Knight Foundation

Higinio O. Maycotte is CEO of Umbel, a company that uses data to increase publishers’ understanding of their audiences and online advertising revenue. Knight Foundation supports Umbel through its Enterprise Fund. Curiosity drives journalism. Questions are the foundation of the industry. And attaining knowledge for your reader, knowledge they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to gain themselves, is what makes media so valuable. The influx of digital media has made the sharing of this news and information even better: serving up content in real time that readers come to rely on. Yet, digital media sites struggle to maximize the bottom line in the same way their print counterparts do — and it all comes down to advertising and eyeballs. For print, advertisers pay for longevity and placement, and ad views are often marked up three times for each print buy — accounting for the eyeballs that will see the ad as the purchaser reads it on the subway, as friends pick it up off the coffee table and flip through it, and no doubt for the countless many who scan the pages while waiting in line for groceries.

Strategic communications is about reaching the right audience with the right message, says Knight Foundation’s communications director Anusha Alikhan. When done well, it successfully advances the goals of an organization. It also takes into account any potential challenges and opportunities. Alikhan says that successful communications plans adhere to three basic tenets: “First, be consistent. Second, know your audience. Third, always measure your impact.” We recently talked with Alikhan to get her advice on how nonprofits and startups can create targeted messages and how they can avoid common stumbling blocks. She also shares how growing up as the daughter of a diplomat helped shape her own view of diverse communities. Why is it important for Knight Foundation to invest resources in strategic communications? A.A.: Knight takes a unique approach to communications. Similar to our grant-making, we are not afraid to be bold and try new approaches. We see communications as an important way to advance social change and spread new ideas. Our mission focuses on getting news and information to communities to help strengthen democracy. We use communications as a way to help put the projects we fund into the hands of people so that they can use them to shape their own communities. That means we need to make the public aware of the funding opportunities available through Knight. It also means attracting a wide and diverse community of grantees so that we can constantly surface good ideas and help spread them. RELATED LINKS Lilly Weinberg, exploration enhances her understanding of Knight communities Marie Gilot: How people practice journalism is as important as the content Tatiana Hernandez: Art is joy George Abbott: Everyone can be engaged in improving their community Jon Sotsky: Use assessment to add value, not prove it Ben Wirz on providing venture funding for media innovation Bahia Ramos feels the beat of local communities in her grantmaking Benjamin de la Peña considers the future of cities and the power of philanthropy You spend much of your time shaping messaging and pitching stories about our grantees to journalists. What advice would you give to Knight grantees that are better trying to market themselves? A.A.: My overall guidance would be that effective media relations still relies on good storytelling—using a compelling narrative to emphasize who or what is going to benefit from your idea. At the same time the opportunities to tell those stories has changed fundamentally. The Internet and social Web has disrupted communications as much as any other field. That means you may not be going after the biggest outlets like The New York Times anymore, but rather you now have the opportunity to tap into a much wider network of specialized news sites, bloggers, social media enthusiasts or publications to help get the word out about your project. Keep in mind that whatever news you put out there isn’t going to go away, so you need to be very clear about your messaging and prepare to respond to feedback—good or bad. Can you give us an example of grantees that have done this well? A.A.: Code for America is very good at storytelling. They do a lot of diverse work but do a good job of connecting their initiatives across the board and to their overall mission of engaging people in civic participation. Matter also recognizes communications is important for getting the word out about their initiatives. Whenever they have a milestone, they’ll connect with us to help them think about opportunities. They have also engaged successful public relations efforts beyond their coordination with Knight and do a great job at leveraging their partnerships.