If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us one thing, it’s that the news cycle is hectic, unpredictable and – occasionally – downright ridiculous. It really has never been more important to take a good step back prior to finalising a story creative to ensure you’ve got all the right ingredients for a strong and relevant broadcast story.
And always, always have a backup plan in terms of dates and storyline in case news breaks that derails your original story.
The following is a quick snapshot guide to how we go about planning and executing stories across broadcast media, but if you have any questions, please get in touch – we’re at BroadcastUK@4media-group.com
What, Why, Who?
What are you trying to communicate, why should people care, and who do you want to target with your message?
Insight, Insight, Insight!
Most of the time, it is extremely important to have insights to back up your story, and this can either be via internal stats, or by using consumer research (link to the survey story post for SEO).
Do you have a timely hook?
Think carefully about when to launch your story. Sometimes a traditional calendar hook can be a mistake as every brand in your sector could be looking to land coverage on that very same day. Instead, get creative with your story, research and spokesperson to make a story hook of your own.
Make sure you’re telling an interesting story – and not just to the brand!
Even a business story needs to be interesting to a general consumer. Think carefully about why the public (and therefore a producer) should care about your story. If you need a hand, we’re always happy to brainstorm with you.
An interesting story could come in many forms – it could be promoting a new, groundbreaking development in tech; it could be telling the world about your company’s eco or CSR ambitions; it could even be announcing a flurry of new jobs your company is bringing to UK towns. More light-hearted stories we’ve worked on lately include promoting new recipe ranges for food box brands, launching children’s books for leading publishers and showing Brits how to look after their gardens fronted by a nature presenter.
Put simply, this is the Covid-equivalent of the ‘water cooler moment’ that sticks in your mind throughout the day and really makes you think, laugh or react in another way. When planning a story, take a step back and ask yourself: ‘Is this something YOU would want to stop and listen to? Can you see yourself telling your mates about it in the pub and them being truly interested in what you’re saying?
Case studies and talent (see below) can also help to humanise a story, make it feel relevant to them as an individual and help the listener or viewer understand the impact your story has in the real world.
Unfortunately, you can’t just put out a story about how great a brand is… it simply won’t get picked up unless you pay for an advert, and it also wouldn’t resonate with your audience – increasingly, consumers are finding respect and admiration for brands that both talk the talk and walk the walk – make sure your story fits with your brand ethos and looks at something people will care about and you’re onto a winner.
How relevant are your spokespeople?
This is especially key lately as the bar is really high for stories and spokespeople. If you’re using a celebrity, make sure they are relevant and known by the wider public for loving or doing the thing you want to talk about it. Generally speaking, social media influencers don’t work as standalone spokespeople, but they can occasionally work as case studies.
For business stories, a C-suite executive is always the best option wherever possible as there is a LOT of competition out there.
Our contacts at Sky in particular love stories where there’s an interesting backdrop – so if you’re chatting about creating new jobs in your factory, have that factory in the background – broadcasters have seen far too many white bedroom-office walls over the past few years!
Do you have a well-written advisory?
Put simply, this should consist of a short, snappy headline followed by three key statistics or messages as bullet points and the details of your spokesperson… then into the story copy itself.
Broadcasters don’t need quotes in the copy (you can outline what your spokesperson will say in your pitch email), and this can be more conversational in structure and language than a traditional press release. It is, after all, to get producers interested in having that conversation.
We can also include 3-5 suggested questions at the end to guide stations as to the points you might want to get across.
Have you media-tested your talent and idea?
A lesson concreted during the pandemic – as amazing as your idea is, if tied to a calendar hook there’s always a chance that another brand has got there first. To remedy this, pitch as far out as possible (we find 5 days is a good minimum but the more notice the better, especially for national media outlets) and chat to a few close contacts before locking in your creative and talent to ensure you’re appealing to the outlets you really want to secure.
We chat to media every single day and have a great network of close quality contacts to call on for advice.
Be nimble in your execution!
There’s more breaking news now than ever before in most of our PR careers, and we suspect it may get worse before it gets better. Flexibility with spokespeople for dates is always appreciated, and it’s a great idea to have a backup angle in mind.