By John Alexander
News is similar to photography in the same
sense that you can achieve some great results based
on your original angle, vantage point or your viewpoint.
Here are a few simple tips to help you brainstorm
for your own new, fresh, original angles for news:
1. Consider approaching your news story from
a reverse approach to what others are doing.
This reminds me of a photo I recently saw taken by
a photographer grabbing a photo of the winner of a
thirteen million dollar lottery ticket. The photo
was snapped, by a smart photographer from behind the
winner who was posing in front of a bunch of other
photographers holding an inflated replica of the 13
million dollar lottery prize check. Most of the photographers
were all huddled together all taking exactly the same
posed photo of the man holding the big check.
But the smart photographer was taking the photo from
the rear of the winner and in his foreground, stood
the little boy (the son of the winner) who was holding
the REAL check for $13,000,000 dollars. If the smart
photographer had not of thought of this original angle,
he would have ended up standing with the rest of the
photographers and grabbing the very same photo as
everyone else. As a result, it was the smart photographer's
photo that was published on the front page.
It is no different when you are working up your new
story angles. You always want to consider a different
approach than what someone else is doing. You want
your story to stand out amongst the rest. Many times,
it is just a case of remembering this simple tip that
will give you an advantage. So many times we get so
wrapped up in what our competitor is doing, we seem
to forget the power and impact of taking a reverse
or opposite approach. Learn how to tell your average
story from a different and more interesting perspective
than everyone else and your stories will stand out
to the eyes of editors and publishers.
2. Consider building your news story over
several installments or over a period of time instead
of all at once.
Working with creating several press releases over
a period of time can sometimes pack much more punch
that telling the story all in one release. The idea
here is to literally report on an event or happening
with several stories over time as opposed to writing
one story afterwards. Remember that just by its nature,
news is very fresh and constantly changing. It tends
to produce traffic spikes of exposure, so there could
be huge potential in following a story with a new
release each and every day reporting on the latest
developments.
3: Watch for ways to expand on your story
and make it appeal to a much larger audience.
One of the examples I like to give students from
personal experience, was when I was writing my original
story about an early promotion I was doing for a community
based Web site. The original story explained how the
Main Street shops were once the hub of the city. In
the early days, before the huge shopping malls, most
stores and offices operated from a location on Main
Street. Even the Mayor and Town counsel operated from
their Town Office on Main Street.
Nowadays, the shops and stores on Main Street lose
business to the big super malls. Will these business
owners be forced to close or go out of business because
they can't compete with the Malls. After all, everyone
flocks to the malls to shop. The purpose of the community
Web site I had developed at the time, was to use the
Internet as a way to help the small businesses compete
against the big ones.
Now in this example, the story had some human interest
and was perhaps enough to create a newsworthy story
for a small town paper, but it was not a "big
enough story" to grab any major exposure. So
what was the angle or solution to make the story relate
to more people?
Actually, it was just realizing that the issue had
a much higher interest capacity than just my own town.
There was the angle starring me right in the face.
All we had to do to get much wider appeal and much
wider exposure was to mildly re-write the story, to
explain that this dilemma was NOT just about one little
town or city, but actually this scenario is being
played out in every small town across the country!
How well did the press release do? It was picked
up and published along with my photo in a nice full
feature story in the small business congress section
of a major Toronto newspaper.
Tip: Always take some time to review your
news story "angle" to see if you can get
a much wider appeal.
3. Watch for little ways to vary your approach
to something common.
Even something as common as an interview could be
stepped up for higher impact. Suppose you were to
line up a news story around an interesting interview
with a well known industry authority.
What would happen if you attached a media clip of
the actual interview to the press release. Perhaps
only include a portion of the interview so that the
listener could choose to download and listen in to.
4. Don't forget to tie your news into your
Blog sometimes too.
Nothing is more suited to news and updates on news
stories than bringing people to your Blog where the
readers can respond. Blogging works great with short
news updates that are posted frequently. Blogging
on a recent big event with lots of fresh posts that
ideally have the blog located on your own Web site.
Let your readers participate with their comments or
feedback. Also see Robin Nobles article on Blogs with
a Purpose.
5. How does the information you have posted
on your Web site (above the fold) relate to your news
story?
Is there anything you could add to your home page
that relates to current news? You may want to add
something in (above the fold) since your press release
through PRweb.com actually displays your Web page
in a frame within the press release.
6. Don't forget to send your press releases
out through traditional methods too.
One of the biggest challenges I see with new students
is that they are often somewhat prejudice against
their own work. They overlook sending our their news
stories every where they should. What about building
yourself a list of news and media outlets that you
can use over and over again? Don't forget radio stations
and even the other smaller newspapers as well as the
bigger ones. You never know who will publish your
stories so create as wide a distribution channel as
you can.
7. As a crafter of news stories, research
all of the markets where you could make a difference.
Try using Wordtracker's short term Top 1000 report
which will sometimes reflect trends that are occurring
within the last 24 hours. Also remember to watch for
higher volume keywords that relate to your story.
You want keywords that accurately reflect what your
topic is about but you also want terms with higher
popularity. Try using Wordtracker's newest keyword
research tool in the members area.
8. Try focusing on creating your story ideas
first.
If you are having difficulty getting started, try
coming up with a list of Titles for stories first.
Once you begin getting on a roll brainstorming for
the right topics, it'll be easier to write the story
itself. Remember that sometimes your best stories
will only really be born as you begin the writing
process and create them. By focusing on Titles first
and brainstorming for related keywords you will expand
your idea list much more quickly than just writing
story at a time.
9. If you are working on news story ideas
for your own business - keep yourself apprised of
larger real world news stories and events that may
be developing within your related industry organizations.
If for instance there is a breaking news happening
within your industry, you need to always watch for
opportunities to tie into bigger stories. How do other
industry related stories affect your business? Certain
conditions that result from events that are happening
within your industry news, could very well apply to
help along a current story that you might already
be working on, but you need to be aware of what's
happening. Do you subscribe to any news wire services?
10. Develop each story to it's maximum potential
and allow yourself at least 24 hours of review time
when possible.
