Ankle & Foot Care Puts Focus on Shoe Drive’s Impact

“A blessing,” this Salvation Army client said.
Click the picture to view the story (starting at 3:13).

When it comes to news coverage of good deeds, not all articles are created equal.

There is certainly value to landing ink or air about what an organization says it accomplished as a community service. But the better stories are those told by those who actually benefit from the good works.

So when Ankle & Foot Care Centers, the Mahoning Valley’s largest podiatry practice, aimed to publicize its annual Holiday Shoe Drive recently, it took care to direct the spotlight to the impact it was making on people.

“It is very powerful to show the effect we’re having on people’s lives,” said Michael Vallas, practice administrator at Ankle & Foot Care Centers. “All media coverage is good, but visually seeing needs being met with the shoes we collected is very satisfying.”

Hundreds of pairs of shoes

Each holiday season, the doctors, staff and patients at Ankle & Foot Care Centers collect new and nearly new shoes, then deliver them to the local Salvation Army for distribution to needy Valley families. This year, the practice collected more than 500 pairs of shoes from its 19 offices.

A standard news release at the launch of the shoe drive generated good coverage to support the promotional posters and collection stations at the practice’s offices. And a release after the drive generated short reports of the drive’s results.

But Ankle & Foot Care generated its best coverage when it invited media to cover the distribution of the tables full of shoes at the Salvation Army’s Glenwood Avenue community center last month. Eric Hamilton of Pecchia Communications, who spearheaded the effort, arrived early to connect with some of the Salvation Army clients.

One of them, Caroline Washington of Youngstown, got the chance to tell reporters the story from her perspective.

“I thank God for those who have donated to this cause,” Washington told the Business Journal’s Daily Buzz newscast. “I thank God that it’s a blessing that we get a coat and a pair of shoes.”

A Vindicator photo showed others whose footwear needs were met at the distribution. WFMJ-TV and WYTV also covered the shoe distribution. In addition to Washington, Dr. Johnny Alayon from Ankle & Foot and Salvation Army area coordinator Major Elijah Kahn were interviewed.

Think before you pitch

Hamilton noted a few valuable concepts that apply  to projects like this.

• Find third-party storytellers. The best endorsement of an organization, product or service often comes from a happy client or other beneficiary. This may take work, as many satisfied individuals prefer to stay out of the spotlight. But the effort is often worthwhile because a message from a beneficiary is more credible.

• Think visually. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a million. In many cases, more eyeballs will see a news video than read the story text. And in the age of social media, that video will likely be shared much more frequently than a text news story.

• Create news value. What you think is news might not be to media professionals who wade through piles of would-be “news” each day. Make sure the angle you’re crafting has impact, interest, timeliness and the other factors that characterize the stories you see the media covering every day. (This is an area where an experienced PR pro can be very valuable.)

“The least cost-effective approach to media relations is sending news releases with no strategy and hoping for the best,” Hamilton said. “Success in getting your message to your target audiences starts with a focus on the media’s interests. Third-party storytellers can be a valuable asset in maximizing news value.”