Mary Ellen Smalley is the director of brand and cause awareness at the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a nonprofit public charity dedicated to finding permanent homes for children waiting in foster care in the United States and Canada. At the Dave Thomas Foundation, she works with earned media.
Mary Ellen began her career in journalism, working in news for 15 years. For the past 12 years, she has worked in nonprofit public relations. She has held positions at Treblah LLC and Delta Gamma. During her time at Ohio University, she served as a writer for The Post. She currently lives in Columbus, OH.
Key Takeaways
- Software such as Cision and Meltwater can help with pitches, but looking through journalists’ bios can also help strategize the perfect pitch.
- Don’t bury your lead in your email headline to the reporter.
- Have compelling characters for each pitch on standby, ready to leap into action if the pitch gets picked up.
- Be concise, patient, and kind.
- Circling back is appropriate, but only with updates.
- Don’t forget local news. Use previous local wins to pitch national outlets.
- Never stop media training your leadership and spokespeople to speak in a way that people will understand AND is charismatic.
- Public Relations is about being the person in the room who is listening, not always talking.
Connect with Mary Ellen on LinkedIn.
