7 Ways to check your story idea is newsworthy

The hardest thing about getting free publicity is coming up with a great story idea in the first place.

Creating press releases and selling the idea into journalists is a lot easier with a fantastic idea to drive their interest.

But you are probably so close to your business, it’s easy to mistake something you’re interested in as something that other people care about. This is why lots of businesses send out press releases about dull things like their latest office move… and they rarely get editorial coverage, because no-one outside of that business cares!

Don’t waste time writing press releases that will never be used by the media. Here are 7 easy ways to check your story idea is newsworthy:

1) Understand journalists and their audience

Every newspaper, magazine and radio station has a target audience. Every decision a journalist makes should be driven by that audience. Appeal to the audience and you appeal to the journalist.

To really understand the audience, go to their website and download the media pack. This is a load of information given to prospective advertisers, and will help you understand who they are aiming their content at.

2) Ring a journalist and ask

If you get your timing right, you can get a lot of useful help from journalists. They won’t want to know you on their deadline. But at a less stressful time, some journalists will happily advise if your story idea is worth you sending to them.

One journalist I know happily spends 20 minutes chatting to anyone who calls him, as he generates loads of interesting original stories from it – which ultimately makes him look great.

3) Ask people outside your business

Anyone closely involved in your business is no good to you, including your family. Tell your ideas to trusted colleagues in networking groups and see what their reaction is. Their initial reaction is the one to trust, anything else they say is just them being polite!

4) Steal ideas from businesses in other industries

Look through your target media - what stories do non-competing businesses in other industries seem to get regularly? How can those ideas be adapted to your business?

5) Steal ideas from other areas

See what stories competing businesses in other areas are getting, then steal them for your area! Use simple technology like RSS feeds and Google Alerts to easily track what’s happening in other areas.

6) Brainstorm regularly

Businesses change so quickly that new ideas can arrive every day. Get into the habit of doing a quick brainstorm for ideas regularly, rather than a tortuous long brainstorm infrequently.

7) Be brutal

Follow all of these methods and apply the So What? test to every idea you come up with. Then reject the dull ideas and move on. The quicker you reject ideas that aren’t up to scratch, the faster new better ideas will arrive. It’s almost like you need to clear your mind of the bad ideas to invite new ones in.

About The Author
Former journalist Paul Green is one of the UK's leading experts in getting free publicity, and using it to grow your business. www.publicityheaven.com