Does networking really work?
From specific association networks to broad business groups, there are so many opportunities for business owners to network, but does networking actually work?
In my experience, the answer to that question is a resounding YES. But just turning up isn’t enough. And it isn’t just about getting new business either.
You can never have too many contacts
Networking isn’t just about acquiring new business; it is about surrounding yourself with a support network for your life in general. I have never met anyone who said they have too many contacts!
Running a business can be an isolating and stressful experience, but when networking you learn so much about different types of businesses, what is happening in the business community and have the opportunity to share your experiences.
A cost effective alternative
Networking can also be the most cost effective way of reaching hundreds of potential clients, which is particularly worthwhile for SMEs with tight marketing budgets.
While the cost of attending a lunch or event can add up, I see it as personal advertising. It takes your time but when you connect with people on a personal level it is so powerful. In fact, so powerful, we build it into all of our client’s PR strategies.
Take control
Instead of waiting for people to find you, you are taking control of the situation and finding them. For this reason networking is an essential element to business development.
Through networking you instantly have access to a room full of people who, by simply chatting with them, you can discover if they have a need for services like yours. The more people who are aware of a business means the more people who will make contact when the need arise.
Networking for business development
So who should you network with? Obviously from a business development perspective, it is a good idea to network with potential clients. For example if your target market is small business, then participate in groups for small business owners such as your local chamber of commerce and The Women’s Network Australia.
It is also a good idea to belong to your industry specific network - such as one run by the professional association you may belong to.
How to become a successful networker
The key to good networking is to go alone. Do not take someone with you for support as you will inevitably use the event as a catch up. If you invite a colleague to attend with you split up during any networking period and catch up after the event.
It’s not about selling. In fact it’s not about talking. It’s about listening. A savvy networker knows that networking and building relationships is about taking the time to find out about others, and from there working out if there is any synergy.
Good networkers also always follow up those they meet. It’s not about getting as many business cards as possible, but connecting with people. Try setting a goal for each event to get two business cards with the invitation to contact them and arrange a coffee meeting to chat in more detail.
Want to learn more about networking? Download this FREE guide:
Don’t forget to get your copy of our FREE Personal Branding Secret Weapon: NETWORKING Resource Guide with bonus list of over 500 Networking Groups.
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au.
Top 13 Social Media Tips
Social media is very much about exploring what works for you and how you can make the most of the platforms for your business.
I’ve been doing social media since 2006 and along the way I have developed my top tips about how to get the most out of social media.
Here are my top tips:
- Don’t use social media as a broadcast tool – create meaningful two-way conversations.
- Make connections and connect people – think relationships first.
- Find your tone of voice and use it at all times.
- Double-check everything before you post (you don't want to find yourself in the middle of a crisis!).
- Have clear objectives and a strategy.
- Monitor and evaluate consistently.
- Don’t feel the need to be on all social media sites because different sites fill different niches and objectives.
- Let everyone know you are on social media – put share buttons on your website, put them in your email signature and the web address on business cards.
- Be a giver and be real – if you are not genuine on social media people won’t want to connect with you.
- Use Google and YouTube to get useful tips and information to share.
- Watch others, start slowly, ask for help, have no fear, find a mentor.
- See the end goal – it’s a marathon not a sprint.
- Don’t let “lack” of time be a deal breaker.
What social media platforms should you choose?
With so many social media platforms available, it can be hard to figure out which platform will deliver the best results for your company. However, there are a few things to consider before choosing a social media platform.
Firstly, you need to devote time to it. Maintaining your presence on a daily basis is a necessity and results can’t be generated without a long term commitment. Think of it like a relationship: without your time and dedication, your social media marriage will be sure to fail.
Secondly, what are your social media goals? More traffic? More sales? Are you attempting a viral marketing campaign? Or do you just want people to associate your brand as an expert in its chosen field? It is always beneficial to identify what goals you want to achieve so you have something to work towards.
Lastly, once you have created your social media pages, dedicate your time to creating quality content, getting involved in online discussions and communicating with your consumers by asking questions and answering theirs in return.
To help you choose the platforms that work for you, here are five of the top social media sites and how they can help your business.
- Facebook: With more than 400 million users, it’s a great site to use for customer engagement, feedback and brand development for your products and services. However, it does not rank high with search engines, so if you are looking to increase traffic to your webpage Facebook is not the way to go.
- Twitter: Can be used quite successfully to drive organic traffic to your website as the more followers you have the more people who see your tweets and click on your links. The challenge, however, is creating an interesting and quality tweet in only 140 characters.
