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Marketing and Publicity

When you are planning your HMD activity you should give some thought to how the event will be recognised widely by your local community. This could be through local advertising or by issuing pre or post event press releases to your local or regional media outlets. You’ll find some ideas on encouraging publicity and increased attendance at your event in this section of the HMD website.

Increasing attendance

HMD is a day for everyone, and where possible, your event should be open to all members of your community. If you are able to open your event to the general public it is important that you tell as many people as possible about your event and how they can attend;

• list your event on the HMD event finder – this is the first port of call for many members of the public looking for events to attend in their local area. Try to include as much information in your listing – including start times and if attendees need to pre-register. Don’t worry if you make a mistake – just call the HMDT team on 0845 838 1883 and they’ll be able to make your changes

• display posters advertising your HMD events in your local shops, community centres and libraries

• contact your Community or Resident’s Association newsletters to let them know the details of your event. Offer to write them an article about HMD – again, the HMDT team are happy to help you in preparing these

• ask anyone on your steering group or committees to tell their networks about the event – you may find it useful to supply text for them to use in their emails to their contacts

• contact local community or faith groups and ask them to let their members know about your event

• consider using social media to advertise your event. Set up your event on facebook and invite everyone you know. You could use your Twitter account to spread the word about your event – and whilst you are there – make sure you follow us

• ask people who run your local human rights events (such as Black History Month, Refugee Week, LGBT History Month or Human Rights Day) to attend or advertise your event

Attracting Press Coverage

There’s no golden rule to securing press coverage however, it’s always worthwhile contacting your local media as your event will be of interest to them. Here we provide some guidance for doing so:

• invite your local media (print, radio and TV) to feature and attend your event. Call news desks in advance in order to identify the journalist who will be most interested in your story. This may be a news, social, community or education reporter. Ask their opinion on whether your event is suitable for media coverage – their input will assist you plan your media strategy

• make sure you identify individual spokespeople for the press to interview. It may be appropriate for this to be the main organiser, your community leader or any speakers you will have at your event. If you do have a survivor speaker at your event who the press wish to speak to, ensure that you get their permission before arranging any interview. Your spokesperson should be comfortable talking to the press – you can assist by providing the 3 key messages that you want the media to take away with them

• know the deadlines that your media contact is working to and make sure you give them material in good time, this will greatly increase the chances of a story being published

• find out how journalists prefer to receive material. If sending articles or press releases, they will appreciate receiving these in word format so that they can use your words directly

• when writing articles or press releases be clear and concise so that the journalist can grasp core details immediately. Avoid using jargon. Include a website address for obtaining further information – if you do not have your own, point them to www.hmd.org.uk

• the HMD logo is available to download from our website and you are able to use this on any press release or publicity material you produce

• ensure that a photographer is in attendance. Even if your local media is sending a press photographer, make sure you take your own. Brief a volunteer to take photos (at least 1MB) during your event to capture the action that’s taking place. You could send these images alongside your post event press release to your media contact or upload these to the HMD website in order to share these with other event organisers