NGOs often have to communicate with the media. However, while the situation with the national media is clear, not many know how to approach regional ones.
What to start with? How to build relationships, and where to look for tips? We will tell from our own experience.

Decide on the purpose and goals you need to achieve with the help of media. Also, form the target audience you want to reach, taking into account quantitative and qualitative indicators.

Analyse the media at all levels in the region. They can be national, regional, or local. If you work in a new region, contact locals and ask which media is most popular.

Create a region's media map. Specify the publication type, its circulation, or the number of views on the site. If possible, find out who owns a particular media outlet.
After that, mark the table with different colours. Green is for those who are a perfect fit. Yellow — for those that might be useful if the situation is right. Red ones don't fit, or you are not interested in working with them.

Review the content and genres of the media to which you will send the material. They are more likely to take your text if it is similar in style to what they already have on the website, in the newspaper, or on the channel. Be sure to allow additional time for editing if the editor asks for it.

Be sure to prepare photo materials for your text. Put options of photos into a separate folder on your Google Drive. The journalist or editor will choose the ones they like.

Analyse all available platforms for posting information on a particular media. A printed newspaper can also have an online version, and an online media Telegram channel can have more views than its website.

Try to find common acquaintances with whom you have worked and whom the media knows. Regional media respect personal recommendations.

Unlike national media, in regional media, it is better to have the first contact with a journalist through a call or a personal meeting. During it, be sure to ask which method of communication is most suitable for the editor and which will be the fastest. Otherwise, you risk seeing your material on the publication pages six months after it was supposed to be published.

If the national media can publish the material on the same day they receive it, with local ones, you need a few days in store.

This rule works with any media. Maintain relationships with journalists and editors of the media you work with. Invite them to your meetings and give them updates about your activities.

Veronika Kobzysta, head of the Communication Agency for Social Change "9.Department" "Cases.Media"