Presentation - Leveraging Hometown Engagement

8/12/2019 Presentation - Leveraging Hometown Engagement

1/14

1 UNCLASSIFIED

Hometown Engagement

LTC Paul Hayes

Join t Publ ic Affai rs Support Element1 APR 2013

The overall classif ic at ion isUNCLASSIFIED


2/14

2 UNCLASSIFIED

Agenda

UNCLASSIFIED

The Problem

Where PRTs fit

Make hometowns your niche

Leverage hometown connections Develop an engagement strategy

Build a distribution plan

Track your successes

Challenges


3/14

3 UNCLASSIFIED

The Problem

In Farah we receive zero interest from media.

No interest at all with the PRT. The brigade was a different story only

because of the 9/11 10-year anniversary media blitz. All they wanted to

see were kinetics. They didn't care about anything else.

Additionally, media aren't interested in the PRT because my province

has so much kinetic activity.

Most news agencies and even RC East don't care about every patrol

your PRT goes on.

Not many folks in the media want to talk about AFG. Even fewer want to talk about

non-kinetics. But it is funnyevery mom, dad, spouse, neighbor, and Veteran wants

to hear about what their Soldiers are doing.

How do we harness that need to tell the important stories of our command and

accomplish informational tasks given to us by higher headquarters?


4/14

4 UNCLASSIFIED

Where PRTs fi t in the p lan

Released internalRC CI Pub only

Released external, DVIDS, RC release, CORE

-BCT

-PRT

-RC

-MPAD

-ISAF

-IJC

Released externalISAF / IJC Release, Direct pitch, Embed pitch

1. Hometowns

2. Army news

3. Installations

4. Med. Markets5. Specialty

Released externalunit release, direct pitch,

hometown releases, webpages, Newsletters

1. Big Leaders2. Big media

3. AFG media

4. Big web

1. Hometowns2. SpecialtyPRT

BCT

PRTPRT PRT

PRT

Insight from current PRT PAO:

I could hide out here for 9 months and no one would know and higher headquarters wouldn't

care! That said, we've made our focus the local/hometown media back home and have gained

some traction with photos, stories, phone calls & emails to newspaper editors and even HTNRs.

So, I'd ask that you stress "pitching" stories/photos to media back home... it's less glamorous

than CNN or one of the big boys coming to visit, but in some ways, it's equally important.


5/14

5 UNCLASSIFIED

Make hometowns your n iche

Embeds

Partnerships

Press conference

Radio phoner

Taped interview

B-roll placement

Live talk back

Pentagon

press briefing

AFG media event

Pan-Arab mediainterview

Op-Ed

Blog placement

Host TV crew

Town Halls

Build partnerships (media, communities, organizations)

Focus on the hometown audience (unit and individual)

Pitch where you can win and seal the deal

Low-tech coupled with determination and high energy wins

out every time

Do the simple stuff like releases really well

Have a press desk to track everything

Focus on the low-hanging fruit

Use hometown heroes to get your message out

Use influencers back home to drive command informationmessages (safety, sexual assault, suicide)

The most powerful words spoken every day are, Hi, my

name is Sgt ________ calling from Kabul, Afghanistan

how are you doing today?

Find some way to improve your foxhole daily

Methods and Tactics

Insight: Theres a growing disconnect

between the American people and the

military. The public knows generically that

their troops are at war, but the day to day

connections are less than they used to

be, the depth and breadth of who we are

and what were doing, isnt there.

Source: Adm Mullen, Feb 2011


6/14

6 UNCLASSIFIED

Leverage Hometown Connect ions

Hometown phoners

Hometown releases

DVIDS Website

Town Halls Op-Ed

Embeds

DVIDS Interviews

Speakers Bureau

Shouts Out

Educational programs

Conference

Participation

Partnerships

TV PartnershipsRadio Partnerships

Special Partners

-Weekly in terviews

-Flexible booking

-Part icipation in family events

-Channel for 70thRRC

-American Legion, VFW

-Schools

-Sports Teams

-AUSA convention

-Weekly interviews

-L ink to communi ty funct ions

-Sustainer Minute 2x per week

How do we stay linked to our communitiesand their org anizat ions -

from half way around the world?

KIRO Seattle
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/matsumoto_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/Sustainer%20Minute%202009-03-11%20(SPC%20Tucker).wmahttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/bg%20lally%20part%201_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/matsumoto_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/matsumoto_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/bg%20lally%20part%201_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/bg%20lally%20part%201_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/Sustainer%20Minute%202009-03-11%20(SPC%20Tucker).wmahttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/matsumoto_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/provancha.wavhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/matsumoto_CD.mpghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/Sustainer%20Minute%202009-03-11%20(SPC%20Tucker).wmahttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_7/bg%20lally%20part%201_CD.mpg


7/147 UNCLASSIFIED

Develop a s trategy


8/148 UNCLASSIFIED

Bui ld a dist ribut ion plan


9/149 UNCLASSIFIED

Track you r success


10/1410 UNCLASSIFIED

Samples



Samples



Challenges

Additional duties

Connectivity

Seems overwhelming

Command support

Sustaining the effort



Key takeaways

Its our mission and the need is there

Start small

Have a plan

Know the hometowns of all your people

Weekly goals become monthly successeswhich lead to a tour legacy

Documents

Presentation - Leveraging Hometown Engagement