All good journalists are looking to tell a story that hasn’t been told before, so if your product has been in the marketplace for a while and widely covered, you’ll need to find a new headline and angle. Sometimes a new story comes about thanks to good timing, but other times, you’ll need to create a new story by looking inward towards data or customer testimonials, or outward by enlisting strategic partners such as organizations and influencers.
We have compiled some fast and easy ways to develop fresh storylines that will breathe new life into your product’s press campaign based on the key elements of storytelling. Once you’ve landed on your new headline, it’s time to start thinking about the next one. The key to staying relevant and building a deep relationship between the media and your brand is to keep a steady drumbeat of communication rolling out all year long.
Using Moments in Time to Freshen Up Your News
“Newness” is certainly one component of timeliness, but there are many other ways a story can fall into this category. Seasonal angles are one of the easiest ways to breathe life into an older product. Is your product perfect for Back to School or Outdoor Entertaining? Maybe it’s the perfect accessory for the latest Apple release, or it’s the only gadget you need to help you train for the NYC Marathon. Then, there are moments in time that are based on trends in the news cycle – think the summer of Pokémon Go, or the STEAM movement. Keeping your finger on the pulse of hot trends in the press gives you a world of relevant, timely stories that you can use to news-jack for your own headlines.
Diving Deep to Tell a New Story
Sometimes time isn’t on your side, and you’ll need to develop a storyline unattached to moments in time. There are typically three places to look to find new stories relative to your product and brand: your consumers, your data and your partners. Work with sales and customer service teams to unearth compelling stories about how people are using the product in newsworthy ways. Package this up into customer testimonials or case studies and share it with the press as a human-interest story. Data can also reveal a multitude of storylines such as geographic and gender-specific headlines that can help you reach new audiences. Finally, if you’re still searching for a new headline, look outward to partners or potential partners. Teaming up with organizations and influencers can put your mission into practice and help you tell a story about how your products are being used on a grander, more impactful scale.
Whether you’re developing timely angles, or coming up with completely new storylines, be sure to keep these key elements of storytelling top of mind when developing new headlines: importance, prominence, human interest, conflict, timeliness, proximity, magnitude, relevance, unusualness and change. Finally, remember that the more storylines you and your communications team develop, the more touchpoints you’ll have with the media throughout the year, which will ultimately lead to a deeper and more meaningful relationship between your brand and the press.
