How do you identify great stories in your business? Well, you’re about to find out.

Fortunately, it’s not as hard as you might think to find the story in your business, you just need to know where to look and have a clear understanding of how to determine newsworthiness.

Once you do that you’ll have plenty of stories to pitch to the media, online publications and podcasts. 

Later in the blog, I’ll also be sharing my Sellable StoryFinder Template so you can get started immediately.

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How to find stories in your business: 3 tips for guaranteed PR exposure

Since you’re reading this blog article, it’s safe to assume you have a good idea of how valuable free publicity is. 

The kind you get when your story is featured in the media, in online publications, in podcasts and in videos. 

This media or public relations coverage is invaluable, not just because of the thousands of dollars of free publicity you get, but also because it gives you credibility that paid advertising can’t buy. 

It’s a third-party endorsement, and people believe it far more than what you claim in your social media ads or on your website.

But how do you get these elusive opportunities? Well, that’s where I can help. 

As a former television news journalist and producer for more than 15 years, I have a deep understanding of what makes a good story, and I’m here to help you find more of them in your business.

So, let’s get started finding what I like to call your ‘sellable stories’.  

If you’re rusty or unfamiliar with the 8 news values you need to look for to find your sellable or newsworthy stories, make sure you read my blog article or listen to the podcast.

It’s super important that you’re familiar with what a news story is and the concept of newsworthiness when you’re pitching stories and looking for stories in your business.

This will ensure that your media pitch and media release aren’t ignored or deleted.

How to find the story in your business

Tip 1: Find stories in your products and services

There’s so much opportunity to tell great stories through what you do and what you sell.

Ask yourself the following questions.

What’s different about what you’re offering?

• How do you make your product or deliver your service?
• Are you about to launch a new product or service that changes or shakes up how things are done?
• What improvements have you made for the end-user? What benefits do they gain from your offerings?
• Do you have innovations that are an industry first? Or is it a first in Australia or the world?

What are the trends?

• Are there trends within your business and why is this happening? 
• Is there a sudden interest in a specific product or service?
• Look for industry-wide trends such as growth, cutbacks, or an unexpected evolution that you could comment on.
• Has new technology come out that will change how you do business?
• Look at trending news (otherwise known as ‘newsjacking’). How can you link yourself to popular topics in the media and what’s trending online? (Check out Google Trends to search for keyword and topic trends over time.)

What are the evergreen opportunities? 

• Look for evergreen story ideas that come around every year (tax time, Christmas, and school holidays).
• How can you link yourself to these events?

What are your business’s accomplishments?

• Do you have business milestones that are noteworthy or a significant event coming up?
• What has your business achieved? Are there any awards or other big achievements?

Related blog: 3 ingredients for a compelling PR story pitch [Plus email template]

Related podcast: 3 ingredients for a compelling PR story pitch

Tip 2: Find stories in you and your people

This is where you look at yourself as a founder, owner, or CEO and your employees.

Examine your founder’s story

• Think about your behind the scenes stories such as overcoming challenges or succeeding despite setbacks. What did you learn from this experience?
• What did you do before you got into business? Is it a story others could relate to?
• Have you made an unusual change of direction in your career? 
• Who are you connected to personally who has helped shape your business? 
• Is anyone famous linked to your business?

Examine your business structure

• Who are you partners with? What makes them interesting? 
• Is your business model an innovation for your sector? 
• Did your business come about after a huge investment, or did you get it going on a shoestring? The money story behind your business is often very newsworthy.

Examine your employees

• Do you have employees who have overcome challenges or have unusual circumstances and are willing to talk about them?
• Are there employees who have received awards or gained attention for other significant achievements?

Tip 3: Find stories in your customers

Customer stories are the perfect way to share the impact we’re having on those we help through our business.

Review how people use your product or service

• Have they overcome challenges, or has your solution helped them succeed?
• What is the impact that your product or service has on the people using it?
• How is your product or service changing how people behave?

Review how people talk about your product or service

• Look for testimonials and case studies that share something unique or fascinating that could become a story.
• Perform some audience listening. Have they shared something on social media you can reshare?
• Check your Google reviews for stories worth sharing.

Review industry-wide trends relating to how people use your product or service 

• Keep an eye out for testimonials and case studies that reinforce a current trend or show evidence of a new trend.
• Examine the way your product or service is changing your industry. Do you have customer stories to back this up?

Related blog: How publicity and public relations are different from advertising: 3 key concepts

In summary

How to find more great stories in your business [Newsworthiness guaranteed]:

Tip 1: Find stories in your products and services

• What’s different about what you’re offering?
• What are the trends?
• What are the evergreen opportunities?
• What are your business’s accomplishments?

Tip 2: Find stories in you and your people

• Examine your founder’s story
• Examine your business structure
• Examine your employees.

Tip 3: Find stories in your customers

• Review how people use your product or service
• Review how people talk about your product or service
• Review industry-wide trends relating to how people use your product or service.

[Infographic] How to find more great stories in your business

For a visual summary of today’s blog take look at the infographic below.

Source

Download – Sellable StoryFinder Template 

If you want to start searching for stories in your business now, download your Sellable StoryFinder Template that has all the info to get you started.

Ready to find more stories in your business?

If you would like help with finding sellable or newsworthy stories in your business, or you want to develop PR story pitches, talk to me about joining my Publicity Boss 1:2:1 live online training courses.

I have limited spaces available in my 3, 6, and 12-week courses where you’ll learn how to get yourself featured in the media, in online publications, or in podcasts and videos, following my step-by-step strategy and structured sessions. 

We develop your PR strategy, PR hit list, story pitches, media releases, monthly PR plans and more!

Learn more by booking your free 30-minute chat today.

You can also email me by visiting my website contact page or by clicking here.

Want more public relations and content marketing tips?

For more great resources about public relations, interviewing, podcasting content creation, content marketing, and video marketing be sure to check out my new podcast ‘Improve Your Content in 7 Minutes”, or find me on your favourite streaming app.

If you’d like to learn more about the differences between press releases, media releases, media alerts and media pitches read this article or listen to the podcast episode below.

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