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Going the way of Relevance

April Dunford was a Social Media Release skeptic until she released a couple in that format and started to see results.

What impressed me most was her key takeaways of releasing a SMR that could also be applied to a standard press release or a story pitch.

April wrote,

The "Who" in "Who cares?" has changed - It used to be that technical products were mainly discussed by technical media only. More than ever, mainstream sources are interested in how technology is changing people's lives. These folks are less interested in your newest features and functions and more interested in how your product is going to change the world.

Mainstream Media surfs the web just like the rest of us - by providing keywords and tags the release is easily findable. Providing video, photos, links, make the release easily bloggable, which in turn, make your stuff even more findable for both the mainstream media and your customers. Getting the coverage in mainstream media raises awareness further, especially with customers who may not be very digital.

Relevance is the new "Newsworthyness" - I can't emphasize this enough. Just because you don't necessarily have something new to announce, doesn't mean you don't need to have a news hook. You need to answer the question "Why is this interesting right now?" What is it about your announcement that makes it important information to share right now? If you can make your new relevant to a broader audience than experts in your space, you are well on your way to spectacularness.

After reading this post, I thought of a few stories ideas, based on the keyword relevance, on a topic for a client that I failed to hook journalists in an earlier attempt.

That first attempt saw me approaching the topic by focus on the features.

My next attempt will see me going the way of Relevance and it seem to be that hook needed to get the journalists reading your pitch email.

Thanks April!

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