Points of View
Effective PR doesn’t just mean putting your own news and opinions out there in press releases, articles and interviews. There are newsworthy incidents happening all the time that are related to your business, that you can use to your advantage — if you’re willing to offer a pithy, relevant comment. All it takes is a little planning, an eye on breaking news that’s relevant to your organisation, and the ability to deliver a rapid response.
One of the staples of journalism is including comments from expert industry observers into a breaking news story. The comments help to explain the story, and to balance it by giving the point of view of a third party. It’s natural to think that these comments come from the journalist’s established contacts, built up over years of lunches.
That may have been the case a few years ago - but not any more. Journalists are under real pressure to deliver a quota of news stories per day, so time is a key factor. They’ve got maybe 90 minutes to get the story finished before moving onto the next one, and if you can offer a quick comment that fits the story and the journalist’s needs without too much editing, you’re in.
What are those newsworthy events? Well, it depends on what industry you’re in. For example, if you’re in the IT security sector, either as a vendor or a service provider, incidents such as data leaks or virus outbreaks (such as the recent infection on Greater Manchester Police’s networks) are ones to watch out for.
What’s more, these breaking stories tend to be syndicated to other news outlets, spreading the story quickly across the web, giving you a big footprint on Google, and positioning you as an industry expert to boot. Why not contact us to find out how you can get your points of view across?




