ivette Achong

3. PSAs Can Be Produced and Distributed in a Way that Suits Your Organization’s Budget and the Timeliness of Your Cause

“PSAs are still present in a shifting media landscape, used to help educate and raise awareness on various social and health issues by means of traditional and non-traditional outlets.  PSAs can be used for online placements through YouTube, Pandora or Spotify placements in conjunction with traditional media outlets.” – Katarina Sunthorn

“For nonprofits with limited budgets, radio PSAs offer a great alternative to get their message out to audiences.” – Shaliza Thomas

“Organizations can have PSAs present not only in traditional media, but they have the opportunity to try Out-of-Home [placements] such as billboards, transit, airports, gas pumps, mall displays, etc.  These methods may engage their audience at a personal level, for example, while riding the bus, while pumping their gas, [or] while dropping their child to school..  These different opportunities can lend exposure for budgets of all sizes.” – Sharon Persaud

“PSAs are quick and easy to distribute digitally through various electronic formats, which is ideal for getting out important and timely information to the public.” – Katarina Sunthorn

“Simply, an effective way to send your message to a mass audience at a lesser cost.” – Sharon Persaud

4. PSAs Create an Opportunity to Collaborate with Celebrities and Brands that Support Your Organization’s Mission or Cause

“While PSAs cannot include any sort of branding, they create a great opportunity for corporate organizations to partner with a nonprofit to help promote an issue or product.” – Shaliza Thomas

“PSAs are an additional way to utilize any celebrity advocates of your organization to help increase public awareness of your organization’s messaging or upcoming campaigns.” – Katarina Sunthorn

5. The Campaign Does Not End Solely With the PSA Itself

“Information from PSAs can be turned in to articles for MAT releases.  A MAT release is a short consumer-related article that editors can use to help fill space in sections of their publications.  They usually include takeaways that the [organization] wants to get across to their audiences, one or two photots and a link to the organization’s site.” – Shaliza Thomas

“PSAs can also be used to facilitate additional coverage on programs at a [television or radio] station, such as an interview with a spokesperson on a community affairs show.” – Shaliza Thomas

To learn more about how a PSA campaign can benefit your organization, we encourage you to read the results of our 2014 PSA Analysis, as well as our White Paper on how a PSA can improve the financial performance of your organization.

When you are ready to inquire about our PSA services, as well as our other services, please contact us.