Top tips

Gaining media coverage is easy once you know how. Check out what the Make Your Mark insiders have to say.

Rachel Burkitt, experienced in all things celebrity related, goes through her top tips for getting the right celeb at your event:

Research, research, research! Ensure you know everything about the celebrity you want to target so you can approach them from the right angle.
Match with the right celebrity – make sure the celebrity you approach is relevant to your event.
Go local – you’re more likely to get a local celebrity at your event as they won’t have to travel far and will have a vested interest in the community.
Provide transport for the celebrity to and from the venue. If you make it as easy as possible for them to attend you’re more likely to get the celebrity at your event, especially if you’re not paying them.
Don’t expect the celebrity to stay for the whole event. Make sure they feel comfortable for the length of time they are spending at the event.
The main reason a celebrity would attend a Global Entrepreneurship Week event is to get publicity out of it. Issue a photocall and press release and ensure the celebrity knows he/she will get PR out of the event.
If you can’t get the celebrity to your event, an easier way to add a bit of sparkle to you event is to issues a press release with a quote endorsed by a celebrity.
Once you’ve confirmed a celebrity appearance at your event, send them a detailed brief of what you want them to do including times, location, a description of the event and a script if they’re speaking.
After the event, keep your relationship warm by sending them a bouquet of flowers or another token of appreciation.
Always follow up with a thank you letter!

Hannah Bourne, Head of Communications for the Make Your Mark campaign has this advice:

Local media

Hannah If you can, try to get local newspapers, TV or radio stations involved in your Global Entrepreneurship Week event. For example, you can ask the local radio DJ to host the event, or ask the editor of the local newspaper to be a judge at the event.

Colour

Add colour to your event - think about which local personalities the local newspaper would like to write about. Secure them well in advance and make sure they are happy to tell the media their own inspiring story.

Debate

Encourage debate around the local enterprise agenda leading up to your event. If you or your organisation has an opinion, share it! Think about commenting on issues like social enterprise, barriers to enterprise for young people and the reasons why fewer women set up in business than men.

Issues

Think about the issues which will be topical in your area this year and integrate them into your activity. For example if your local police force is keen to lower crime in your area they might be keen to set a challenge for pupils along these lines. Likewise if a local company is celebrating an anniversary it might be a good time to link with them. Linking into the agendas of others will ensure their wider engagement.

Emma Farrell, Web Content and Engagement Manager gives her top tips on how to make your mark online during Global Entrepreneurship Week:

Emma We want as many people as possible to know about the great things happening in Global Entrepreneurship Week – and anything online will help! There are three easy things you can do:

Get blogging

Running or attending an event? Why not write about Global Entrepreneurship Week on your blog? Remember to send us a link! If you dont have a blog then you write something for ours. You can post photos, video or audio clips on the blog too. Send your blog links or blog entries to emma@makeyourmark.org.uk

Spread the word

Ask your friends, colleagues and everyone you know to write a blog about Global Entrepreneurship Week too. Or how about telling them all about it by adding Global Entrepreneurship Week to your profile on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace?

Remember to include a link to the Global Entrepreneurship Week site www.gew.org.uk or the Make Your Mark site www.makeyourmark.org.uk

Go tag crazy

If you write a blog post, post a photo to Flickr or upload a video to YouTube, you can add descriptive “tags” - keywords which help you (and others) to find stuff. Please use the tag gew08 for anything you post. This makes it super-easy for us to find it afterwards.

You can also add makeyourmark as a tag for anything you create that might be related to us, or of interest to us (both now and after Global Entrepreneurship Week).

If you want some more tips and advice on digital media, check out the cool tools page.

Scott Cain, our Deputy Chief Executive gives his top tips on how to secure sponsorship during Global Entrepreneurship Week:

The first question to ask yourself before seeking sponsorship for anything is simple: what have I got that someone would be willing to pay for? Exactly why would they want to pay for it? What audience do they want to engage? And how can I help them achieve this?

In many ways ‘the rules’ for securing sponsorship for anything are the same as those that make any partnership or relationship work. The starting point is to put yourself in the shoes of whomever you are partnering with or seeking sponsorship from, to establish areas of mutual benefit, agree what success looks like up front, be accountable and then look after the little things really well.

Here are some tips for securing sponsorship and making partnerships work…

Make an effort to understand what a partner or potential partner wants: Put yourself in their shoes, think what will make a real difference to them, ask lots of questions and listen to what they have to say!
Aim for mutual benefit: if you are both interests are aligned you’ll pull in the same direction.
Be really clear: tease out what you both want and expect of each other. It’s always best to know up-front. Keep it light-touch but do get it down on paper - put it into an email, or an agreement and refer back to it. Make everyone knows what success looks like, and include specific, measurable targets.
Co-create together: developing ideas together can often build better activities than you originally had in mind.
Don’t be afraid to say no, nicely: if you think things aren’t fair, balanced or even, say so. Explain why and see if you can make the partnership more balanced. Otherwise it’s better to say no nicely and find someone else who you can.
Do the little things well: it’s rare to jump straight in with a really big activity, so it’s important to get a sense of what it’s like to work together first. Do the little things well, make a good impression!
Manage expectations and keep your promises: do what you say you’ll do, and if for any reason things change, let your partner know and explain why.
Don’t blame others: even if someone else has made a mistake, explain, apologise and mean it.
Sponsorship is the same as partnership: remain focused on what you think someone would want to pay for, and don’t ever lose sight of what that is!