From the Blog: May 15, 2026

A Groundbreaking Event is a PR Opportunity, If You Treat It Like One

A Groundbreaking Is a PR Opportunity

Groundbreaking events are often approached as a milestone to check off a list.

Secure the vendors.
Invite the guests.
Take the photo.

Move on.

But they’re one of the most underutilized opportunities for public relations, media coverage, and marketing visibility. When they’re done strategically, these events can do so much more. They can help build visibility, credibility, and momentum for your organization.

I recently worked with Capital Veterinary Specialists on their groundbreaking event. What could have been a one-day ceremony became a strategic opportunity to tell a bigger story. Here’s what that looks like in practice, and how to apply the same event communications strategy to your next milestone.

Most Groundbreaking Events Start in the Wrong Place

When I speak to most companies about groundbreaking events, they always want to start with logistics. They want to pick a date and time, confirm what rentals are needed, and who they should book for catering. Those details matter, but they shouldn’t come first.

Before anything else, it’s important to determine:

  • The core story behind the milestone event, leveraging the project as more than a new building
  • The audiences that matter most, including community VIPs, referral partners, and media outlets
  • The key messages that you want consistently reinforced across every touchpoint

For Capital Veterinary Specialists, this milestone is about growth, access to specialized care, and long-term investment in the Walton County community.

That clarity shaped every decision that followed.

How to Approach Media Relations for a Groundbreaking Event

Media coverage doesn’t happen because you send an invitation. It happens when you give the media a reason to care.

Instead of treating this as an announcement, I positioned it as a story rooted in:

  • Community impact and expanded access to services
  • Regional growth and investment
  • Industry relevance

From there, I built a focused media relation strategy for the event:

  • Developed aligned talking points for leadership and guest speakers, ensuring every spokesperson reinforced the same narrative around growth, impact, and future vision
  • Crafted and distributed a press release for the groundbreaking event that clearly articulated why this mattered now
  • Conducted targeted outreach to local, regional, and select national media outlets, prioritizing outlets most likely to cover community and business development stories

The results of those efforts produced coverage and content that reinforced the story we set out to tell.

How to Turn a Groundbreaking Event into Marketing Content

Most teams think about content after the event. But, by then, it’s too late.

Instead, I approached this as a groundbreaking event marketing strategy from the start, ensuring the event functioned as a content engine:

  • Secured a photographer and videographer in advance to capture high-quality, multi-use assets
  • Identified key moments identified ahead of time, including leadership remarks, VIP interactions, and the ceremonial churn of the dirt with branded elements
  • Prepared leadership to deliver clear, usable soundbites that could be repurposed across media and digital platforms

That gave us the ability to extend the life of the event well beyond a single afternoon, and provided content that could be used across social media, website updates, future marketing materials, and prospective client communications.

Execution Is More Than Logistics

A well-run event is expected. A strategically executed event is what create impact.

On the day of, success came down to alignment:

  • Speakers were prepared, confident, and on message, reinforcing consistency across all communications
  • The run of show supported the story, ensuring the most important moments where emphasized and captured
  • Media interactions were coordinated and intentional, not reactive

When those elements are all aligned, the event works harder to support your public relations and marketing goals in real time.

The Post-Event Marketing Strategy Is Where ROI Is Created

The event ends. The team moves on. And the opportunity stops there.

Sound familiar?

That’s where organizations leave value on the table. Instead, I treated the post-event phase as a critical part of the event marketing and media strategy:

  • Distributed a post-event press release with visuals to extend media coverage
  • Shared content across digital channels to maintain visibility and reinforce key messages
  • Highlighted leadership, partners, and community impact to strengthen relationships
  • Leverages event assets for ongoing marketing and communications initiatives

This what turns a single event into sustained visibility and long-term value.

A More Strategic Approach to Groundbreaking Events

The groundbreaking event will happen either way. The difference is whether it’s treated as a logistical task or a strategic communications opportunity. When you take the second approach, the outcome dramatically shifts.

That’s why I put together a simple guide that outlines this approach step by step to help you with planning a groundbreaking or milestone event for your organization. My Strategic Groundbreaking Framework covers:

  • Messaging and media strategy
  • Pre-event planning
  • Day-of execution
  • Common mistakes
  • My pro tips

Download a free copy of my Strategic Groundbreaking Framework, a step-by-step guide to groundbreaking event PR, media relations, and marketing strategy.