ChildRIGHT Interview: Dan Foster, media and communications consultant, Children's Legal Centre

Dan Foster works in media and communications at the Children's Legal Centre. He has been a successful charity media consultant for eight years. Here, he suggests ways that charities can get results in raising their profile for low or no cost.

With funding for charities at an all time low, what money-saving tips can you offer to help other charities get their message across?

Be creative. Many charities have limited budgets and need to think outside the box to get their point across. Churning out ineffective press releases are time-consuming and don't always work. My advice is for charities to think about other ways you might get coverage. Many local and national radio stations have regular phone-ins and guest slots that are set by the day's news agenda. Keep a check of the TV, radio and newspapers - they might be discussing a topic that relates to your work. Get a spokesperson from your charity to comment on-air.

The Children's Legal Centre recently had interviews on various BBC programmes including The One Show and BBC Essex.

Are there any other ways apart from the media to get a charity's message across?

Here at The Children's Legal Centre we are in the process of rolling out a swathe of public engagement events across London this summer. Meeting with members of the public at well attended and culturally diverse events can be a very cheap way to engage new audiences. It's amazing what a team of willing staff, a table, chairs and some information leaflets can achieve - hundreds of referrals and partnership-building at low to no cost. You could also speak to your beneficiaries to get useful advice on how best to get your message across to your intended audience.

What do you think of social media?

Social networking is the new big thing. Used correctly, it can be a great outreach tool, but ask yourself "is it relevant"? Make sure you understand the needs of your audience and find out if they use sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Social networking pages can be very time-consuming to manage. They can look very sparse if no one is interested and you're the only one posting. There can be better ways to get people following your work - perhaps a new Twitter account for your charity's director - after all, their daily views and work updates can prove very useful to new and existing networks they've personally built up over the years. Think about other online tools that might suit your needs. Have you ever considered QR (Quick Response) Codes? This is a free and accessible way for you to get website and general text information sent directly to someone's phone.