Hitting Your Media Target at All Levels

I love when a media plan hits all the targets – it’s a PR bullseye. When Jillian Danford called me in the summer about representing her brand “Auntie Jillian,” I asked her about her media goals. She already had a very successful YouTube channel and had positioned herself as a social media influencer on Instagram. On top of that, she just finished the first season of her successful family show Auntie Jillian on Bell Fibe TV1. But what was frustrating her was that outside of her followers and viewers, the general public didn’t know about her show or brand – not even in her local community.

I discussed her media goals with her and what she envisioned. Being from Trinidad, she wanted the Caribbean community to know about the first Black family reality show in the country, especially since a lot of the show revolved around the clash of Caribbean/Canadian cultures with her children. Secondly, her show represents Durham Region on the Bell Fibe local TV platform where she lives, specifically in Ajax. She wanted her neighbours and community to know they were being represented on television. Lastly, Jillian wanted the rest of the country to know about this local family making major moves in the entertainment world. The show was pulling in 22 000 viewers weekly and consistently in the top three for ratings on the platform. Her YouTube channel has more than 12 million views and 106K subscribers and she has 67K followers on Instagram.

After some strategizing, we decided to hold a wrap party for season one and kick off the renewal of season two. The goal was to generate buzz, photo-ops and media coverage. I sent out media releases to the three targets: local, community and national media. We wanted them to come to the event and for those who couldn’t make it, we wanted to get Auntie Jillian on the radar for future coverage. I also had to tailor the pitch to suit the targets and ensure that the content would appeal to the individual outlet’s audience. We met our goal: Caribbean Camera, ByBlacks and Toronto Caribbean Newspaper did profiles (an additional feature was done on Jillian by Toronto Caribbean Newspaper); Durham Region/Ajax News Advertiser came on set of their upcoming Christmas Special as did Etalk.

Local. Community. National. Mission Accomplished.