As passionate business owners and solopreneurs, WE are our brand and because of that there is a big interest in hearing about the person behind the brand and our journeys.
As we build our businesses we share our expertise – which is fantastic – but we also need to share our story in order to connect with more people. Doing this is incredibly powerful as a business owner, as without sharing your story, people can’t really get to know the real you.
Your expertise and story go hand in hand as a personal brand. But how do you find your newsworthy story?
THE POWER OF YOUR STORY AND HOW TO HARNESS IT
We all have a story.
Everyone has their ups and down and their pivotal moments.
My biggest advice is to go through your story in terms of looking at the points in your life that have got you to where you are now. By doing this exercise you will start to pull out the key strands to your story.
Ask Yourself:
- What key events have happened in your life?
- What did you learn from them?
- How did they lead you to owning your own business?
With storytelling people are looking for similarities and differences with their own story. Some of the things you have experienced, other people will also have experienced in their own way. Other things will be unique to you (quite often these will be powerful real life stories).
The similarities that you found can be really powerful in connecting with your audience.
Ultimately your story will help you make relationships and raise your profile so you can educate, inspire and entertain other people.
WHAT MAKES A NEWSWORTHY STORY?
News stories will be topical and timely and often evoke a lot of emotions whether that be shock, inspiration or sadness for example.
In order to make it to the page, they need to be very strong and to be of interest to the people who are reading the publication! If regional, it needs to be relevant in the region it is based. If it is something that is affecting people nationally then surprise, surprise it needs to be relevant nationally.
There are different types of news, such as wellness news, travel news etc. So it doesn’t have to be the front of the newspaper type news – it can be relevant to a specific area.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR STORY NEWSWORTHY?
News is
- Topical
- Relevant
- Timely
so that is what you are looking for in terms of making your story newsworthy.
My definition of PR is,
“Getting the right story, to the right person, in the right place, at the right time.”
So think about:
What is topical and current right now for your business? These can be made into your own news hook. Have you won an award? Just written a book?
What is topical and current right now in the wider world? Can you hook your story into that topical event or situation? Your story itself might not be newsworthy in a normal time, but if it links to a moment in the wider world then this could help your story pass the ‘why now?’ test. What key calendar dates are coming up? What awareness days/weeks are on the horizon? You can then use these events to hook your story onto your pitch.
This is also something to think about when it comes to your social media and content marketing. As much as you can write things on social media whenever you want, actually content is irrelevant without context. Have a reason for why you are sharing your content at that specific time. Why is it relevant for your audience?
You need to realise how powerful your story can be. With the rise of personal branding, the interest in personal founder stories and the journey of peoples lives are at an all time high. (let’s be honest, it is because we are so nosey!!)
So this is the perfect time to use your story and to not feel like it’s ‘showing off’ or embarrassing to talk about yourself.
I always say to not share anything that you do not feel comfortable with your next door neighbour knowing! Pick things to talk about that are not too raw and not too personal.
If you need help with pulling out those key strands of your story and how to use them in the media then I’m offering some spots for 2 hour 1:1 Strategy Calls
To book your Strategy Call click here.
Here’s where you can catch the replay of my FB live session covering all of the above:
https://www.facebook.com/CheerleaderPR/videos/347272536474190
