Top tips for making a newsworthy story
Cutting through the noise of today’s media can be a challenge when looking to gain exposure 
for your story. So how can you capture the interest of your audience? What makes a story worth covering and what can you do to make your story more newsworthy?
To increase the newsworthiness of your writing, there are a few key elements that should be considered when crafting your story.
Knowing your audience
It is important to always make sure you know who your audience is before you get writing. Knowing what your target audience is talking about and what content they are engaging in, will best equip you in capturing their interest.
This information will help you identify what topics and issues will be of most interest and what publications you will find success pitching to. Say your audience are women aged 25 – 40, seeking advice on health, relationships and wellbeing. From here you can identify a variety of publications where your story has the best chance of being picked up. For example, if your story focuses on nutrition tips for mental health, you can identify such as Women’s Health and Woman’s Weekly.
Keep your story current
In the competitive industry of journalism, timing is a key component of creating a newsworthy story. Always be aware of what’s going on in the media and take advantage of stories that are receiving heavy coverage in the media. Breaking news stories, latest trends and current affairs are more likely to capture your audience’s attention and can be a great source of newsworthy inspiration.
Including a local angle
Consider where your story took place and who it impacts. Your audience is much more likely to be interested in stories of close proximity and relevance. Leveraging a local angle to your story is a great way to increase newsworthiness and ensure your story resonates with readers.
For example, you are to write a piece on an art exhibition that is being held in the local area. The nature of this story lends itself to local media, and is more likely to gain coverage in local publications, newsletters and magazines.
Appealing to human interest
Finding an element of human interest in your story allows you to appeal with audiences through emotion. By evoking an emotional response in the reader, these stories are often a great way gain coverage in the media.
Who you should and shouldn’t be pitching to are a big part of creating a newsworthy story. Consider a story following wild life volunteers on a mission to save orphaned animals. A story of this nature would likely gain coverage in a publication like ABC News or publications interested in animal rights. Keeping an eye out on stories already out in the media is a great way to get a feel for the type of stories certain publications are likely to publish.
Who are the key players?
Prominence of those involved greatly attribute towards how newsworthy your story is. While not all stories may involve leading celebrities or politicians, find out who the key players of your story are and use them to evoke interest.
Media and social media monitoring
Keeping an eye on conversations in the media and social media is a valuable tool when creating newsworthy stories. Proactive media and social media monitoring not only keeps you up to date, but will also help you identify what stories work.
With our audiences bombarded daily with new information and content, it is crucial to use these newsworthy angles to strike interest in the reader, setting yourself above this noise. Always consider these elements when approaching your story, as they are tools that will enable your writing to be both newsworthy and of greater value to your audience.
Want to start building your own PR strategy? Download this FREE Public Relations Strategy Checklist:
Sydney Social Media and Public Relations Agency, CP Communications blends cutting edge offline and online PR and social media to help you gain a competitive advantage. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au.