Tips for Leveraging News to Generate Newsworthy Content
Is your information newsworthy? That’s the first question to ask yourself before you sit down to write a press release. Quite often, a bit of information can be leveraged to become newsworthy. It takes a bit of finesse and an understanding of what “newsworthy” really means. However, when you can learn to leverage news and information to create quality press releases, you open the door for marketing opportunities.
1.Make the News Come to You
The first step to leveraging the news is to stay abreast of all current events, controversies, and research as it pertains to your niche and industry. Unless you have time to constantly scour the news sites and spend hours online reading blogs, newswires, and periodicals, you have to make the news come to you. You can accomplish this by setting up alerts and RSS feeds. Create a real-time media monitoring process that uses tools like Google Alerts and Mention to send you the day’s news.
2.Be Ready to Respond
Create templates and documents that make it easy to respond to industry news, and capitalize on it. For example, you might create an “executive response” document that allows you to comment on a breaking news story. Also create a press release template. Often breaking news, research, or controversy allows you to turn that information into a marketing opportunity.
3.Practice Generating Story Ideas
A good news story has a strong hook. You know your business well and you know how your products or services impact your audience. As news and research become available, explore the ways you can spin that information into a compelling story idea and press release. Great news stories have impact. They talk about controversy, new or exclusive information, or they hit on a human interest element.
Your story idea doesn’t have to contain all of these elements; it only needs to hit on one. Start practicing the art of spinning. Ask the question, How does this information impact my audience and how can I use it to promote my business? For example, a new report on marketing statistics can help a marketing consultant showcase their services.
The first step to leveraging news into marketable content and press is to stay on top of all industry related news. Be ready with templates so that you can respond quickly and be the first to capitalize on the information. Practice spinning news by understanding your audience and what makes information compelling to journalists and the media.
