Charity and Not-For-Profit PR - Making The Most of Celebrities

It can be difficult for charities and not-for-profit organisations to maintain their respective profiles in the minds of those audiences that are important to them. Securing the support of celebrities is a tried and tested way to raise profile as well as encourage the support of donors and key stakeholders. So, how do you get celebrities interested and how can you avoid paying them big bucks for their involvement? The key lies in taking a strategic approach and doing a bit of research, in particular:
* Devising a plan – you need to be clear about what you want to achieve and why. It is not good enough just to get a celebrity on board – you also need to have a clear plan about how you will continue to engage them after any initial support. Budgets are tight so you need to ensure that your time is as effective as possible. If you are going to make the effort to secure celebrity support then try to hook that celebrity into supporting you on an ongoing basis rather than as a one-off.
* Making it easy for the celebrity – you will get your best response by encouraging the celebrity to support you in a way that does not require huge time commitments. In my experience this is key – you will get much more response if what you ask is not onerous. After any initial support you can then build your relationship with the celebrity to see whether more commitment would be forthcoming.
* Be realistic – you may need to approach many celebrities to get responses. Do not get disheartened – you just have to keep at it. Remember too that ‘A’ list celebrities and well-known personalities are being approached all the time, you need to be targeted but also realistic in your approach.
* Research your target celebrities – a bit of research can go a long way. There are a number of directories available online as well as in libraries giving you the details for agents for celebrities and well-known personalities. These are helpful tools. It is also worth doing a bit of desk research to devise a listing of those people you want to target – find out the interests they have, the causes and charities they support. You need to know if they are already connected with an organisation that has similar interests to your own or one that would suggest a natural link.
It is good for celebrities to be liked to worthwhile causes but the competition for their attention is fierce. Devising a plan, including your creative idea, and a listing of your target celebrities is the first stage – you then need to ensure that your approach presses all the right buttons with them.