HOW TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT

Never underestimate the power of one-to-one communication, such as a direct meeting with the decision-maker. And remember, many advocacy opportunities can be brief encounters in a hallway or an elevator (advocates call this their ‘elevator pitch’) so you need to be sure your messengers are prepared to deliver your message concisely and directly to your target audience.

Community meetings are a great way to galvanise support for increased attention on immunisation or create a “collective call to action”. Bringing together members of your community can create a coalition and the power of many voices is strong.

In today’s world, so much of our communication is digital, electronic and online. This is a fantastic opportunity for advocates to get their messages out, and it can be done without a lot of resource costs. While some regions have lower internet speeds and poor access, the picture is changing rapidly.

From your desktop, you can reach the world.

• Websites: A great place to showcase the full scope of your vision and goals. Websites can be linked to a number of other channels and are often referenced in media blasts/articles. Keep your website up to date, however.
• Blogs: They have become a powerful way to share your message with a small community or the world. Your blog can be on your organisation’s or a partner’s website, with news outlets or have your blog placed on global health platforms. A number of global advocacy organisations, such as ONE.org and RESULTS.org as well as Gavi (Vaccines Work website) seek out and publish good blogs from all over the world.
• Emails and Newsletters: Communicating electronically is becoming a norm everywhere. If your networks often use this mode of communication, make sure to take advantage of it – electronic communication is a quick way to get your message across.
• Social Media: Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are an easy way to get short, quick messages out to a large group of people. These channels are appropriate if your target audience is an avid user.
• SMS/Texting: It has become a huge communications channel and tool, being used in many countries to convey messages to the public and communities.

The media is a one of the most influential advocacy vehicles. It helps with educating, informing and influencing audiences. As you implement your advocacy strategy, we strongly recommend that you plan to work with the media and develop a specific media strategy, as it is one of the most powerful communication channels to disseminate your message to a large audience. We have a section below specifically on how to work with the media, but in addition, consider these media outlets:

• Radio, TV, print media, including entertainment messaging (for example on soap operas)
• Advertisements and public service announcements

Developing a well-planned special event, such as a meeting of experts or a conference focused on immunisation, is another important tactic. This is also closely linked to efforts around campaigns and leveraging a vaccine introduction, national or global immunisation days or weeks – see below for details.

• Take the time to build a relationship with specific reporters/journalists of interest – target particularly the ones writing on health issues. Start building a media contacts database.
• They need to know who you are and that you can be a great source of information on vaccines and immunisation.
• Reach out to many journalists – pitch your story widely.
• Make sure to provide background information to your journalist to avoid mistakes.

• Press and media briefings are great venues for educating reporters and journalists about vaccines and immunisation and also for sharing with them clear briefing material. It is also a great opportunity to expand your network of contacts and build new strong relationships.
• You can hold media briefings, site visits, journalism tours, training sessions, for example.

• Working with the media requires planning. Don’t wait until the very last minute to reach out to your media contacts about an event, a blog or a press conference as they may not be available. Use media advisories to alert journalists in advance.
• For example, international days such as World Pneumonia Day, World/Africa Vaccination Week, and vaccine campaigns are known and planned well in advance.
• When you organise an event think about inviting and ideally also briefing the press/media.
• Keep an eye on what issues are currently in the news – can you attach your issue to what the media is already focused on and get their attention?

• These are perfect channels to get your message out and should be considered for putting across your immunisation message.
• For interviews, make sure to have the evidence and the key messages handy and don’t forget to practice what you want to say.
• However – don’t bother journalists with press releases and press conferences unless you have some real news (especially breaking news).
• Catch their interest and share stories that are news worthy and unique.

• Make sure to provide a nice “packaging” for your material – preparing handouts or a ‘media kit’ with your press release and some background information is critical for journalists to do their job.
• Sometimes, photos or videos can be much more powerful tools than words to get your message across.
• If you have testimonies, success stories, and illustrative stories to share, it is always a plus. As we mentioned with developing key messages, journalists also work to appeal to the head and the heart.

• Think about which media will be best channel for communicating your immunisation message. You need to think about the most accessible and popular channel for your target audience: for example, radio for communities, the leading newspaper for decision-makers.
• Written/printed media may not be the best communication channel to reach rural communities with low literacy level – you may prefer using the community-based radio or television.