I
have kept in the back of my mind a list of tips for when I write, especially
when I write news leads. One of the best tips I was given was asking myself "so what." It's so simple but seemingly so
often overlooked. I feel like this is one of the best ways to capture an audience’s
attention because it is something that actually applies to the lives of the
readers.
After
my first day in the class, I checked out the articles our instructor posted.
The focus of the second or third article I read was one from prsa explaining how to get a pitch
noticed when there is hard-hitting news dominating the scene. The example given
in the article is how hard it can be to get a soft news pitch noticed in an
election year. The tip the article gave was for pr professionals to align their pitch to an important,
current topic. An easy comparison right now would be health care issues.
Obviously a topic so highly read about would allow for a pitch with similar
information to also be more likely to get picked up.
The
article went a bit further to make its point. With so many other concerns about
today, I can see how it may be harder to get a soft news pitch through. The
article suggested telling readers how your company or product should help
alleviate concerns. This is where it clicked for me. I know how often the
marketing world and pr world bump
up against each other, but this makes perfect sense.
I
remember my first college marketing professor telling me people don’t buy drill
bits. People buy the holes they make. Well, I now see this same lesson
transferring over to the communication side of things. The company that makes
the drill bits recognizes the problem and offers a solution.
So
how does this connect to my "so what?" Asking "so what" is one of the best ways to
turn my writing into something readers actually will care about. The same topics being presented
day to day in the news are topics people care about. It only makes sense for
media pitches to connect to the topics readers will care about also.
Margo
Mateas. The media relations maven on pitching
in a tightnened news circle. pRSA.
May 9, 2008. Web.<http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/Tactics/Articles/view/7323/101/The_Media_Relations_Maven_on_pitching_in_a_tighten>
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