|  Public relations

Nailing coverage is the bread and butter of any PR practitioner whether it’s B2B, B2C, regional, business or trade. However, to secure national coverage, you need to go the extra mile to catch the eye of the editors and journalists you need to reach. In this article, we're going to look at some of the top tips shared with us by the team at 72Point Group.

Members of RKH sit around a table looking up at a screen, members of 72Point Group stand next to the screen delivering training

A strong, well-written story, a healthy media list and good relationships with key journalists usually unlock a steady flow of media coverage for your client. However, when it comes to attracting the interest of the daily tabloids and broadsheets, it becomes a whole other ball game.

Gone are the days of calling a national news desk to sell-in a story, while their editors can receive hundreds of pitching emails a day and it isn’t always easy to spot a good story on a wire. And while you may get close to a reporter on social media, is that really best practice?

National coverage can be something of a holy grail, which is why we asked our friends at 72Point Group to join us for an afternoon to share their experience in delivering national content.

Page-ready PR

First up was the need to deliver ‘page-ready’ articles as opposed to a press release in order to make life as easy as possible for a busy journalist. It makes perfect sense, but how does one go about doing that?

Tips included:

  • Avoid using the same word twice in the same line or consecutive lines.
  • Avoid the word ‘that’.
  • Keep sentences short and concise.
  • Back up figures like ‘nearly’ or ‘more than’ in brackets, but if it’s exactly 50% you can say ‘half’.

It’s also unwise to make bold claims about a product or service, or about what people want, while any quotes should reference the story in some way but avoid repetition.

Brand coverage

Brand mentions are trickier. While a prominent brand mention for regional press usually works well, it seems the first first brand mention in a national piece should be in the fifth or sixth paragraph, no higher, with a total of two to three brand mentions max. Plus, as we all know, if it reads like an advert, it probably is an advert.

How to create content worthy of national coverage

So if you have the style perfected, what do you do about the content? Are certain articles more attractive to the dailies?

In this digital age, many national publications are adopting a digital-first strategy. Therefore, increasing dwell time on an article is incredibly important, so creating content that will hold a reader's attention for longer is the way to go.

It means 'top 10s' do well, especially if they tap into the public psyche and get people talking, while creating a quiz as part of the story can also be effective, as well as hammering home your message.

Visuals also have a strong role to play. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is certainly true today, along with videos and infographics - especially if they are interactive and help expand your story even further, or simply add a bit of fun. A good or quirky video may also spark the interest of TV.

Ever-evolving PR services

Here at RKH we never rest on our laurels. We're always looking to learn, improve and progress, which is why we have monthly ‘lunch and learn’ sessions, and proudly hold memberships of the IPA and CIPR. Learning and improving helps us offer a honed, creative PR service producing extensive coverage for our clients, so thanks to 72Point for sharing your wisdom.

Now, who mentioned 'the top 10 reasons not to have pineapple on pizza'?

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Rock Kitchen Harris

The Hummingbird

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