Creating News When There Is No News – A Business’s PR Plight
What’s a marketing director to do when the boss wants print on your company, but there’s no big, newsworthy anything happening at the office? How are you supposed to pitch the media with non-news? The answer: Follow our tips for creating news when there is no news.
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Creating News When There Is No News
1. Do a little digging with company employees.
What’s going on in HR? Any exciting new hires? What about the Finance Department? Any recent statements or reports worth sharing?
2. Do a little more digging with company employees.
If the first step doesn’t pay off, start over, but this time, look for a little bit of personal information. Did the CEO’s office secretary just publish a short story? Or maybe the intern was chosen for a prestigious scholarship. Look for newsworthy items that can be tied to your company.
3. Put a spin on the story.
Maybe the topic you come away with really isn’t all that exciting. That’s OK – you just have to make it sound exciting. Concentrate especially on making your headline sound newsy, because sometimes that’s what makes or breaks your pitch.
4. Work your media relationships.
It’s at times like these that having good relationships with your hometown media comes in handy. When you have a good working relationship, you can start a conversation with your contacts and figure out what types of content they’re looking for, what kinds of stories they’re looking to run. Take the information they give you and keep it in mind for your own pitch. As with many things in life, in PR, it’s all about who you know. And timing. You can work on both of these at once if you maintain open dialogue with your local media. For us, we work on improving our Milwaukee PR by adding new contacts whenever possible.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help on this, either. If you know someone who knows someone, use that connection. It can’t hurt.
5. Gently remind your boss…
…that nothing in PR is guaranteed. Follow these steps and give it your best effort, but, remember, you won’t land every story that you pitch. It’s the nature of the industry. You can help alleviate your CEO’s displeasure by reporting on all of your PR wins. Let him or her know that you have been working for your company’s reputation and continue to do so. Let your boss know (read: prove) that PR for your company is a priority, and maybe they won’t demand media coverage now the next time around.
Related post: What is Newsworthy?
Have any other tips for our readers? Share them with us! Or maybe you’d like even more advice on this topic. Get in touch! Click below to get started.