- YouTube: With over 100 million views a day, YouTube is a good way to get opinions and information about your business out into the public in a visual and creative way. However, if it’s only an increase in traffic to your website you want, then YouTube is not ideal.
- LinkedIn: A professional site that allows you to connect directly with potential customers. If you want to position yourself and your brand as an expert and authoritative voice in a specific industry – this is the site for you. Take the time to research and only join groups that are relevant to you and your potential clients.
- Blogging: Blogs are extremely easy to use. If your goals are to drive traffic to your website and position your business as an expert in its field then a blog is the number one place to do so. Using key words and phrases will give you better Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which, in turn, will drive more traffic to your site.
In order to achieve certain goals you may have to adopt several forms of social media platforms. If you take the time to choose the right ones for you, and devote enough time to them, you will find that in the end the benefits and outcomes are worth it.
Want more social media tips? Download this FREE ebook:
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more PR tips see www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au
March Director's Message
I write a regular column for online business magazine, LeadingCompany. My recent article has raised some issues for Ford Australia regarding their online marketing activities and created some debate regarding local responses for global companies.
The story: The only car accident I’ve ever had was when I managed to reverse parallel park into a telephone pole in front of a group of people on a busy Sydney street. Embarrassing to say the least.
As I’m due for a new car, I was quite excited when I saw an ad showing the Ford Focus Titanium reverse parallel parking by itself. I started doing my research online.
Like all the major manufacturers, Ford has a “book a test drive” feature on its website and on the face of it, it’s a very clever marketing tactic. Ford is fulfilling the potential buyer’s needs without them having to even pick up the phone or walk into a dealership to get service.
Ford would simply ring me to organise a time I could go to the nearest dealership for a test drive, the car would be ready for me when I got there and off I’d go. Sounds so easy!
I filled in the online form and waited for Ford to respond. That was over two weeks ago and I’ve had no call. I filled in a “Contact us” form on Ford’s website but yet again, no call – no contact whatsoever. I turned to social media and tweeted at Ford that its “test drive” feature seems to be failing. Still no response.
Since my article was published on LeadingCompany and tweeted by other people, I’ve had a response from Scott Monty, Ford Global Head of Social Media via Twitter and in the comments section of the LeadingCompany article.
"This is obviously not how it's supposed to work, and I will admit that our social media capabilities are not necessarily equal in every market around the world. This is largely due to different budgets, staffing arrangements and sizes, and how long a particular market has been involved in social.”
Read the full article and also the comments in response to the article.
What a job Scott Monty has! Putting out PR and social media fires globally. I’m astounded that global companies that spend millions of dollars on mainstream advertising just aren’t investing in local area social media.
The good news is that they contacted me this morning to organise a test drive.
Join our team!
We are looking for a talented PR Consultant to join our amazing and dynamic agency. See more info http://bit.ly/YilZ2t
Welcome to our new clients: content marketing agency, Edge and business systems specialist Holocentric.
Speaking – Join me at the Corporate Social Media Summit 2013 on 26 March where I will be presenting a presentation on how to use social media to reach the new ‘social’ customers. Register with discount code P13K08CPC to receive 10 per cent off the ticket price.
Happy International Women’s Day! – On Friday I urge both women and men to celebrate women’s successes and to continue to raise issues for women’s equality and our important contribution to the economy, business and society. Join in one of the many events.
Cheers,
February Director's message
Over Christmas I went on a detox. No I didn’t just eat fruit for a week, I detoxed from social media. Hard to believe I know! I travelled throughout Burma where the internet connection is pretty dreadful, so I decided to completely remove myself from social media for over three weeks.
I didn’t even take my phone as there is no international roaming in Burma. Considering I very rarely leave home without my phone, travelling to a country where a plane crashed the day I landed, and the military were bombing their citizens while I was there, not being able to easily phone home was quite daunting.
We are listed in the 20 of the best Australian business blogs
We are thrilled to be listed as number two on the ‘20 of the Best Australian Business blogs’ by SmartCompany.
Here are our blogs:
Public Relations Sydney
Social Media Sydney
We hope you enjoy them too.
You can also download our FREE PR ebook ‘How to use PR to get amazing results’.
Seven deadly sins of PR
We have come up with the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ of public relations! While you won’t be eternally damned by breaking one of these rules, they are key PR rules to follow.
