PR AGENCY DIARIES: IS YOUR STORY NEWSWORTHY – 10 THINGS THAT ARE VS 10 THINGS THAT AREN’T

Whether you’re blasting your brand via news, social media, or with an event or activation, a PR agency knows all the tactics to make sure you’ll sing, not sink, when it comes the media machine.

Old marketing tropes like no news is good news, or there’s no such thing as bad PR, just won’t fly when your content is breaking snooze more often than it’s breaking news. You’ve got to know what will cut through the noise to become the news.

And if your PR agency isn’t telling you your tea is cold, you best check your cheque and spend your precious budget where it’s going to turn the heat up.

Here are 10 things that are and aren’t newsworthy to ponder when considering if your news is bland or breaking:

10 THINGS THAT ARE NEWSWORTHY

1.     Informative content

• If you’re going to say something, it’s got to be something people will still stop their busy lives for. Otherwise just take out an ad and pray to the commercial god it moves the dial for your brand

2.     Have a stance or angle

• The need for strategic communications has never been greater – it’s wild times out there and if you sit on the sidelines you’ll miss the game completely. You don’t need to have a radical stance on a matter, but take the angle that suits your brand, audience, and values and people will notice

3.     Timeliness

• Hey remember Covid? Yeah so do we, and we don’t want to hear about it anymore. You might have some deep insights on a widely-known topic that no one has thought of yet, but if the moment is over, there’s no bringing it back. Catch the wave of sentiment while it’s high, or better yet, create it with us

4.     The weird and wacky

• Remember how the world stopped when that cargo ship got stuck in the Suez Canal? (Jeez wasn’t that ages ago? Yeah, now you get the idea of timeliness). People love to lean into the odd quirks of life, so think how your brand can too. Readers will get stuck on it like the Suez Canal (OK, promise we’ll leave this in 2021 where it belongs)

5.     Surprise and shock

• Just like the weird and wonderful, surprising and delighting your audience will take your brand far. Tell your consumers something they didn’t know, or give them a shocking stat about something they thought they knew, and they’re more likely to pick up what you’re putting down

6.     Impact

• When putting news out there, think how it’s going to affect your audience. Always put yourself in the reader’s shoes and ask “so what, why should I care?” to direct your content where it needs to go

7.     Educational and informative

• Influential brands use the term “news you can use” for a reason. People love knowing things, and they love sharing what they know even more. What can readers take away from your news and implement in their daily lives for the better?

8.     Happy tears

• Human interest stories go a long way to earn the hearts of readers. We’re not talking firemen rescuing kittens from trees, we’re talking an eight-year-old who has overcome surgeries to complete their first sporting event with their mates. The warm fuzzies will help your brand seem genuine, compassionate, and relatable. Who’s cutting the onions?

9.     Facts, facts, facts

• Number nerds unite! Perfect for a pub quiz and excellent ammo for a conversation with that know-it-all, stats, numbers and percentages catch the eyes of readers every time and are more likely to stick with them than a ramble

10.   Rare and unique

• Doing something that no other brand has done yet will not only spark interest from current and new audiences but also earn the envious eye of your competitors

10 THINGS THAT AREN’T NEWSWORTHY

1.     Saying something for the sake of it

• Don’t jump on a social trend just because people are doing the dance if it doesn’t align with your brand or you don’t have an engaging take on it. You’ll end up muddying your messaging and putting consumers off

2.     Shit content

• If you’re being half-assed with your content, you might as well not do it at all. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to post on socials or release an eDM every day if it sucks, or you’ll become stale and annoying – fast

3.     Scandal (well, not for the right reasons anyway)

• If you’re in hot water, follow the appropriate processes to brush the proverbial from the fan gently, or you’ll risk tarnishing you brand further. Also, don’t post news about something frivolous right after you’ve had your knuckles publicly wrapped, it looks like you don’t genuinely care for your mistakes

4.     Headlines

• If you don’t have a story beyond a cracker headline your readers won’t come away with anything. They might remember your brand but if it’s a message or story you’re trying to get across, you’ll fall short on your goal. Avoid headlines that are too inflammatory or audiences will be wailing “clickbait” ad nauseum

5.     Irrelevance

• It’s all about “locache, locache, locache” (sic). If your news isn’t hitting people at home or at their hearts, you’ll seem disconnected and readers will keep on scrolling

6.     Misinformation

• Have a critical eye on where you get your stats, info, and even opinions from. Opinions are valid and you have every right to put them out there, but when they are presented as news or brand representation it becomes dangerous when readers take it as fact

7.     The mundane

• While there is an element of relatability to the mundane (this rain, amirite?), it’s not going to be your ticket to headline domination. Keep it for the memes

8.     Controversy

• When was the last time a brand made a controversial move and it worked out? You don’t always have to play it safe and boring, but you have to play it smart. Pepsi advertising off the Black Lives Matter movement using a white supermodel didn’t land well for a certain soft drinks giant, and your profiteering won’t get you anything different

9.     Sensationalism

• It’s glaringly obvious when something is OTT just for the sake of it. An article with a headline so dramatic it somersaults your eyeballs into the back of your head will turn away more readers than it will hoodwink them

10.   Rumour

• Basing your brand on rumour or gossip without any base or evidence is a bum-bite waiting to happen. This isn’t politics, it’s PR and it’s your brand on the line

Got a few things in that second column? Ask us, we’re the experts.