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March 15, 2023 @ 8:00 am - 9:15 am
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EVENT SUMMARY:
Join Amy Mertz, owner of Brick Road PR, for a discussion of media relations best practices with local veteran journalists Maggie Ginsberg and Samara Kalk Derby. Learn how to effectively pitch your company or organization’s stories to media by:
- identifying which members of the media are best suited to tell your story.
- stocking your pitch toolbox with important elements.
- avoiding common PR missteps.
You’ll also gain ideas for leveraging social media once you land media coverage and hear some examples of successful story pitches.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- what kind of research to do before targeting media with your pitch.
- the do’s and don’ts of communicating with media.
- following up when no media bite at your pitch.
- leveraging social media to promote any media coverage you receive.
- tracking your media coverage.
ABOUT OUR PANELISTS:
Amy Mertz is a local, independent PR consultant primarily working in the nonprofit sector. She spent 15 years as a writer and editor at The Capital Times and Wisconsin State Journal before transitioning to PR in 2009, when she led publicity efforts for the new (at that time) Madison Children’s Museum. She currently directs PR for Madison Public Library Foundation and the Wisconsin Book Festival, as well as develops content and provides PR counsel for several other Wisconsin organizations and businesses, large and small. She and her husband Adam have two daughters: Delaney, a freshman at the University of Georgia; and Siobhan, a high school sophomore. They live in Mount Horeb, where Amy is president of the Mount Horeb Summer Frolic, a member of the Children’s Community School Capital Campaign Committee, a member of a Mount Horeb Area Chamber of Commerce committee, and a volunteer PR resource for other community organizations.
Maggie Ginsberg is a senior editor at Madison Magazine, author of the novel “Still True,” and a former freelance contributor to regional and national print publications. Her long-form articles for Madison Magazine have garnered numerous awards over the past 17 years, including honors from the National City & Regional Magazine Association, the Milwaukee Press Club, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors Excellence in Reporting Award. Her first book, Still True, was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in September 2022 and is now in its second printing. She is Minnesota-born and Wisconsin-raised; her oldest daughter became a third generation UW–Madison alum last year, and her youngest is off to the University of Minnesota in September. She is married to Andy Quandt, owner of The BikeMobile and Gibs Bike Shop, and the founder of Free Bikes 4 Kidz-Madison, for which she served on the board.
Samara Kalk Derby graduated from UW-Madison in 1990 with a degree in journalism and became a reporter at The Capital Times, where she wrote local news and features concentrating on restaurants and music for 19 years. In 2008, she started working for the Wisconsin State Journal in the same capacities. She has won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and The Association of Food Journalists. Those awards include a first place in the Wisconsin Newspaper Associations contest for a story about Cambria mill explosion survivor Collin Vander Galien and the help he received from family and friends as he learned to use his prosthetic legs. She was also recognized for a story about the thriving food culture in Viroqua, and for a story about a DeForest restaurant owner that got nearly a half-million dollars in pandemic relief, then closed his restaurant and left a note on the door blaming the state and federal government for its demise.
All told, she has written about 6,300 stories. Typically, her favorite story is whatever she’s working on at the moment. She lives near Tenney Park on Madison’s Near East Side and has a 17-year-old daughter, who will be a freshman next year at UW–Madison.
TIME: 8:00 AM – 9:15AM – Live Streamed on the Social Media Breakfast Facebook Page
SPONSORS:
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT: Goodman Community Center
Goodman Community Center (GCC) strengthens lives and secures futures throughout the greater Madison area. Located in the heart of Madison’s Atwood neighborhood, GCC offers programs for preschoolers through teens, families, individuals and older adults. The GCC has on-site childcare services, including fully licensed and accredited preschool, 4K and elementary after-school programs, as well as a teen center that offers after-school activities and employment opportunities for teens. The center’s food pantry serves more than 200 households a week and is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and they also offer meals, social activities and health and wellness opportunities for seniors.
Accessibility is a top priority of the Goodman Center, and as such most of the center’s programs are free or priced to be very affordable, including access to its fitness center, catering services and community spaces. Every year in November, the Goodman Center hosts its Thanksgiving Basket Drive, when they collect donations to provide thousands of Dane County families with everything they need to make a Thanksgiving meal at home. Stay up to date on what’s happening at Goodman by following them on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Goodman Community Center was an awardee of one of the SMBMad 2022 DreamGrants. We look forward to sharing the grant’s impact story in the future!
