Visitor Question:

“Where can I get ideas for press releases and press story ideas? Being creative isn’t really my strength and I know it’s important to be creative for things like PR. Any help you can offer would be great!”

–Jacqueline in Kansas City

Answer:

Hi Jacqueline, you are absolutely right about being creative. It’s pretty darn important when it comes to PR. Getting a reporter’s attention is a lot like dating. You’ve got to get noticed but you also must represent yourself as a trustworthy and reliable person. Combine this with the fact that reporters are getting courted all the time by professional PR people and other small business like yourself, and it can be pretty difficult to get noticed by a reporter - much less have someone actually write about you.

Tip: Check out the book Working with the Media for more great ideas on pitching reporters.

Don’t sweat, though. There are lots of ways you can make a reporter fall in love with you and your story in print, on television or even radio. I’ll stay on the dating theme. When you first get approached by someone, you don’t want them to be too forward, right? That’s a bit of a turnoff. You want someone to get your attention for all the right reasons, not all the wrong reasons. The same is true with reporters. They will be more responsive to your pitches and ideas if you don’t pitch them right away and all the time. Follow their stories and send them emails every now and them commenting on the stories. Share your thoughts. Give wonderful feedback. And even of your targeted reporter is located 5,000 miles away, the Internet makes it easy for you to track their stories.

Tip: Check out The Publicity Handbook to learn proven tactics of getting excellent PR.

But really pay attention to not only their stories but also read the newspaper from cover to cover. Believe it or not, even if you are in an industry like cars you may find great story ideas and angles by reading the food section. How is this possible? Well have you ever heard of tailgating at a football game? Guess what, you’ve just tied together cars and food, giving you a possible story idea to get a car story placed in a food section. Don’t limit yourself. Think freely. Every story you read think about your company and how it may be relevant to what’s going on in the news.

From politics to religion to technology to sports, there’s a good chance you’ll find story angles by reading about what’s going on in the world. The health care situation is in the news about reform. You run a vitamin store. I bet there’s a good chance you can whip up a story talking about how more people are taking vitamins because they can’t afford health insurance. All you have to do is make the connection between what you’re reading in the newspaper or in social media and what your company specializes in.

Lastly, don’t just read the newspaper for three days and then give up. Take 20 minutes out of each day to scan all the headlines of your local or a national paper like the USA Today, Wall Street Journal or New York Times. Would you believe it if I told you I read four newspapers cover to cover each and every day?

Tip: Download The PR Toolkit for more great ways to get PR for your company or draft press releases.

How do you get creative ideas for PR?