How to Get Your Story on the News: 4 Steps to Generating Quality Media Coverage

There’s no question that getting your brand or business’ story on the news – be it on broadcast, in print or online - is a sure-fire way of getting noticed. It's a powerful way to communicate your key messages, build credibility, and reach a nationwide audience.

But due to the rapidly evolving digital media landscape and the sheer abundance of news stories out there, it can be a minefield to even know where to start, let alone get yours noticed by a journalist.

The reality is, it's not simply about having a good story; it's about understanding how the news industry works and where your story best sits to garner the attention that you want. There’s a lot to consider and a lot to plan for. Getting your story on the news is rarely a one-size-fits-all approach and requires careful thinking, planning and tailoring to the outlet(s) you’re speaking to.

They say all PR is good PR… but the reality is, if it doesn’t help to shift the needle, then it can be a lot of effort that yields few results.

We’ve been placing news stories here at Visible PR for decades. Some of us started before social media and online formats even existed, while many of us have grown up in the digital fight for eyeballs. But the reality is, we all know what MAKES a good news story and how to get it in the right places.

So here are our top tips to help get your story on the news and secure the press attention you really want.

1. Be critical and ask yourself: Is Your Story Truly Newsworthy?

Before you even think about contacting a journalist, you must critically evaluate your story through the lens of a news editor. Journalists receive hundreds of media pitches every day and the chances are, you’ll need to sell them your story in a single email in order to even get a look in. They look for specific elements that make a story "newsworthy" – so making sure you deliver those news value criteria within the first few lines of your pitch is crucial to a successful pitch.

• What is the people or public impact? - Look at any news outlet and you’ll soon discover that all stories that make it have some people impact at their core. So, consider; who does your story affect, how many does it affect and how does it affect them?

• Relevance: Why does your story matter now? - Another big question to ask yourself is ‘why would a news editor run this story today?’ It may come as no surprise that breaking news or stories linked to current affairs are always prioritised. So how can you make your story relevant to what’s happening in the world at the time. Is there an ongoing debate, discussion or cultural issue it relates to? Or maybe a business or cultural trend it ties into? Nailing the relevance of your story and highlighting that right at the top of your pitch is paramount if you want it to run

• What can you offer to create added news value to your story? – Perhaps you have a relevant and well-known spokesperson that can provide comment or commentary for your story, or perhaps you can cite other prominent organisations or brands in your pitch? Recognisable names can really boost a story’s appeal, so even if you’re a startup business that people won’t instantly recognise, involving people or brands who do have public prominence can help you win in the news room fight for press coverage

• Is your story novel or a bit… odd? – It’s not always a given, but as a general rule, if your story is unusual, unique, or unexpected, then that can be enough to capture media attention? The most recent example we loved was the bears escaping from Exeter Zoo to eat all the honey stored at the tuck shop – it was on every mainstream news channel in the UK! It’s bears, it’s bears eating honey… what’s not to love?!

The moral of this first point - by critically assessing your story against these newsworthy characteristics, you can refine your angle, where and who you’re pitching to and significantly increase your chances at getting media coverage.

2. Be Strategic with your Media Outreach: Identifying the Right News Outlets & Journalists

A shotgun approach rarely works in media relations. Sending your news story to every general "news desk" email is, in short, pretty much a waste of your time. Before we even start a news sell in at Visible, we always do a good bit of groundwork first. It’s called having a PR strategy – and it’s about knowing where and to who you are going to pitch a story before you’ve even written the email or picked up the phone.

