Why NFP’s Need a Case Study To Get Media Coverage

Sharing a case studies story increases your chances of broader media coverage.

A case study is the pith of the story, it is the human element. If your story doesn’t include a case study and it needs one, the media will have to go looking for one themselves and if they can’t find one, your story is at risk of being dumped.

These case study stories are also critical for your spokesperson when they interview. Being able to interview with real life stories and examples at the heart brings substance and keeps your audience engaged.

If your Not-For-Profit (NFP) sends a journalist a story without a case study, the likelihood of coverage reduces dramatically.

Better Boards Australasia recently announced that 85% of the Not-For-Profit Aged Care sector will be privatised in the next five years. This statistic is alarming but it’s not enough to sustain a media story. It needs unpacking: What does this figure mean? Who will be affected the most? And why does it matter?

A case study can answer all of these questions, push the emotional angle and put a human face to the story.

A Ukrainian Elderly People’s Home in Melbourne’s West feared that their ‘European Ambience’, and generally higher level of care would be impossible to sustain if it were to become privatised.

They were the perfect case study. They gave the media subjects to film and photograph, and gave the story the emotional ‘hook’ it needed, lifting it above being just another aged care statistics story.

Spokespeople, including the CEO of the Aged Care home and a spokesperson for Better Boards Australasia, were able to talk about an example, and the human aspect to the broader trend. It stopped them speaking theoretically or academically. This resulted in strong interviews which were easy for the reporters to edit and pull quotes from.

This story got coverage across ABC Television and Radio, SBS television, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Network Ten and 3AW.

Essentially we did the reporters’ job for them. We gave them the story – the aged care privatisation trend – and the instrument through which they could tell the story, being of course – the case study.

When you pitch a story without a case study, you’re putting an under-resourced newsroom under pressure to find a vital part of the story. It’s your story, and you should be giving it to them complete.

Give them everything they need in your pitch, and you’re much more likely to get a run.