What's Newsworthy
Before you begin to develop the materials for your announcement, you need to determine the news value associated with it. There are a number of questions you need to ask yourself - the same questions the media will be asking themselves once they receive your news:
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Is the story unique? Is your new business unusual in the way you present merchandise or deliver your product? Maybe it's a restaurant set on Mars in the 23rd century! That's unique and that's newsworthy. Or maybe it's not so far out; suppose all of the employees are visually impaired or all over the age of 65. Having a unique story to tell will give it an extra push when you try to sell the story to the media.
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Is the story timely? The timeliness of a story is important to the media. If the event is ongoing and has already started, chances are the media will not be interested. This is why it is important to understand and respect media deadlines. Even if you want the local business writer to do a general feature that spotlights the organization as a whole, the reporter will want some "hook" of news to hang his or her story on. It's important not to "pitch" a story to the media if you don't have an upcoming event, a recent change in your board of directors, a new initiative, a creative fund-raising function, or anything else that makes it of interest NOW.
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Is there a local angle? If you want the business writer at the Daily Herald to cover your new store opening in Lake Zurich, he will likely need a local element for his audience (and his editors). Perhaps one of the owners is from Mount Prospect or the surrounding area or maybe the products in the store are manufactured in Mount Prospect. Without a local element, focus your efforts on the travel editor instead.
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Is your story visual? Do you have an interesting new building to show? Do you have children or animals at your Grand Opening event? Print and television media like to tell stories with pictures. If you have someone very articulate, great dialog or interesting background sounds, be sure to get that information to the radio media as well.
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