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Do you feel like your brand is in a news drought? Many clients approach us with the intention of creating some kind of brand awareness in a time where they don’t actually have much to say as far as news. It’s not easy to create news, but there are some creative ways that you can insert yourself and your brand into conversations that are just interesting enough to get you some coverage. Here are 5 effective ways to get into the news when you don’t have any.
1.Dig up Data
Everyone likes numbers and facts. Many companies are sitting on market research and data that is not only useful for their own business development, but also useful to the industry as a whole. Ask yourself, “what kind of data am I sitting on”? “What information or numbers do I have that would be interesting to others?”
Publishing little known data is a great way to create thought leadership on the industry and position yourself as a company that has information that other people want, a great thing for media. The key is to make sure that this is data people would actually be interested in.
2. Say something controversial
If you have a blog, use it as a pedestal to talk about controversial industry topics. We run tons of thought leadership programs through contributed articles. The key is to say something others won’t say. How much risk are you willing to take? The riskier it is, the more people are interested in what you have to say and why.
3. Talk about forward trends
Industry predictions, especially at the beginning and end of the year, are a great way to position your brand for the year and give the media and the industry your position on the issues of the upcoming year. In the same vein, in the end of the year roundups work just as well. Just remember to plan ahead. You probably don’t want to publish predictions past January and roundups past December.
4. Respond to other news
You don’t always have to be in the spotlight to create brand awareness. Having a regular pulse on the industry is a good way to do what we called rapid response. Monitoring what the big guys are saying and understanding the breadth of large announcements is a great way to piggy back and get mentioned off of news that isn’t yours. As long as you have a strong opinion, rapid response programs are a great way to quickly monitor industry news and then submitting your opinion as a follow up to media that you know may be writing about the trends/news. People are always looking for additional insights/thoughts/commentary on what’s happening in larger industry news.
5. Solve a problem
Last but not least, offering advice and contributions on how to solve a pain point is a great way to get coverage. This falls into the category of giving a little away for free in the hopes that readers will come back later to get more information from you. Being a thought leader is about giving out information that other people want, not typically about selling your business. If you have simple solutions that can be translated to a blog or applied to real world case studies. Write about that experience and publish it on your blog or an industry website. Readers will see you have the answers and come back to you for follow up.
As any industry coverage cycles come and go. Some months will be more press heavy than others and some months you’ll wonder if anyone knows you exist. As long as you consistently revisit your content distribution strategy you should be able to create a steady flow of content that can either be published by you or the media.
If you’re interested in other ways on building brand awareness and thought leadership, feel free to contact The Silver Telegram for a consultation.