How to Get Reporters to Chase Your News Story

Written by Rusty Cawley


Controversy isrepparttar secret ingredient that can turn your story from one thatrepparttar 124451 media ignore to one reporters want to own.

But controversy must be chosen wisely and carefully. Not just any controversy will do. You must pick a controversy that will serve you well.

To ignite a controversy, you must first point out a threat torepparttar 124452 public. Second, you must identifyrepparttar 124453 villain responsible for that threat. Third, you must position your company asrepparttar 124454 hero that opposesrepparttar 124455 threat andrepparttar 124456 villain.

All of this must be done subtly. The public must never see your company pullingrepparttar 124457 strings. If you appear to be setting up a straw man just to knock it down, you will lose credibility rather than gain it.

Let’s begin withrepparttar 124458 task of finding, isolating and identifying a risk torepparttar 124459 public. The place to start is with your product or service. What problem does it solve? Whom does it serve?

All business is a matter of solving a problem for someone. A plumber solvesrepparttar 124460 problems of leaking faucets and back-up sewers. A tax attorney solvesrepparttar 124461 problems of IRS audits and unsheltered income. A convenience store solvesrepparttar 124462 problem of needingrepparttar 124463 quick purchase of a quart of milk.

Every company solves at least one problem. Spend some time analyzingrepparttar 124464 problems your company solves every day. Make a list. Go overrepparttar 124465 list with your employees or co-workers. Uncover every problem or potential problem that your company can handle.

Beside each listed problem, listrepparttar 124466 categories of customers or clients that would use your service to solve these problems. Include not only current categories, but also categories you believe you should be reaching, but aren’t.

Don’t worry about going overboard. Later on, you can always scratch out any categories that don’t make sense.

For now, just brainstorm.

The next step is to weigh each of these identified problems as a true threat torepparttar 124467 public. We do this by asking ourselves three questions about each problem:

1. Is this a problem that will truly create an intense concern among our consumers?

2. Isrepparttar 124468 probability high – or, at least, moderate – thatrepparttar 124469 average consumer will face this problem at some time?

Why Reporters Like 'Bad' News

Written by Rusty Cawley


Whenever you deal withrepparttar news media, there is a primary rule that you must keep in mind at all times.

Call it Cawley’s Theorem of Media Relations:

1. All journalists secretly believe they will someday winrepparttar 124450 Pulitzer Prize.

2. No journalist ever wonrepparttar 124451 Pulitzer by writing nice things about American business.

Therefore: If a journalist finds out something negative about your company, expect to see it inrepparttar 124452 news.

So what’srepparttar 124453 point of this theorem?

Anytime you deal with a journalist – whether in person, online, by phone, by letter, in a media kit, whatever – realize you are dealing with a tiger.

The tiger may purr. The tiger may preen. The tiger may even run and jump and play. But ifrepparttar 124454 tiger smells fresh meat,repparttar 124455 tiger will feed.

No matter how friendly you become with a journalist, no matter how well an interview goes, no matter how warm and fuzzy you feel as you wait for a story to appear: Expect negatives.

The journalist’s job is not to make your company look good. The journalist’s job is to report an intriguing story that an editor will approve, an audience will read and – if possible – a prize committee will recognize with praise and trophies.

And nothing makes a story more intriguing than a big, fat, hairy, embarrassing negative.

Let’s put it this way: The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward didn’t become Bob Woodward by writing nice stories. He spentrepparttar 124456 early part of his career digging up as many embarrassing stories about government agencies and private companies as he could. He cut his teeth by revealing corporate greed and government waste.

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