U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
About Public Relations / Traditional Tactics
These and other traditional communications tactics will help you build a strong relationship with the public:
Printed brochures are a good way to succinctly describe your services in a portable, easily saved way. You can…
The only downside of brochures is the cost to have them professionally printed, and the cost of mailing them if you choose to do so.
Brochures should look professional and polished to create a favorable impression of your agency. A brochure can be a glossy book or something much simpler. A low-cost approach is to create a tri-fold brochure, a single piece of paper folded into thirds.
Effective brochures include a strong headline and compelling graphics. Hispanic audiences are open to bright, vibrant colors. The supporting copy should be short and easy to understand. Use lots of “white” or empty space to give your copy room to breathe—a clean design will make your brochure easier for people to read. Remember to include your contact information.
You can use many ad-writing concepts to write a strong brochure. See our Creative Tips.
Media relations is one of the most-effective and low-cost ways to get your message out. But you need to be prepared.
You should have a “just in case” plan for emergency communications. You can use this plan to communicate during various types of emergencies, from a natural disaster in your area to a scandal involving a top official at your organization.
Identifying detailed scenarios of each possible emergency is unnecessary, because the specifics of each situation will be unique. Instead, the crisis communications plan should spell out who will take charge and provide a framework for resolving the crisis.
At a minimum, your crisis communications plan should do this:
Make sure that a senior communications professional or public affairs officer is involved at all times—and always check with your public affairs department for guidance and approvals on media activities. Designate a backup in case the primary communications professional is unavailable. Hiring an outside professional is a good idea if you do not have those skills on staff.
Once the team is in place, it can meet and determine how to resolve the situation. It can also decide what its message to the public will be.
The most important quality to communicate in an emergency situation is openness. Make sure that all communications from your office, including interviews with top officials, are straightforward, honest, and fast. If you do not know the answer to a question, say so rather than hedging.
As soon as you learn of new information, share it. Be available to the media, returning all calls quickly. Show compassion for those affected by the situation. And of course, try to resolve the situation as soon as possible.
Let’s hope you never need to use a crisis communications plan. But if you have one, you can rest assured that if an emergency takes place, you will be able to communicate the appropriate news to the public quickly and professionally—and will maintain your positive reputation.
These mailings come into potential clients’ homes and can be an effective form of advertising. To write a direct mail letter, you would start with a headline and proceed directly to an offer of how child support services can help the reader. Sprinkle subheads, bullets, and bold type throughout your letter to help readers quickly skim it.
Close with an action item. For example, you could encourage readers to “call the 800 number today” to get more information on how to look out for their children’s needs. Again, use subheads, bullets, and bold to help readers quickly skim your letter. Then add a P.S.—the most-read part of a direct mail letter—to repeat your key benefit and call to action.
To put your direct mail piece into the hands of the people you want to see it, you can rent a mailing list that fits the demographics you wish to target.
See our
Securing a spokesperson for child support is another way to improve public relations.
Using celebrities, including local celebrities or community leaders, may be a good approach if you can find someone who would be credible and appealing to your particular target audience. For example, you may want to ask a famous Hispanic soccer player who would appeal to fathers to emphasize the importance of paying child support.
You can hire this person to appear in ads. The more famous a person is, the more attention he or she will bring to your campaign. Asking the celebrity to appear on your behalf and to talk with reporters about why your issue has personal relevance to him or her may better enhance your public image.
A less-expensive and potentially more-effective approach would be to use regular, ordinary people to endorse your services. Your target audience may relate better to people like them than to celebrities. See how to ask a happy customer to do an endorsement.
Testimonials can do two things:
However, choosing the correct spokesperson is key. This person can be an entertainer, a community leader, an official—anyone who is well known.
When evaluating people, consider ones who are…
Selecting someone responsible is critical for a child support enforcement campaign. Whomever you choose, be sure to monitor that person’s appearance on your behalf and stay alert to other news the person makes while endorsing your campaign.
Newsletters are an effective way to keep in touch with your clients, prospective clients, partners, staff, the media—anyone who is interested in what happens at your agency or in the area of child support.
You can print newsletters and mail them or send them by e-mail. If you have a Web site, you should post your newsletters there as well.
Your newsletter should be:
If you send your newsletters by e-mail, remember that certain services will let you track the results so you can see which subject lines and topics readers clicked and read.
Point of Purchase (POP) Display:
These small posters, which often have a pocket full of related brochures, appear on store counters so that shoppers will see them while pausing at the cash register.
You can use a variation of your print ad for your poster, and stock the pocket with brochures or flyers that reiterate your main point and add details. Remember to include your contact information.
See our
Op-eds are opinion pieces that you can submit to a newspaper for publication. They are an excellent way to explain directly to the public, in your own words, what you believe about something.
For example, you could write an op-ed explaining why funding for child support enforcement is critical. You could comment on a news item related to child support. Or you could voice your opinion as to why noncustodial parents do not pay child support—and why they should.
You can use the same concept to write shorter letters to the editor, which may accomplish a similar purpose.
Setting up speaking engagements for certain members of your staff is an excellent way to spread the word about your organization. You can proactively look for places to speak, or you can set up a speakers’ bureau and invite people who are looking for presenters at their own events—be they parents, leaders of community-based organizations, potential partners, etc.—to contact you.
You also can conduct a town hall meeting. For these, you would invite the community to hear you talk about child support, and then take questions from the audience and discuss child support issues as a group. Community organizations and government agencies often engage an audience in this type of forum.
See our tips on making presentations.
