By George Hulbert, Director of The Clarity Business
How many times have you pitched story ideas to journalists only to be told: "That's just too commercial, sorry." Your new product or service – so exciting to you – is just not grabbing the news interest you thought it should.
So, how might you try a different approach?
In my view, what companies KNOW is almost always more interesting to journalists than what you have achieved or are selling.
The sort of knowledge that we know is of use includes:
- Trends – new, made, reinforced, broken, reversed
- Market knowledge – who is doing what and why
- What's coming up in your world – or the world of your sector
- Numbers, facts, hard information – who is doing what, when – useful examples to provide evidence
- Charts, images and infographics to back it up
You add value and earn credibility with media and your audiences in this way because you are giving the market and the reader something useful, new and different whilst actually positioning yourself in exactly the way in which you think your new service would do.
So, the next time you have a marginal call as to whether your new service will be media-friendly, think also: "What is it that we know about the demand for this service and what is it that we know about this arena that will be useful?"
This approach may also allow you to sneak in some information about your product or service that then becomes useful to the journalists to whom you are talking and to the market – it then could become a useful example.
Don't forget: you are also an expert in your area. You may know a lot of things which you think are bog standard for your industry, but I'll bet that what you know about your market is of interest to the wider world…
If you'd like some help in getting what you know out into the world, please contactGeorge@theclaritybusiness.co.nz
How many times have you pitched story ideas to journalists only to be told: "That's just too commercial, sorry." Your new product or service – so exciting to you – is just not grabbing the news interest you thought it should.
So, how might you try a different approach?
In my view, what companies KNOW is almost always more interesting to journalists than what you have achieved or are selling.
The sort of knowledge that we know is of use includes:
- Trends – new, made, reinforced, broken, reversed
- Market knowledge – who is doing what and why
- What's coming up in your world – or the world of your sector
- Numbers, facts, hard information – who is doing what, when – useful examples to provide evidence
- Charts, images and infographics to back it up
You add value and earn credibility with media and your audiences in this way because you are giving the market and the reader something useful, new and different whilst actually positioning yourself in exactly the way in which you think your new service would do.
So, the next time you have a marginal call as to whether your new service will be media-friendly, think also: "What is it that we know about the demand for this service and what is it that we know about this arena that will be useful?"
This approach may also allow you to sneak in some information about your product or service that then becomes useful to the journalists to whom you are talking and to the market – it then could become a useful example.
Don't forget: you are also an expert in your area. You may know a lot of things which you think are bog standard for your industry, but I'll bet that what you know about your market is of interest to the wider world…
If you'd like some help in getting what you know out into the world, please contactGeorge@theclaritybusiness.co.nz