Step 7: Spread the Word
If people don’t know about your National Cancer Survivors Day® event, then they won’t come to your event. Make sure the cancer survivors in your community don’t miss out – start spreading the word about NCSD several weeks in advance.
Download the 2024 Social Media Toolkit
To access the full NCSD 2024 Social Media Toolkit including the Press Release, promotional copy to use, graphics, logos, and printables, please click here.
Create a Social Media Campaign
If your organization or event doesn’t already have a social media presence, create one! You can use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. Post regularly on your social media channels to get cancer survivors and supporters in your community excited about your National Cancer Survivors Day® celebration.
Publish event details, announcements, photos, press releases, reminders, contests, and other information about your NCSD event to build excitement and increase exposure. Get as many people as you can to share your posts and help spread the word. In addition, make use of your organization’s website, blogs, and newsletters to broadcast information about your event.
Share on Social Media
Cancer survivorship isn’t about just being alive after cancer. It’s about living life as fully as possible. Celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day with us on [DATE] at [LOCATION]. NCSD is a day for #CancerSurvivors to stand together, #CelebrateLife, raise awareness of the challenges of cancer survivorship, and show the world that life after a cancer diagnosis can be beautiful, meaningful, and inspiring. Visit [WEBSITE/LINK IN OUR BIO] for details. #NCSD2024
Short Version
Cancer survivorship isn’t about just being alive after cancer. It’s about living life as fully as possible. Celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day with us on [DATE] at [LOCATION]. Visit [WEBSITE] to learn more. #NCSD2024 #CelebrateLife
Share on your website, blog, newsletters, and email
Cancer survivorship isn’t about just being alive after cancer. It’s about living life as fully as possible. On National Cancer Survivors Day®, we will join thousands of people in hundreds of communities throughout the world to celebrate life and raise awareness of the challenges of cancer survivorship. Join us at [LOCATION] on [DATE] as we honor local survivors who are living with and beyond cancer.
National Cancer Survivors Day® is an opportunity for cancer survivors to connect with other survivors, celebrate milestones, and acknowledge the contributions of the families, friends, healthcare providers, and researchers who have supported them along the way. It is a day for cancer survivors to stand together and show the world that life after a cancer diagnosis can be beautiful, meaningful, and inspiring.
The celebration will begin at [TIME] and will include [LOCAL ACTIVITIES]. For more information, [contact EMAIL ADDRESS, visit WEBSITE, or call PHONE NUMBER].
Publicize Your Event
Reach out to local media outlets, such as radio programs and newspapers, and request publicity for your National Cancer Survivors Day® event.
Identify a spokesperson
You may want to identify a single spokesperson who can serve as your main contact with the media. He or she should be knowledgeable about cancer-related issues and about the details of your local event. Make sure this person is available to the media leading up to, as well as on the day of, your event.
Put together a media list
Create a list of local media outlets, including TV stations, radio programs, newspapers, talk shows, blogs, and magazines. Enlist someone to identify the appropriate contact person for each and get their contact information. The most important step in getting your message heard is making sure you send it to the right person.
Create a media kit
Your media kit doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to include all the necessary information about your event, as well as a “sales pitch” to local media outlets explaining why they should publicize or cover your event. Your media kit can be a packet that you mail out, or it can be a digital file or website that you can email to local media contacts. You may want to include the following in your media kit:
- press release
- profiles of local cancer survivors
- story ideas
- public service announcements
- cancer fact sheets
- photos
We’ve put together some sample documents to help you prepare what to send. Make sure you include contact information for your spokesperson, as well as for other people who have agreed to be available for interviews (such as local survivors or hospital staff). And, of course, don’t forget the important details, like the time and location of your event. You’ll also want to send media kits several weeks in advance of your event to give media outlets time to prepare.
Perfect your sales pitch
It’s a good idea to tailor your sales pitch to the media outlet you’re contacting. For TV, you may want to suggest live coverage of your event. Local radio programs may be willing to interview your spokesperson prior to NCSD. Local magazines or community newspapers may be more interested in personal survivor stories. When contacting the media, make it clear that NCSD is more than a party; it is a time to call attention to the issues of cancer survivorship. In addition to coverage of your event, suggest story ideas and angles they may be interested in, such as the difficulty survivors face in gaining access to cancer specialists and promising new treatments, lack of insurance, difficulty finding or keeping a job, and financial or emotional struggles.
Engage Your Local Community
Social media and traditional media aren’t the only ways to spread the word about your National Cancer Survivors Day® event. Get your local community involved.
Cover your town with fliers. Ask volunteers to distribute them to community support organizations and businesses. Hang them on bulletin boards and in health clubs, stores, restaurants, and offices. Ask local businesses if you may place a stack of fliers at their checkout counters.
If you work with an organization or treatment center, provide your staff with buttons, t-shirts, and fliers prior to your NCSD event. Send periodic email updates to all staff members in the months and weeks before the event. Have them help you spread the word to local survivors. Create an NCSD display at your treatment center entrance, and include photos of previous years’ activities and information about what is planned for the current event.
Ask your local hospital, cancer treatment center, public library, and local health fair to consider a display case or bulletin board about cancer survivorship issues and NCSD. Submit a Public Service Announcement to media public service directors and local civic, professional, religious, and health organizations (sample PSA available here). Request to be included in community event calendars. Send media kits or email information to local bloggers, your city or county government, chamber of commerce, local tourism offices, or area treatment centers.
Don’t Forget to Follow Up
A day or two after your event, distribute event photos and a news release listing award recipients, the number attending, the activities held, and local reaction. News outlets may still cover your event even if they didn’t promote it beforehand. Send thank-you notes to all who made the event possible, including media outlets.
Be sure to send photos from your event to Coping® with Cancer. Exclusive coverage of NCSD will be published by Coping, and a photo from your event could be included. Selected photos will also appear in Coping’s online coverage, as well as on the NCSD website and in NCSD eNewsletters. Click here for details on how to get your National Cancer Survivors Day® photos published.
Note: National publicity in the U.S.A. will be handled by the NCSD Foundation. Refer national media inquiries to the media hotline at (615) 794-3006 or email info@ncsd.org. Be sure to register your event using the Registration form. The Foundation will also be responsible for contacting the White House and the National Cancer Institute.