Pride
In our careers we all start from the bottom, doing call-backs to journalists, researching media lists, clipping coverage and occasionally, making coffees. But sometimes when the office gets overwhelmed, such as when a client goes into crisis mode due to a mistimed tweet, it needs to be all hands on deck.
Pride and seniority should not get in the way of ensuring the best outcomes for a client. No one is above any task in a PR office. Remember, pride comes before a fall and it should not come before you helping out your colleagues in times of crisis, no matter how small the task. Most offices couldn’t run without the efforts of the most junior team member.
Greed
Getting media coverage for the sake of it is not what PR is based on. While it’s fantastic to see your clients name in print, strategies need to be targeted to the businesses’ audience; otherwise your effort is wasted.
Don’t be greedy by chasing any media coverage possible. Look at the quality of coverage you are getting for your clients and ask yourself is it reaching your target audience?
Envy
Keeping up-to-date with what your competitors are doing, who their new clients are or any great campaigns they are involved in is a great way to stay on trend and industry focused. But don’t get so wrapped up in what your competitors are doing that you lose focus of your own campaigns.
Your job is to do the best you can for your client, even if they don’t have the most exciting products or services, it is your job to find the story within their business to share.
Wrath/Anger
If a journalist makes a mistake, don’t get angry, there is no point. You don’t want to damage that relationship. You can point it out to them and make suggestions to fix it (print a correction etc) but ensure to show respect for them as a person and for their role.
When contacting them to let them know about the error, take a moment to calm down, don’t press send for at least ten minutes. You don’t want to regret something you have said.
Lust
Every PR person dreams of getting their client that ultimate piece of coverage, whether it is a slot on primetime or a profile piece in a top-selling newspaper. But while it is great to have goals and something to work towards, don’t forget about other places to get your clients’ messages heard.
Forsaking smaller coverage in the chase for one big piece is not a smart way to do PR. Your clients want to be reaching as much of their target audience as possible and it is your job to find those opportunities for them.
Gluttony
As PRs we spend a lot of time and energy creating interesting pitches to send to journalists. But even if it is the best pitch you think you have ever written, don’t get too excited and start pitching it out left, right and centre. Especially not to several journalists at the same publication.
A newsroom is a small place and a journalist will eventually figure out that you have sent the pitch to one of their colleagues. If it happens they are likely to neither want your story or run it. You are better off targeting one journalist and then, depending on why they rejected the pitch, send it to someone else at a later date.
Sloth
Don’t be lazy with your strategy. Writing a media release and then sending it out to every publication vaguely within your target market is not a way to do PR. Spend time reading the publications you want to get coverage in, finding out the interests of different journalists, the different sections of a publication, watch TV news or morning shows, listen to a range of different radio shows.
While it is a lot of effort in the beginning, it will show up later in your PR results in a positive way, making you and your client very happy.
These are just seven sins of PR, there are many more. What are some that you can think of? Are you guilty of any of them?
Combining social media and PR - the key to success!
When you think about social media, you think Twitter, YouTube, Facebook – but do you think PR? Adding PR tactics such as media releases and case studies to the direct relationship building of social media can result in extraordinary results for SMEs.
Public relations creates a two-way communication between an organisation and its audience, or a person and the people they want to influence. Guess what social media does? Exactly the same thing!
So when you combine social media with PR, it’s a collision that catapults your profile, reputation and credibility exponentially.
Why is it so powerful?
With PR, the media’s representation of a story can significantly impact on public opinion about an organisation, product or even a person. Editorial has a credibility factor as it is endorsed by the journalist or third party.
However, there is always the risk that you can’t control what the journalist writes so then you consider going straight to the source – via social media.
With social media, you are developing credible relationships with huge numbers of people directly – often they feel that this relationship is one on one.
Using platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, you’re cutting out the third party and offering your messages directly. It is a much quicker, more direct route of communication to a very targeted audience who have chosen to engage with your brand on social media.
You can actually become the direct source of news about your company or brand by writing a blog and posting articles or media releases on your website. This can help raise your profile, increase your credibility as an expert in your field and all that fresh, relevant content being posted online certainly doesn’t hurt your SEO efforts!
A foot in both camps
Because of the rapid speed with which a social media misstep can become a PR disaster, you need to have a media radar – you also need to be in the conversation already to manage crisis situations.
Just as there is crisis management within a traditional public relations role, social media can also lead to some negative ‘press’ which is understandable when you have a platform that can become anyone’s soap box. A fear of what people might say about you in the public space is not a reason to avoid using social media.
