Imagine the headlines you’d like your story under
PR is a long game, one to be approached strategically. As you build your network of reporters and develop your story angles, you should do so with an end goal in mind. Caryn Marooney, the Head of Technology Communications for Facebook, has some terrific advice for developing your long-term strategy here.
All of it is worth reading. In it, she cites the importance of having a vision of the stories you’d like to see your company included in. To quote:
“What is the headline you’re shooting for? Chances are, you’re not going to get exactly what you want, but if you don’t know what it is when you start, you’re definitely not going to get it.”
This quote is illuminating because it illustrates the extent to which PR is intertwined with your business strategy. At its best, your outreach will attract the public’s attention to a story they might have otherwise overlooked. But PR isn’t alchemy; it can’t spin yarn into gold. When you think of the headline you’d like to see above your story, you must also ask yourself if you have the story to support it.
The Onion, a satirical media outlet, writes its headlines first, and then invents the stories to go with them. Of course, you won’t have the luxury of inventing your own story, but this thought exercise will get you thinking about what you would need to make that story happen. And it will help you refine your outreach by giving you criteria with which to sort your targets.
As Ms. Marooney says, you’re probably not going to get a headline as glowing or effusive as you might hope for, but thinking about the results you would most like to see will help you lay the groundwork for achieving it. The more clearly you see your story, the better able you’ll be to share it with the world.
