Did you know you can elevate your product, service, or brand through the power of free publicity? Imagine what it would do for your business if hundreds of thousands, even millions of people found out about you. This is easily done by offering the media a good story idea. Using the following Get PR Famous Formula, you will stand out with the media and become an asset to them. Do your homework and find out what your customers are reading and watching and then implement the formula to pitch those specific outlets.

Being newsworthy is as simple as outside of the box thinking. Here are some tips to create newsworthy story ideas:

Step 1 – Be Newsworthy

1) Take a national trend and bring it local. Follow the leaders in your industry and when they release data or a study, talk about what that means for your local market.

2) Niche what you do and pitch around that. Think of a target. The outer ring is your main industry. The middle ring is something you do a little differently than the broad outer ring. The red dot in the middle is the one thing you do differently than everyone else. Create a newsworthy story idea around what’s trending in your niche?

3) Sign up for Help a Reporter Out/HARO, www.HelpaReporter.com. This is a free media query service where media outlets are looking for sources and quotes for national magazine articles, television shows, newspapers, and blogs.

*I’ve appeared in over 1000 media outlets, many from HARO. Get my free guide for successfully responding to HARO at, www.FreeGiftFromChristina.com.

Step 2 – Create Great Hooks

The hook is your subject line. It’s how you get the journalist to read your newsworthy email pitch. A hook is as simple as what you see on a magazine cover. People are paid a lot of money to get you to make a $5.00 impulse purchase in the grocery store check-out line based on the “hooks” you see on the magazine cover. My favorite is AARP Magazine. Just Google, “AARP magazine covers” and see what’s there. Do the same for any publication you know your ideal customer reads and see what the magazine is using for hooks. Then, just modify the hook and plug and play your newsworthy story idea into it and you’re one step closer to success!

Step 3 – Find the Right Journalist

This step is vital because you don’t want to send your business story to the food editor. People are always amazed at how frequently I get on television and in magazines and newspapers. It’s all about finding the right person to pitch. I’m always asked how I do it. Here is my top-secret resource for finding journalists…. It’s Google. Google is a question search engine, “Who writes about [industry] for [name of publication].” Locally, you’ll usually get their name, email, and phone number all in one search. Nationally can sometimes take a page or two of digging but they will be there. Another great resource I use is Rocket Reach, www.RocketReach.co. Their database is tied to LinkedIn so if your journalist is on LinkedIn, you can get their email address. Give Rocket Reach a try if you can’t find them on Google.

By putting these three steps in place when pitching the media, you will be light years ahead of your competition and you will stand out to journalists. The more you pitch, the more you are seen as a valuable resource and it won’t be long before the media is reaching out to you for quotes about the real estate market.

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2019 issue of CHOICES Magazine