In reality, people are going to say whatever they want about your company, the difference is whether you are already a part of the conversation with them. This gives you the chance to intercept and implement damage control before the conversations get out of hand.
Where do you start with PR and social media?
You start with your story. Everyone has a story. So think about what stories you have, or your business has to tell. You can use the same stories across both PR as well as social media – you just use different channels.
For a specific story, using PR you might write a media release, but with social media you might write a blog post. It means you are reaching different audiences with the same story.
One technique for developing story ideas is to note which questions are commonly asked by customers and use these ideas to write a trends based article. This article can be pitched to key journalists and bloggers.
You can run a survey or poll about issues relating to your product or services, or piggy back on other surveys. Do you have a personal story that’s inspirational such as how you came to start-up your business or a true rag to riches tale?
Don’t forget to announce new products/services, new contract wins and new store openings.
Storytelling is a constant effort. Be strategic and plan out your stories and the mediums you will use to tell them.
Key PR tactics
The most well known PR tactic is a media release, but there are other equally effective ways of telling your stories to your target audiences.
A media pitch is a targeted story idea (or media angle) that you “pitch” to a specific journalist in a publication or TV show that you know relates specifically to their readers or viewers.
Case studies provide an ideal platform to leverage business success and tell your story to the media through your customers.
Speaking engagements are an important aspect of building profile and credibility. They are a cost effective way of reaching large, influential audiences and positioning you or your spokesperson as an expert within your industry.
Contributed articles (what you are reading now!) also positions you as an expert. Write articles on your area of expertise and pitch them to both print and online publications.
Social media channels
While there are hundreds of social media channels, the key ones to consider are blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Foursquare.
Think about how you can place your story in each of the channels – not all will suit every story or audience. Just because your competitor is using Twitter, doesn’t mean you need to.
Think carefully about your audiences, messages, stories and available time to keep them up to date.
Interlinking is the trick
The key to combining PR and social media is interlinking all your social media accounts and cross linking to your PR tactics.
So if you have footage of your product, put it on YouTube and add the link in your media release. It will enhance your story and bring the product to life for the journalist.
When you get media coverage, announce it on Twitter with a link to it (if it’s online). You can also add the coverage (check Copyright first) to your blog. Every time you send a media release, add it as a blog post and then tweet about it (with the link).
Don’t forget to interlink your social media accounts. So link your Twitter to your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. This means every time you tweet, it automatically updates the status in the other channels. When you add a blog post, tweet about it. This saves you time, drives traffic to your various channels, but also means your posts can be read by different audiences.
Case study: Macquarie University’s Women, Management and Work Conference
CP Communications developed a strategy which aimed to raise women in management issues as well as promote the conference. Key stories were developed that could be used across both PR and social media and virtually all of the tactics were interlinked and cross promoted.
The speakers were used as media talent and were pitched, with a media release, to mainstream media as well as women’s publications, morning TV shows, business and other niche media. The speakers also wrote blog posts and articles.
CP Communications created an online community “Women at Work Oz” which included creating a Twitter profile, Facebook fan page, YouTube channel and blog offering relevant, topical, educational and interesting content about women at work and in leadership, rather than focusing on the conference itself.
The Women at Work Australia social media strategy provided a hub for people sharing their ideas on issues relating to the conference without being a direct promotional tool for the event.
So combining PR and social media, and feeding all of the stories between all of the channels proved extraordinarily powerful. It resulted in an increase of $230,000 in ticket sales compared to the previous year.
The media coverage was significant and the social media channels created thousands of online – and ongoing – conversations about women as leaders and women at work.
How to use an ebook to promote your business
A great way to promote your business is by writing your own ebook and distributing it to customers, clients or potential new business contacts.
An ebook is a digital book, which is available online and on electronic devices such as an iPad or Kindle.
Ebooks are a great way to raise your business’ profile by showcasing your professional knowledge and expertise. By distributing the ebook you can attract new potential customers to your business, raise your brand awareness, promote your business’ expertise and engage with your customers.
Writing an ebook will give you instant credibility and allow you to position yourself as an expert in your field, giving you an edge over competitors and giving clients a compelling reason to do business with you.
You can even sell the ebook as a product of your business and increase your income.
Benefits of writing an ebook
- They don’t have to be long, you can write as much or as little as you like.
- They are inexpensive to produce and distribute globally.
- Customers can easily access them online, instead of needing to go to a bookshop.
- Reach new potential customers and raise their brand awareness of your business.
