Write for the right audience.

As Communications Director for Friends of the River, California’s statewide river conservation group, I developed new messaging and delivery to reach a broader audience. FOR has a long history of successful fights to save rivers. It has an active group of volunteers. And the board decided it was time to reach an urban audience with the message that rivers are just as important to city dwellers as to farmers and whitewater rafters.

As part of the annual media plan, I wrote and earned placement for opinion pieces in major metro newspapers. For example, using a 4th of July news peg, I wrote about Californians’ love of grilling salmon – and the chance that they would never be able to enjoy it again. Why? Because so much water is taken out to the rivers that salmon cannot return to those rivers to breed.

I used local news hooks – mentioning the local water agency and a local nonprofit – and a statewide passion to get the FOR message out to a broader audience.