Identify a news angle

5 Tips from a PR Coach

By Jessica Evans

The messages I receive from small business owners usually start the same - “I’ve tried to contact a whole lot of newspapers giving them this great story, but they aren’t interested. Help!” This is the main reason I started my media coaching business as I wanted to empower small businesses and give them the tools to get noticed in the media.

For small businesses and entrepreneurs, focusing on smart public relations is more important than ever and it can help drive customers to your business. With endless opportunities to promote yourself, the key is to understand what makes a great story and how the public relations process works.

Contacting journalists is free, and with the fast pace of the media cycle, reporters across the globe are constantly looking for new content. Public relations is not paid advertising, its unpaid editorial and that’s why it’s so valuable. Essentially because it is written by a journalist in a way that can powerfully effect an audience. Some business owners can be confused by this when trying to promote themselves.

Working as a journalist for many years, my inbox was always flooded with requests from public relations agencies wanting to promote their clients. Most of these agencies were being paid by big business clients across the country to deliver news to the media and get published. Out of all these emails, I might have responded to one or two because what they were putting forward wasn’t hitting the mark.

And all this adds up to money wasted for their clients. If you do it in the right way, getting published in the mainstream media lets your market know what you do and how well you do it. It is possible to ditch expensive PR firms and generate free publicity so that you can become an expert in your field.

Here’s my top tips to getting published in the media:

Identify a news angle

Effective public relations is about writing interesting and engaging content that people want to read about. So when thinking about your business try not to write a summary or sales pitch. Instead think about how what you do could fit in to any emerging trends, upcoming community events or topics the media love to cover.

Good public relations is about finding the news angle, generating media interest and knowing what journalists want to write about. Start reading the newspaper yourself and start noticing what makes a story interesting.

A journalist’s number one priority is coming up with interesting and engaging content that will sell papers, boost ratings and get attention, not promoting businesses.

Target the release to your audience

You wouldn’t try and sell your product or service to someone who didn’t want to buy it. It’s the same as trying to target the wrong journalist to publish your story. Education writers write about education; business writers write about business.

So identify what publications your consumers are reading and contact the reporters at those papers. A great place to start is your local newspaper, as the journalists there are often in the early stages of their career and are hungry for a story.

Write a press release

Before you start writing, I recommend that you get really clear about the news angle you have identified and ask yourself if it is interesting. Is it something you would like to read about? If you find it a tad dull then chances are that everyone else will too.

When you are writing try to not make the press release all about you or your product.  Can you can put it in broader terms about some emerging trends or provide some interesting statistics?

You can write your pitch in the body of the email – two to three sentences maximum and then either attach the media release in the body of the email or attach it in a PDF or word document format.

Make sure your spelling and punctuation are in order and if in doubt – ask someone who works in the industry to look over it. Keep your sentences short and snappy when writing a media release. You don’t need to write more than a page. It’s more engaging and easier to read if it is brief.

The first sentence generally contains a hook to activate the reader’s attention. Then it’s just a matter of filling in the information. The most important piece of information should be first, with the least at the end. If the journalist is interested in your story they will call you to arrange an interview on the phone, to see what photo opportunities are available or to request further information.

Provide a human element

Media outlets love stories about real people in the community especially if you provide someone who they can interview or take photos. You want to provide them with the right content to make it easier for them to publish your article.

If you have a real life case study that's happy to pose up for a snap and can talk about their personal experience, then you're more likely to get attention.

When to follow up

Provide your pitch via email and let the journalist mull over it for a day. Then follow up the next day. Don't constantly call as chances are they are busy and could be juggling many competing deadlines. If you do call – call in the morning not in the late afternoon when deadlines are due.

Of course, be polite and personable when you call. Most journalists spend much of their day chasing things up, meeting demands of editors or out on the road attending breaking news events. It’s hard work, fast paced and stressful. Always be respectful of the reporter’s right to go ahead with your pitch or politely decline as it will help your chances of getting something in next time. It’s worth asking them for feedback so you can improve next time.

If you follow these tips you will be well on your way to coming up with an attention-grabbing pitch that will land you in the media!

About the author

She helps people dream big, become financially independent and take massive action to create real results in life and business. Jessica runs workshops and events across the country about media engagement.