AIB - Better Ireland

To do locally:

1. Contact your local community group and tell them your story

2. Tell them why you need their support

3. Make sure that the whole community knows your text number so that they can vote for you. Remember it’s those votes that will mean the difference between €5000, €3000 or €2000!

Key local groups you could contact

Online ideas – Prepare some ways to share information among the local community e.g.

(a) create a viral email campaign where friends pass on the information to their friends and so on.

(b) Create your own website to share your ideas with your community and to explain why you need support and the benefits that your group will receive.

(c) Create your own Bebo page and invite friends to join you – any teenager will explain how Bebo works or go online and see for yourself!

AIB are promoting the voting!

To get people talking and voting for you, AIB have created in-store posters for your local AIB branch, local radio ads as well as ads in your local newspapers and there’s loads of information on our website too.

Remember to...

1. Brief them fully about your charity:
    a. Tell them what your group does
    b. Who benefits from your group?

2. Ask them to come back to you with a plan of how they will run your campaign for you.

3. Discuss and approve all the points they are going to use.

The students are then more equipped to answer any questions, they will have a greater understanding of the role of the group in your locality and will ensure greater effort on their part. This endeavour could also create a lasting bond between your group and the school and you could even get more volunteers for your service.

Establish a good local media contact list – keep a file of all mobile no’s, email addresses and keep in contact regularly. Building a relationship will get you access to media where others fail. Log onto www. medialive.ie to see all of the local radio stations and publications divided by region across Ireland.

Know the deadlines – Call your local newspapers and ask what day their copy deadline is. This is very important – you don’t want to call the editor on the day the publication goes to print – he or she will be too busy.

Meet face to face – Ring your local newspaper or radio and ask them to visit your group to see what you do. Seeing your group in action has more impact than reading an e-mail about you.

Do radio interviews – Always be ready and available. Often slots become available at a moment’s notice, it could be your chance for a golden PR opportunity!

Use the internet – Update your website regularly if you have one. Blogs, Bebo pages and Facebook are great tools for getting the word out there that you’re canvassing for votes.

Find a celebrity – If you have a local GAA star or well known personality in your area, encourage him or her to support your group. Photo opportunities of well-known people with your group have a good chance of making your local papers and radio.

Community noticeboards – offer great opportunity for local groups to get the word out about your group, its activities and to rally support.

3. Have you told your story? - Answer the following in your piece – who, what, where, when and how?

4. Make your piece compelling and well written

5. Send a good quality digital picture - try and use the best camera available to you

6. Include the texting details on how to vote

7. Include a quote from your groups spokesperson

8. Include contact details of key contact in your group - a journalist may want to follow up on your story

Hot off the press...

Local papers normally go to print on Wednesdays, so feature editors will always have one or two spaces to fill from advertising slots that have let them down. Send your piece as close to going to press as possible – and you may have a great chance that the paper will run with your story.