What makes a brand story newsworthy

We all have stories to tell and though we may find it interesting, your Brand Story needs to appeal to people who have no reason to love us. We’ve all faced these issues, and to overcome them, it requires the ability to put yourself in the perspective of the reader.

Startups or SMEs often have interesting stories, but lack the tools or knowledge on how to make it relevant to their audience and to the media. For the media to feature your brand, there needs to be a lot of factors in place, but the most important ones are as follows:

• It is relevant to their readers
• The journalist understands the value
• The story impacts enough people for the media to care

This article will highlight some key points about what makes a story newsworthy and how we can tailor our pitches.

Timeliness

This is critical, as brands needs to understand the news cycle and what is trending.

• If the news is relevant to what is the current trend or in the news now
• A story about ‘How to save water’ is relevant after the government announced an increase in water prices

In the time of a pandemic (COVID-19 pandemic), stories about new restaurants or flight abroad might not garner any interest.

Who’s affected

While your story angle might be relevant to a passionate, but small group of people, it might not be relevant to a major newspaper that needs to appeal to millions of readers.

• The number of people who will be affected by the story is often a key indicator of the story’s newsworthiness
• A food festival that is open to the public is much more newsworthy than a closed-door food tradeshow

Locality matters to the news

Global issues aside, rarely does a huge local story in another country garner significant press coverage outside of its borders. If, for example, as a brand you secure a partnership with one of the largest local brands in your home market – this news might be extensively covered in the news.

However, there will be little or no interest in the news outside of your home market if there is no relevance.

• Singapore-focused stories matter, so make your brand story relevant to the country you’re focused on
• Journalists in Singapore or Malaysia rarely care if the news doesn’t impact their home turf

Famous people matter

This one is pretty straightforward. Celebrities and well-known figures drive eye-balls and thus media are more likely to cover the story.

• If you have someone of prominence or celebrity status, use that as a hook
• If Joseph Schooling endorses your product, the media is likely to care more about it

Uniqueness can be a positive factor

Sometimes just being very different might be enough to garner some interest from the media. This however, does not guarantee sustainable coverage.

• If the story is unique or different, the media may be interested in covering it
• Often ‘Singapore’s first…’ or ‘The World’s first…’ garners media interest

If all else fails, there is always human interest

• Any story that evokes strong emotion may garner some media interest
• The media often devote some news space a week for interesting or offbeat news, so this may fall within that

Find out how to craft the perfect media invite.

Newsworthiness is often unique to each publication, but the list provides a good starting point to help you identify what makes a good story and how you can shape your story to fit as many of the criteria as possible.

To find out more about SYNC PR and how we can help you craft your brand story, contact us at [email protected].

The article has been updated 2 June 2020