What do cause PR services include?
Susan von Seggern’s cause PR services include four parts: sustained media outreach, press releasing, lead service monitoring and events. Each is used as much or as little as a campaign needs.
- Sustained media outreach: identifying target outlets and contacts and pitching them for coverage, including podcast pitching.
- Press releasing: announcing significant milestones through an exclusive or pre-brief model, then email servicing, and posting to a newswire if budgeted.
- Lead service monitoring: watching five lead service feeds daily, plus journalist emails and Substacks, and pitching requests that match the client.
- Events: from large celebrity and media events to small media luncheons, sponsorships, conference speaking, gifting events and gift bag inclusions.
What makes PR a cause PR campaign?
Definition card
Cause PR, defined
In this guide by Susan von Seggern, a cause PR campaign is publicity whose news is a mission: a nonprofit’s program, a benefit event, a philanthropy book, a foundation partnership, or a company’s support for a charity. The story has to work for journalists on its own merits, so the job is finding the specific, timely angle inside the mission.
That might be a first community partnership, a headliner at a benefit, a new guide for families, or a launch tour. Announcements on Susan’s site, such as the Sleep To Live Well Foundation partnership with Family Paths and the Redesigning Nonprofits book launch, show what that looks like in practice.
Why causes use earned media to build credibility
Earned coverage is chosen by an editor or producer, which is why it carries credibility that paid space does not. Susan’s site quotes Richard Branson: a good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad. Coverage also outlasts the news cycle, giving a cause links and clips to share with donors and sponsors.
Distribution matters too. Susan pairs national pitching with hyper-local coverage, because people near a cause are often the most likely to attend, volunteer or give, and with podcast pitching, which gives leaders room for a full conversation.
Who cause PR services fit, and who should look elsewhere
This approach fits organizations with real news: a fundraiser, a launch, a partnership or a corporate cause program. Event and corporate cause clients are the priority for this guide; see fundraising PR in LA and corporate cause partnership PR.
If you need paid advertising, social media management and design run by one large team, a full-service agency may suit you better. The options comparison lays this out. For the bigger picture, return to the nonprofit PR Los Angeles guide.
Common questions
- What is a PR strategy?
- A PR strategy is a plan that decides which stories to tell, which outlets and contacts to reach, and which tactics to use over a set period. For causes, Susan von Seggern builds strategies from four pillars: sustained media outreach, press releasing, lead service monitoring and events, weighted to the news a client actually has.
- What does a PR person do?
- A PR person finds the newsworthy angles in an organization, identifies the right journalists, producers and podcasters, pitches them, and supports the coverage that follows. Susan von Seggern also writes and services press releases, monitors five lead service feeds daily for journalist requests, and plans media-facing events such as luncheons, launches and fundraisers.
- What are the four types of PR?
- There is no single official list, but four commonly named types are media relations, community relations, corporate communications and crisis communications. Susan von Seggern organizes her own media work into a different four-part framework: sustained media outreach, press releasing, lead service monitoring and events. That framework is built for generating coverage in the current media landscape.
- What are examples of PR?
- Examples of PR include a press release announcing a nonprofit partnership, a pitched interview on a podcast, a reporter quoting an expert after a lead request, and a media cocktail hour before a benefit. Campaigns announced by Susan von Seggern include the Sleep To Live Well Foundation and Family Paths partnership and the Redesigning Nonprofits book launch.
- What are some examples of PR activities?
- Common PR activities include building media lists, writing and sending pitches, drafting press releases, posting releases to a newswire, answering journalist lead requests, booking podcast interviews, and running events. Susan von Seggern’s event work has included festivals, conferences, concerts, fundraisers, author events and premieres, plus gifting events and gift bag inclusions.
- Does Susan von Seggern offer a public relations package?
- She does not advertise off-the-shelf public relations packages. Campaigns are individualized for event, corporate, cause and cultural clients, mixing sustained media outreach, press releasing, lead service monitoring and events. That lets a small nonprofit pay for a focused launch while a larger organization adds events and wire distribution.