- With more and more people using iPads, ereaders or smartphones to read books, creating content for these is a good strategy to get your information to your audiences.
- It’s a great way to start a relationship with customers and potential customers.
- You can ask for people’s contact details in order to download the ebook from your website. These details can then used for developing new business or to add to your marketing database.
What to write about?
When considering the topic of your ebook think about your business’ area of expertise. If you are a marketing business for example, you could write a helpful ebook about online marketing. Your topic should relate to your business so when customers read the ebook they will come to you for more information or to work with you.
You also need to think about your target audience and write about something they would be interested in. The ebook should provide valuable information to your target audience, solve a problem they have or help them do something. If you don’t write for your target audience then they may not read your ebook.
Promoting the ebook
Here are some ways you can distribute your ebook:
- Use it as a free gift to existing and potential customers to generate good will.
- Publish it on your blog.
- Promote it on social media and email it to customers who ask for it.
- Use it internally to train and inform new employees.
- Email it to people you have met while networking.
- Offer it as a product for people to buy from your business.
Depending on your objectives you may decide to sell it or give it out for free.
Ebooks are a valuable tool for your business because they are inexpensive and fairly easy to produce. They help you to attract potential clients, build your business’ brand and increase your profile as an expert.
Once you have your own ebook you will wonder what you ever did without it.
Have you thought about writing your own ebook?
Want more tips? Download this FREE ebook:
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more PR tips see www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au
Gain media coverage with a survey
If you are looking for a way to gain media coverage for your business, why not conduct a survey and publicise the results. Surveys are a great way to present your business as a valuable source of information and enhance your credibility. You can write a media release to share the survey results and include quotes from an appropriate spokesperson in your business. This will help to position your business as an expert on a particular topic and build your brand.
Journalists often include survey results and statistics in their articles because it provides evidence to support specific points in the article. Statistics also provide validity and credibility to the article making it more believable to the reader.
If you decide to conduct a survey don’t just ask your employees or clients to answer questions about how great your business is. The survey needs to be objective and scientific to ensure the results are accurate and legitimate.
Here are some tips for creating a great survey.
- Conduct the survey around a topic that is relevant to your business or industry. If you chose an irrelevant topic the survey won’t be beneficial to your business.
- Be topical. Choosing a theme for your survey that is topical and linking your business to it will help pique the interest of journalists. For instance, a survey that links your target industry with the use of social media marketing.
- Don’t ask radical questions to try and force the results to be interesting. Sometimes the most basic questions will produce surprising or newsworthy results. Journalists will also be more interested in results which are objective.
- Don’t create the survey solely around your business and how great it is. Journalists won’t write a story about the percentage of people who like your business. The survey results need to benefit your industry or the general public by providing interesting or valuable information to them.
- Your survey must have an adequate sample size to ensure the results are accurate. This will depend on what you are surveying and if you have a good representation of people participating.
- You can think about hiring a reputable research company like News Poll or Galaxy to undertake a survey on your behalf will lend credibility and reliability to the results, giving it more chance of getting picked up by the media.
- However if you are lucky enough to have a large database, particularly in one sector, you can use Survey Monkey to can run your own survey and it will produce interesting information relevant to journalists writing about that sector.
After completing the survey
Present the findings: Once the survey is completed you need to present the findings in a clear and easy to read report. This report should be professionally presented and contain all the questions, results and methods from the survey. You should also include your branding on the document for example by placing your logo in the corner of the page.
You should ensure this document is finalised before you publicise the survey results in case a journalist requests it. You could also include a link to a PDF version of the results on your website.
Publicise the results with a media release: One of the best ways to publicise the results is by writing a media release.
Find the most interesting and newsworthy result from the survey and make this the main focus of your media release. If you have more than one newsworthy result then you should consider writing two media releases. However you should distribute the media releases a few weeks apart to maximise your coverage.
Include quotes in the media release from an appropriate spokesperson in your business. This spokesperson must be prepared to answer questions about the survey if a journalist wants to interview them.
At the bottom of the media release you can provide more information about the survey such as a list of the main findings and a boilerplate about the survey. This boilerplate should contain the dates the survey was conducted, the sample size, types of people surveyed and how the survey was conducted.
Send the media release: Make a targeted list of journalists who would be interested in the topic of the media release and email the release to them. Make sure you send out the media release as soon as the survey results are finalised. If you leave it for a few months it will be old news and journalists may not write about it.
You can also post the media release on your website and share a link to it on your social media channels.
