The earned media sauce

The reality of getting media attention boils down to the simple fact that the stories journalists write are focused on driving traffic and clicks. Thus earning ad revenue.

This is no different from your average blogger's goal. The main difference is the 'prestige' that a media outlet carries therefore they have to maintain a level of professionalism as well as maintain an angle that will drive discussion, in most cases it is preferable to drive heated debates.

It is easy to get cheesed off at journalists for ignoring you or not running your story about a new company you have launched but unless you have chunky funding to announce or achieve something that will drive interest, you are very unlikely to get your company in the press.

The earned media 'sauce' contains just the right amount of data, creativity, expertise, and polarization that creates debate and ultimately clicks.

Data
This does not have to be just internal data. This can be publically available data that can be found amongst consensus information that most people are not willing to go through.

https://data.gov/ & https://www.data.gov.uk/ are great examples of having vast amounts of data to play with.

Alternative data sources can also provide opportunities to develop content that drives interest based on current trends or what is hot in the news.

This can include: purchase data, data scrapping or just about anything that can be found here https://datarade.ai/

Creativity
To make something interesting out of the above data, you need to be able to have the creativity to develop content, tools, or stories that will get people's interest.

It takes a lot of creativity to be able to brainstorm ideas on how you can develop content around consensus data mixed with financial information and a sprinkle of consumer spending data.

However, if you are able to transform all of that into trends, reports, and topics then you stand a chance of getting picked up. Ranking a town or favorite chocolate bar based on a social media poll (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-4124874/The-nation-s-favourite-chocolate-bar-revealed.html) is likely to get coverage if there is decent data behind it.

Expertise
You will find that having a certain level of expertise will inevitably make you more creative with industry data or even data wrangling. This is why it is important to get the experts in on the content ideation early. They can suggest ideas and angles that you may never have thought of.

Also, it provides you with the opportunity to become a go-to source for future comments when the journalist needs industry insight. No hunting down ideas or creating brainstorms, just providing insight is all that would be required.

Excitement
Unfortunately, a new X for Y company is not exciting. Most fall flat on their promises and it's just not in the journalist's interest to write about every single new company that comes out of the woodwork.

You need tangible results or actions that drive excitement. This is incredibly hard to do without being flush with cash or creative. So this will be the hardest of the 'sauce' ingredients to obtain but when you do, it can drive plenty of coverage.

Just remember as founder or business owner your excitement is very narrow and channeled to your success. Think about the industry as a whole and what your achievement has accomplished for it and what it means in the long term.

Below are some great examples of coverage that caters to at least 3 of the 4 requirements for the 'sauce'

Hydrologiq took part in what is potentially the “world’s first” hydrogen-powered film shoot for Toyota.
https://www.h2-view.com/story/hydrologiq-powers-light-projection-event-for-toyota-using-hydrogen-generators/2108442.article/

Cheapest West End theatre shows revealed with some tickets under £30 for hit musicals
https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/cheapest-west-end-theatre-tickets-28923233

New Ranking Names the Best and Worst Cities for a Bachelor Party in 2024
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/new-ranking-names-the-best-and-worst-cities-for-a-bachelor-party-in-2024/

Need a coffee alternative? Check out these 5 expert-backed substitutes
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