May is ‘National Share-A-Story Month’ (yes- that really exists!), and while it’s not aimed at the PR community, there’s a lesson we can learn from it. This year’s theme is ‘a place for stories’ and it aims to encourage storytelling from a variety of places. As a B2B PR agency, we’re always looking for different ways to tell the stories of our clients and make the most of all of the channels we have on offer to us to win coverage. So, if you think your business has a good story to tell, we have a good idea on how to go about it. But how do you know what channel is right for which story? Here are some options and some advice on when to use it:
Press release: The death of the press release is frequently spoken about in the PR world, but we still find ourselves getting good results from it. When your company is making an announcement, and you want to reach press far and wide with the news story, a press release is a good way to go. Once it’s written it then needs to be sent to your chosen publications’ news desk.
-Short pitch: There might be times when you want to respond to a hot topic that the media is currently reporting on, and by the time a press release is written and approved it will be too late to pitch something. A couple of paragraphs over an email, or a quick pitch over the phone, can help get you attention from journalists and not miss those windows of opportunity that don’t come around all that often.
–Blogs: Never underestimate the power of your clients’ blogs. Blogs are great ways to showcase your client as a thought leader in its sector and a big plus is that you’re in complete control of the content. With some carefully executed SEO activity, it’s not unheard of to get requests from the media for interviews or other information off the back of blogs.
-Social media: There are few publications that don’t manage social media platforms on a daily basis. PR pros should see this as an opportunity to pitch ideas over the likes of Twitter and not just rely on emails. It could be the place for you to get attention from those journalists that you find it impossible to get hold of!
So take National Share-A-Story Month as an opportune time to tell your business’ story, and provided you choose the right channel, you could see yourself scoring top coverage.
Alex Brown has just started his career at Skout PR and will be a regular contributor to the Skout blog.
