Use These Three Key Ingredients to Make Your Story Newsworthy
While social media has become an increasingly popular way for people to get their news, traditional media is still considered the most trustworthy avenue for news coverage in the U.S. According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual trust and credibility survey conducted by Edelman Intelligence, 65 percent of Americans trust traditional media as a go-to source for information, while only 34 percent have that trust in social media – highlighting earned media’s staying power.
Listing the Ingredients
Whether it’s a story in a local, trade or national publication, positive news coverage can help an organization enhance its reputation and build an authentic connection with its target audiences – something we at SPRYTE Communications have an endless appetite for.
Similar to cooking, there isn’t one set method for earned media that guarantees coverage. However, we’ve found that most successful campaigns include a “recipe” for newsworthy stories that uses three key ingredients: a human-interest angle, connection to the community and compelling visuals.
Following the Recipe
One recent article we placed in a local newspaper, Lumina News , on behalf of client Griswold Home Care is an excellent example of how this “recipe” can help generate successful media coverage.
In the beginning of May, the home care franchise’s Wilmington, NC office awarded a grant to local nonprofit Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry (WARM) through the Jean Griswold Foundation’s new “Griswold Gives” program. We included each ingredient in our feature news release about the grant to grab the reporter’s attention:
- A human-interest angle – In the release, we detailed how WARM has helped low-income homeowners– many of whom are elderly and disabled – complete urgent home repairs and safety upgrades they couldn’t afford on their own. Stories about a person or organization working to solve issues that affect people’s everyday lives evoke an emotional response and keep people invested in reading more coverage – the ultimate goal for most publications.
- A connection to the local community – In addition to how WARM helps residents in-need, we also discussed how the Foundation’s grant will help WARM provide its home repair services to the many families whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Florence. By detailing how Griswold helped the nonprofit make an impact in the community, we made Griswold’s story more relevant for local readers and more enticing for local newspapers to cover.
- Compelling visuals – Along with the release, we sent a photo of some key members of both organizations at the grant presentation event. Including photos or video of people in any written content helps increase the level of reader engagement and build a sense of familiarity among the organizations’ target audiences.
Both earned media and cooking are more of an art than a science – there are many different strategies and tactics you can use to get a successful end result. However, this tried and true recipe for positive news coverage is an effective tool that can make almost any story a newsworthy one.