Archive for October, 2012

Sniff out fresh content

October 30th, 2012 | Comments Off on Sniff out fresh content

The PR mill can be a hoary thing: If you can’t find something significant to talk about, make it up: new foosball game in the office, CEO’s charitable activities, the company dog, a change in corporate titles — anything that can be press released, tweeted, blogged, Facebooked or Pinterested.  Most of these things have the shelf-life and nutrition of a potato chip left out on the counter.

For those willing to search, there are abundant story hooks that can lead to stories with immediate and long-lasting value.

What cool things are your customers doing?  Translate that into case studies for trade publications and new content for your website.

What are customers saying and thinking? Take a few hours to talk with customers about how they use your products and the value they get from them. I guarantee you’ll gain insight that can be translated into an editorial or trend piece.

What burning technical issue is addressed by your product or technology, yet under-exposed in the media or among your customer base?

What new markets are emerging and how can you become a knowledge leader by writing intelligent stories and/or blog posts that have value to customers and potential customers?

What is trending in the news or on social media that has relevance to your industry?

How can you contribute to a publication or website to build editorial credibility, even if it has little to do with your clients’ products or services?

Here are some things I’ve worked on recently as the result of looking into story hooks. I bet you can find a lot more for your company:

  • A cogent reply to the big boys — Karalit responds in Develop3D to the big boys of CFD and scores.
  • The fight for a perfect fit — Design News article on shortening design time for personally fitted mouthguards from a day to an hour.
  • Automated error reporting: the beginning of a beautiful relationship — ghost-written blog post on the connection between technology and customer relationships.
  • Statue without limitations — Computer Graphics World feature article on recreating an 8-foot iconic Canadian statue.
  • Develop3D Siggraph blogs — Reports from the Siggraph show floor, none related to current clients.
  • Automated error reporting: gateway to better quality — Ghost-written story for InfoQ website connecting technology to software quality improvements.
  • A new approach to CFD — Article in Develop3D outlining a fresh approach to an existing industry.

    • Think of these hooks as truffles.  They are there, but you need to train yourself to sniff them out.

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