As B2B PR specialists we believe that the best stories are ones that already exist internally within a company. As social media and audience engagement demands a more authentic approach to communications, ‘natural’ story telling is key to developing credibility and authority externally.
There is an excellent example of interesting and engaging natural PR in a recent edition of the Metro. Ticket website Viagogo revealed that tickets for Lady Gaga’s artRave tour are being sold on its site for less than a third of face value. The drop in price is due to supply outstripping demand. By comparison, Viagogo noted that demand for tickets for wild child Lindsey Lohan’s west end performance Speed The Plow were outstripping demand for Gaga tickets by 53%. Viagogo commented that unexpected rave reviews of Lohan’s performance along with the possibility that Gaga is losing her edge was the cause in the reversal of fortunes.
The story has everything required to be engaging and authentic – public interest, a quirky angle and the opportunity for the magazine/newspaper outlet to print eye catching pictures of Lohan and Gaga side by side. From a PR perspective, it cost Viagogo nothing. It was content that already existed internally – it just needed someone to find it and refine it in a nice human interest story. Oh, and it positioned Viagogo at the front end of the online ticketing market as a website with its fingers on the pulse of ticket pricing – great messaging.
