When I was a little bit younger (Ok, a great bit younger) and beginning to ponder work as a freelance writer, I had a conversation that opened my eyes about storytelling as a business. This more mature and experienced writer, who was always generous with her time, explained that for any article she wrote, she expected to find four or five outlets for it. Work smarter, not harder.
As a young journalist, I had cut my teeth at a small daily competing against a major metropolitan newspaper covering courts and crime. Production was the key. I prided myself on cranking out copy.
Finding and sharing new stories will always be a way to expand your public relations reach. An outlet that did not contact you about one story may find another story engaging. But what other strategies can you employ to expand communications reach without adding to your workload? Here are a few ideas:
- Post any story on your website and social platforms.
Whether a story is picked up by a media outlet or not, if you have written a story, you have content that should be posted on your website and shared on social media. Sharing stories on your website also creates more searchable content. Which leads to point #2.
- Optimize PR stories.
What are the keywords that describe your ministry or nonprofit? Those are the keywords you want to be associated with in searches on web browsers. Make sure to include those terms in press releases you post on your website. Also, if your story is picked up, then you get the added boost of the same content being searchable on an outlet’s website.
- Always include images.
Our eyes are drawn to pictures. Even if your content does not grab initial attention, your photo may do the trick. Pictures with faces are best, along with shots of people doing something—action, in other words.
- Always include your organization’s website.
If an outlet picks up your story as is, this will create a backlink between the outlet’s website and your website, which helps with SEO ranking. And anytime your website is posted in multiple other places on the Internet besides your own homepage, you increase the chances of a visitor stopping by.
- Send emails that include press stories.
Whether you are communicating with supporters, or trying to reach new ones, sending a media story on email lets people know that the good work you are doing is gaining the attention and the respect of the wider world. It will reinforce current stakeholders in their commitment and intrigue those who are thinking about getting on board.
- Send that story out again. And again.
Referring back to my freelance mentor, your storytelling efforts should be more than one and done. Storytelling about the core of what you do can be used and reused. For instance, a story I wrote over a year ago I have been able to share multiple times with the media, sometimes with a new lead or configured a little differently. The client has earned at least a dozen media placements from the same article.
Let Infinity Concepts help you craft and expand the storytelling that expresses your heart and shares how you are changing the world.
CLICK HERE or call us today at 724-733-1200.
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