SKC Insights

 

 

5 Reasons Journalists aren’t Giving Your Startup the Time of Day

Gaining media traction as a startup can be difficult. You approach a reporter at a trade show, but he gives you a blank stare and mutters, “Who are you again?” You write email after email, but they seemed to have fallen into an abyss of no return. This anonymity can be especially frightening against the fact that 90%of startups don’t make it. How can people buy your product or service if they don’t know you exist?!

If journalists are ignoring you now, here are 5 reasons why this might be happening.

 

1. Your Pitch Needs Work

Not getting any responses? It’s time to tweak your pitch. It may not have enough information, or too much. Or it may not be punchy enough. Even trying a new subject line could help stoke media interest. An email with the subject “Interview Offer: ‘Ending Cyber Attacks’” is much more intriguing than “Unknown Company X Requests Meeting.”

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Want Media at Your Event? 5 Hooks to Reel Them In!

Press coverage of your event amplifies your message and reaches many more people than just event attendees. Media coverage also builds positive brand visibility, credibility, and leads to increased revenues. But with shrinking newsrooms and journalists flooded with press invites every week, how do you ensure your event gets on their to-do list?

Besides genuine uniqueness and proximity to venue, here are ways to sweeten the pot (as they say) with catchy news angles:

1. Hype Up Superlatives

Is your event the biggest, first, or fanciest around? Play up the uniqueness of your event and pitch it as a hard news angle. When a new indie bookstore opened in 2016, they knew they needed a media boost to make a grand opening in the age of Amazon. By billing themselves as North America's only romance-focused bookstore, The Ripped Bodice celebrated their launch with stories in L.A. Weekly, Huffington Post, and Hollywood Reporter.

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8 Tips for Creating Newsworthy Content

 

 

"Sorry, that's not news." Have you ever stumbled when a journalist tells you what you have to offer isn't newsworthy enough? You gulp. Here you are, with an exciting piece of news or scintillating insight, ready to strut your stuff, but they decide "it's not newsworthy" and don't give you a clue on what makes them tick. 

Well, we can't generalize for all media, but in our many years of working with hundreds, if not thousands of them, we have developed a good sense of the types of news and information that companies can create and package to pique the media's interest, earn their trust, and get written up in their news stories.

Here are 8 tips for creating newsworthy content:

1. Dazzle with Facts & Figures

Journalists love hard data. And that's a fact! Shining the spotlight on facts and figures, preferably with announcements about reports that shed light on industry trends, can entice a reporter to write about your organization as part of a larger trend story or even lead them to creating news just on your content. Survey data works great. When ACUHO-I's Annual State of ResNet Report was published earlier this year, media outlets picked up the story based on the strength of the numbers and infographic provided. One outlet, Campus Technology, even used the report in not one, but two articles, drawing from various newsy aspects of the report to cover multiple angles.

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