When Preparing 2017 PR Plans, Know What’s Actually Newsworthy

Lots of companies do or accomplish many good things every day. Some of them are nice internal efforts or achievements, some involve new initiatives for the organization, and some stuff has a real impact on the community that the organization serves.

There is a time and place for all this news to be shared, but not all of it will make the cut for your daily or weekly newspaper, or the evening television newscast. So, when your public relations or marketing team is preparing a 2017 PR plan, make sure you know what’s really “newsworthy.”

Certainly, be sure to share all your accomplishments — no matter how large or small — internally, within the organization. But being more selective with what you issue in news releases and media alerts will help to improve your media coverage. This is the skill that journalists, editors, and news directors love to see in the organizations they cover — knowing what’s newsworthy.

If your company has hired or promoted someone, most publications have a “People News” or “Company News” section for which you can submit basic information (usually limited to 2-3 sentences) and a photo. Unless you have a new CEO, the media probably won’t run any more than this. If you’ve started doing something that’s new for your organization, but others in your industry already do it, too, then it’s not newsworthy to anyone other than your internal staff and your directly affected audiences like customers. But if you have something new to announce (or a truly significant update on an annual or year-round initiative) that will impact the audience that the news outlet reaches, then you might have something newsworthy.

It’s not always an “all-or-nothing” deal, either. If you have a major financial achievement or receive an industry award, for example, consider targeting your news toward local business media, as opposed to all the general news outlets. 

No matter which media outlets you’re contacting, it is basic etiquette to know what they’ve covered recently. If they just did a story on a similar topic, following up with your story isn’t helpful to them — in fact, that’s the worst time to share it.

When you’re on the inside of an organization, it’s not always easy to be able to decipher what the outside world would consider to be newsworthy. You believe in the mission of your company, and you’re proud of everything that your team accomplishes. That’s why it’s helpful to have an external, objective opinion when building your strategy for sharing good news.

No matter how you get there, finding a way to deliver more of the newsworthy content that your local media wants — and less of what they don’t want — will have a big impact on your relationship with these journalists, and on the news coverage your company receives.

Are you being heard?

Crystal DeStefano is president and director of public relations at Strategic Communications, LLC, which says it provides trusted counsel for public relations, including media relations, employee relations, and community relations. Contact DeStefano at Crystal@stratcomllc.com