How Nature Conservancy of Canada Grew Media Mentions by 650%
From helping to protect the country’s most endangered species to preserving forests for future generations, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has countless stories that deserve to be told. And to make sure those stories reach the right audience, the organization has come to depend on Cision.
NCC's awareness-raising activities come through earned media
more media mentions
less time spent on media monitoring
Challenge
Jane Gilbert, Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at the NCC, defines the organization’s mission as conserving natural lands for the sake of the species and people that depend on them. Building public awareness of NCC’s work is important, but donors expect to see their money put into the field and mission work rather than a large advertising budget. That means Gilbert and her team need to work harder to get coverage from media at the national and local levels.
Solution
The NCC has been a longtime Cision customer, using its press release distribution services on newswire.ca alongside media monitoring, media analysis, and reporting tools to track earned media coverage and capture the details of sophisticated communications campaigns. For broader reach, Cision connects NCC to international audiences through PR Newswire, spanning newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, trade publications, and more.
Results
The NCC conducted an “awareness survey” to gauge how well Canadians know about the organization and its mission. The most recent results show 20% of those familiar with NCC were first introduced to it through news media, with Gilbert crediting Cision as a key factor in achieving that result.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is the nation’s leading not-for-profit, private land conservation organization, working to protect Canada’s most important natural areas and the species they support. Since 1962, NCC and its partners have helped protect 2.8 million acres (more than 1.1 million hectares), coast to coast.
NCC also partners with Ducks Unlimited and other land trusts to administer the Natural Areas Conservation Program (NACP), a public-private partnership to help secure areas of ecological significance.
Raising awareness through earned media
For NCC, achieving considerable earned media coverage from local and national outlets is both a communications priority and a donor expectation.
The stories NCC wants to tell are also far more complex than a simple photo op. For Gilbert, earned media opportunities are a way of helping the public understand what “stewardship” means from a conservation perspective.
“Earned media gets us into the communities where people actually live. That kind of coverage connects people more deeply to our mission and provides real value – arguably more than the traditional full-page ad.”
Achieving communication targets
“We've made that target every year.”
ROI and time saved with Cision
“I found the amount of time our communications assistant was taking to have to probe what kind of coverage was coming into us was impossible. He was spending 80-90% of his time on media monitoring,” says Gilbert. “If the only coverage we ever received was in the Globe and Mail, that would be pretty easy, but we have stories running in dailies, weeklies, local radio. We just don’t have eyes and ears to capture all of that.”
The NCC's communications assistant now only spends 10-30% of their time on media monitoring.
Reporting results on PR initiatives and campaigns
Since 2007, NCC has been involved with the Natural Areas Conservation Program (NACP), a unique partnership with the Government of Canada to accelerate private land conservation.
Gilbert says that media coverage plays a strong role in conveying the value of the program back to government partners, and other stakeholders.
“We have a lot of events where the media coverage reflects back on what we’re doing with government grants.”
Ready to bring it all together?
Talk to one of our experts to see how Cision can support your earned media strategy and help you prove PR impact.
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