The Story Behind the Story

I follow a woman on twitter whose handle is @tressalynne. In the interest of full disclosure, I have no idea who she is in the "real world" or how it is I came to follow her. But that's not important. What is important is a recent tweet from her:

Is Old School “Pitching” Dead? If It Is, What Can #PR Pros Do Now? by @steveology http://bit.ly/iTq8OA #MediaRelations #PRpitch

As a PR/communications professional, I always find articles -- or, in this case, videos -- like these interesting. As I watched the video, I was struck by a lesson that I realized should be this week's blog post: The Story Behind the Story.

So what is the story behind the story? It's what will make a journalist want to write about you, your company, your new product, etc.

The story for the reporter IS NOT that you've launched a new product. It's the interesting story that's tied to that product. Maybe the "story behind the story" is how the product came to be. Maybe it's more about the person who is behind the innovation if she has an interesting backstory. Maybe it's about an end user who is already using the product and reaping amazing rewards.

The key for you is to go "one or two levels deeper" to figure out what it all means. Why is your new product, initiative, etc., important? How will it change lives or change how business is done? Your pitch to the reporter -- the STORY you tell the reporter that will make him want to write about you/your company/your product -- has to be LESS about the features of the product/company and MORE about the context surrounding it.

An example from my day job.
(Full disclosure: This is a pitch that never made it out of the "design" phase for a variety of reasons, but every communications professional who I've spoken with about it agrees that this is a story that would have been covered had it seen the light of day.)

Each year, the Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus holds a juried art show for high school students. This year, the show's theme was "Secrets," and a representative from one of the companies located on our campus came out to watch it being hung. As she watched the pieces go up, she became increasingly excited about this show. This particular woman works with people with schizophrenia, and she loves our rotating art exhibits because she uses them as a form of art therapy to open up discussions with her "patients." She was particularly excited about this show because she felt the paintings would really resonate with that population. This new piece of information -- the use of the art show as art therapy -- was the STORY BEHIND THE STORY that would have made reporters stand up and take notice of a show that happens every year.

So the next time you're looking to get media coverage of your product, company, etc., first sit down and ask yourself: What's the story behind the story?