• Do your research: You can of course just download a media list straight from a portal and fire out emails to everyone on it – it could work, but it rarely does. Instead, invest time in researching publications and journalists that regularly cover topics similar to yours. Look at what they write, how they write it, and whether it’s likely they’ll ask you for things like imagery, video, spokespeople or stats. That way, you can pre-prepare everything which will be music to their ears

• Understand time frames and the best time to pitch: If you’re pitching to a national news desk, then you ideally want to get your story to land on their desks by no later than 8am that day. It used to be that if a story ran online then it probably wouldn’t be covered in print the next day – thankfully those days are gone. So don’t wait just because you’re concerned it’ll go online first – you’ll almost certainly miss next day print deadlines if you wait. Sometimes it can be useful to start pitching a little earlier. Broadcast news desks for example tend to work a little further in advance but the main news stories will still be decided on the day of. It very much depends what shows you’re pitching to, so as part of your research, give the planning desks a call and ask for their advice for specific shows – they’re often happy to help

• Aim for the right audience: Think about this from your side too. Who do you want to read this story and what do you want them to think, feel or do when they have read it. If the answer is say ‘I want people to consider buying more of my crisps at Tesco’ then you want to hit consumer titles. If it’s ‘I want to attract potential investors to my business’ then its trade titles for you. 

3. Crafting Your News Pitch: Email Strategies for Media Coverage

Since most news desks are too busy these days to take repeated calls from PRs and businesses with stories, an email pitch is your most crucial tool for initial outreach. It needs to be compelling and concise enough to grab a journalist's attention before they delete and move onto the next one. Nailing this in the first few lines is crucial. You will need:

• A Compelling Subject Line: Picture the headline of your story if it ran – this is how important your subject line is. But don’t try to be too clever. Deliver the key facts in a clear way and leave the headline to the journalist. If it’s an exclusive, begin with ‘EXCLUSIVE’. If it’s an interview say ‘INTERVIEW’

• Personalize Your Pitch: Always address the journalist by their name and try, if you can, to reference a specific article they wrote or a topic they've covered to demonstrate that you're familiar with their work and believe your story is a good fit for them and their readers.

• Be Concise and to the Point: We’ve covered how tight journalists are on time, so go straight to the news. The first one or two sentences should get the most important information across straight away and use bullets to convey stats and key info. Make sure you state what assets and spokespeople you have available. Your news pitch needs to be scannable with everything they need to say ‘YES’

• The "Who, What, When, Where, Why, How": Your initial paragraphs should quickly answer these fundamental questions about your news story.

• Highlight the relevance and why to run this now: Clearly outline why your story matters to their audience in this moment. How is it relevant to what’s happening in the world and what fresh or unique viewpoint does it offer that hasn’t been told before.

• If you have a press release, include it in the body of the email: This should be directly underneath your pitch and expand on the key points you’ve highlighted above. It’ll be where journalists go for more information, but only if you’ve captured their interest with the pitch above

• Invite them to continue the conversation with you: Conclude with a clear call to action and let them know how they can get in touch with you to discuss the story further

• Final warning – if there’s an embargo, declare it openly: If for any reason your story isn’t for immediate release, always state this in the upfront. Embargos can be risky – especially given the rate at which news comes and goes. Sometimes it’s simply better to wait until nearer the time to issue a release, but if you’re looking to land an exclusive with a single outlet, then they can work around embargos if they need to

4. Building Media Relationships for the long game

Unless you’re placing a story as a one-off, connecting with and getting to know the journalists that matter to you and your business is crucially important for the long game. Building lasting relationships with news professionals will mean you can return to them with stories in the future and stand a much better chance of getting media coverage again. A few tips from us are:

• Say Thank You: If a journalist covers your story, send a thank you email. It goes a long way when you’re trying to foster long term, positive media relationships.

• Be a Resource: If you or your business has specific expertise relevant to that journalist, offer yourself as a reliable source for future stories. It helps to build credibility and they’ll almost certainly call on you for other coverage opportunities later down the line

• Respect their Time and Deadlines: If a journalist contacts you in search of comment or stats, respond as soon as you can, even if you have to send an initial acknowledgement and holding note. Get them as much of what they need as you can and again, they’ll see you as a trusted resource

• Get to know journalists by Meeting Up: Everyone is busy, but if you can, try to get a journalist out for a coffee or lunch. It’s good to put faces to names on email and you’ll learn lots more valuable information from them that will help improve your news pitches in the future

Need an expert hand in your news story? Drop us a line at lara.leventhall@visiblepr.co.uk and we’ll help you shape and land your pitch where it matters.