Surveys benefit your business by revealing valuable information about your customers or industry while also giving you the opportunity to increase your exposure in the media.
Has your business undertaken a survey before?
Want more tips? Download this FREE ebook:
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more PR tips see www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au.
How to create a media list
Do you want to generate publicity for your business with a media release? Then you need to create a media list and start pitching your release to the right journalists. A media list documents the key media contacts in your industry that would be interested in your media release. These contacts can include journalists, producers, bloggers, freelancers and editors.
A media list allows you to create a targeted approach to the distribution of your information. By targeting the right journalists you can gain coverage in the publications that your target audience views. This means that the right audience will see your media release at the right time.
Here are some steps to creating a media list:
- Find your audience: The purpose of a media list is to gain coverage in publications that your target audience uses or views. This means that you need to write a list of all the publications, blogs and TV programs that appeal to your target audience.
- Identify contacts: Once you have a list of publications you now need to identify the appropriate contact person to send your information to. Usually the most appropriate contact is the reporter or editor who covers the topic in your media release. You can find their email address or phone number on their publication’s website or call the publication directly. Try to avoid sending your media release to the email address for general enquires or “editor@” because it usually will not reach the right contact person in that publication.
- Create a database: Organise your media list into a database such as excel document, with separate columns for the name of the publication, the contact person, their job title, email address and phone number.
- Categorise your list: You should categorise your list into different sections for each media outlet. For example you could create a section for all your newspaper contacts and another section for all your magazine contacts.
- Update your list regularly: Media professionals often change their career or areas of expertise, which means you should constantly update your media list. Remember to update your list if your contact person changes or if you find new contacts.
If creating your own media list sounds too hard then you can get help from an online media guide such as Margaret Gee’s Australian Media Guide. These sites provide an online database of contact information for media professionals.
Another alternative is to hire a PR agency because they have an extensive list of media contacts and know how to create a perfect media list.
Once you have created your media list you can start contacting journalists to gain coverage in the most appropriate media that will reach your target audience.
Want more tips? Download this FREE ebook:
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more PR tips see www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au.
Top 7 tips for developing story angles
We all know that getting coverage in the media is good for business. However knowing that and doing something about it are two very different things. Journalists get hundreds of stories across their desk each day. How do you know what makes a good story and how to make yours stand out over the others?
The experts can look at an organisation and find aspects that will make great stories the media will love. As a business owner you need to learn how to look at your business from an outsider’s point of view and decide what areas of your business others want to know about.
Take the time to research what topics your potential clients are interested in, and where they get their information from. There is no guarantee that when you send a story idea to a journalist they are going to run with it. However you have a much better chance if you go the extra mile - research every show or publication before you send your pitch, and give it a targeted, relevant, timely story.
Here are some tips that will help you develop those story ideas that will help promote your business right now:
Read the daily paper
This sounds really obvious, but get into the habit of reading newspaper (online or printed). Scan the headlines of each section and ask yourself, "What is in the news today that ties in with what I want to promote?"
Read your publications you want your story in
Reading through the publications you want to be featured in will give you a good idea about what angles they are looking for, and what sections they are have. Once you have figured out their agenda, you can either pitch in stories or write articles for the specific sections.
Use surveys to craft story ideas
The media views quantitative data as newsworthy, accurate, and sidebar-friendly. Launch a survey, or piggyback on survey results that relate to your industry to create a strong story. If you are launching your own survey ensure it has enough respondents to make it useable.
Listen to questions your clients and customers ask you
Are you suddenly hearing lots of people asking the same question? If you are on Twitter are you noticing a trending topic that relates to your business? A trend may be starting that you can tie into and make comment on to targeted journalists or blogs.
Read trade publications to spot industry trends
What is the buzz in your trade publications? Are their new developments in your field that you can provide comment on or develop in a story angle? Use your access to this information and expertise in your industry to shape a story. This is a great way of building profile within your industry and peers.
Give evergreen stories topical new hooks
Have you noticed that New Year’s resolution articles fill newspapers and magazines every January and tax tips abound in March? Editors always have a need for evergreen stories, but need fresh twists and hooks that are relevant to their audiences. A "top ten" list of tips is always welcome.
Create your own special day
Create a story angle by tying in with regular holidays or with a little-known but highly relevant holiday. You can even make up your own special day or week and get publicity for it. For example ING DIRECT launched Savings Week 2009 to link their bank with saving. Charities have days such as Jeans for Genes Day and the Cancer Council Daffodil Day.