Crafting A Compelling Message For The Media
Just as much as you care about the media and the way they write about you and your company, the media cares about its readers and viewers. The more readers and viewers they get, the better their business will be. In a fast-changing world, readers and viewers will generally look to the media to find information about:
- Current events
- Trends
- What’s Happening Right Now
But more importantly, readers and viewers are concerned about how all of this information affects them.
Getting Your Message to be Seen
If you want to feature yourself or your company with a specific media outlet, knowing how to craft a compelling message is key. If you want to get your message out there and picked up by a local media outlet, ask yourself the following questions:
- What’s trending in your industry?
- How does your product or business fit into this trend?
- Are you part of creating the trend or are you building something because of the trend?
- What is it about your business or product that can help viewers or readers?
As you answer these questions, your message will become a lot more compelling. Remember, the media is interested in providing content for their audience, this means the topic has to resonate with their audience too. Now, let’s discuss three things you need to consider to make your message valuable-enough for the media to pick your idea up.
1. Reach
A great message is only as strong as its reach. You want to maximize your message’s shareability by ensuring the topic is sharable.
What makes a message shareable?
- Timing – Sometimes it truly comes down to the perfect timing. If you are crafting a message that is trending, your message will be more shareable.
- Engagement – When considering messages that will be shared on social media – engagement will be a huge determining factor of shareability. The more engagement your post has, the more it will be seen on social platforms. The more it is seen the more times it will likely get shared.
- Aligns With A Goal – Depending on the type of business or industry you’re in, consider the goal of the audience. What do they care about? Ensure your message aligns with their goals and what they care about for maximum sharability.
The more shareable the message, the greater the reach for both the media outlet and for you. It’s a win win.
2.Type of Content
Not only is the reach of your content determined by engagement and timing, but the type of content you create will also have an impact. When crafting your message for the media, consider the type of message you are creating.
According to psychologist, Jonah Berger, there are six different types of content that will give your message a maximum reach:
Social Currency – People want to share things that make them look good.
Triggers – People share things that are top of mind and are triggered by external factors
Emotion – People share things that they care about.
Public – People share things so they’re visible, so they’re always top of mind.
Practical Value – People share things that they consider useful
Stories – People share great stories.
These six different types of content can help you hone your message for the media. Remember, you want to craft a compelling message. A message that will get shared and have maximum reach. You also want to make sure that your content has value. Without value, the media most likely won’t be picking up your message for distribution.
3. Value
As you are crafting your message, be clear about the value people are going to get from it. Is your message the type of content that will make people look good? Or is it something that is deeper and will hit an emotional nerve?
- Is your message happy news?
- Is your message exciting news?
- Is your message a warning?
- Or perhaps your product is giving people a lot of value because it is new and innovative
Whatever it is, this should be part of your message planning process.
Creating value will help increase your chances of your idea getting picked up by the media. There are several reasons for this.
- You are helping them do their job – if you are creating content that is in their beat, you are helping the media do their job. This is one less article that they have to source themselves.
- You are adding value to their publication – the more shareable your message, the better it is for the publication, which means they will be more inclined to publish more of your messages
- Resources for their audience – Most publications are trying to serve their audience. They want to be the first place their audience goes for news and resources. If you are providing this type of content that can be a resource for the readers, that can be a huge asset.
By presenting your message in a way that is relevant and has high shareability, media outlets will likely find it valuable. Therefore, the chances of you getting covered and noticed are much higher.
Remember, you need the media to help spread your message, but they also need you too. So think about this as you craft your message and pitch to maximize the possibility of them picking up your idea or story up.
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