Making Business News Newsworthy Part 1: Defining News

Originally published: 2010-09-08

Part 1 of a 3 Part Series Making Business News Newsworthy:

Part 1: Learning What is Newsworthy
Part 2: Writing a Capturing News Release
Part 3: How to Send a Press Release

This 3 part series will be published over 4 weeks, so make sure to subscribe so you receive a full picture view of how to successfully make your business newsworthy.

PART 1: Learning What is Newsworthy

I can promise you there is only rule to obtaining media coverage:

Make your business's accomplishment newsworthy

Most of you believe you can accomplish that one task easily, but you are mistaken.

In fact, most business owners and managers are so close to the business, they tend to think every accomplishment is newsworthy.  If that's true, why aren't news reporters pounding down your door?

As a marketing professional for 11 years and former television reporter and freelance journalist (1998-2004), I will provide you with some solid, easy to follow tips on how to turn your regular business updates into news flashes.

4 questions to gauge if your news is really news:

Is it controversial or does it have interest for others outside your regular customers?
Does it benefit the community or a group of people positively or negatively?
Will it prompt comments or discussion within the community?
Should anyone care except you (the owner)?

To be controversial or not to be

Controversy good and bad believe it or not will produce news and very often it has been said bad news coverage can actually be good news coverage.

The exception to this rule would be extremely bad news that has an adverse effect on the population such as BP's oil spill.

A good example of bad news that prompted bad and good news coverage and helped a company is Tylenol's recall some years ago that actually improved company sales.

To benefit the community or not to benefit

If your business's news will help others in the community or prove interesting, then it might be newsworthy. For example, if Shoney's or Perkins offered free meals for a full week to anyone that would be newsworthy, because during these economic times many families are struggling to feed themselves.

What would NOT be newsworthy is a story about a park throwing a community open house to connect people with services. Why not you ask? Because there is no wow factor - it's just an event.

Another newsworthy "benefit" story example is if a fitness trainer were to say give away ,000 to the biggest loser for a weight loss competition in a city rated at the top of the obesity or unhealthy lists.

 

News that prompts community comments good and bad

Remember this above all else. Even if people are outraged at your news, (maybe you are closing a factory or raising prices) news coverage is still news coverage.  Very often, outrage can route right back around into solid, good news about your business.

Many businesses fear bad media coverage as a result of a negative announcement. You CANNOT CONTROL WHAT THE MEDIA WRITES. What you can control is what you say and how you say it.

Example: local park where I live had some employees leave a special needs teen in a hot car for a couple of hours purely by accident - media was all over it - but the park system handled it brilliantly by investigating the incident, temporarily suspending employees, meeting with the teen's parents and honestly answering the media's questions.  Controversial news became "what the park did right" news.

Should anyone care about the news but you?

Sure your new tanning beds, your new car washing services or your restaurant's new dish may be interesting to you, but who else really cares about it unless you give them a reason to care?

If you want to send out a press release to give your business a pat on the back, you are not going to get media coverage.

Examples of stories that made news because people cared:

Collier County animal shelter announced a potential end to pet adoptions if the budget was cut
A state announces increases to sales or income taxes
Oil drilling off Florida shores

General examples of what is newsworthy in today's news climate:

A business closing after being open for more than 30 years
A business laying off people, even if it's fewer than 10
Businesses offering discounts or day of free service for unemployed
Free gift or prize without purchase
Food giveaways
New business or expansion of a business in this economic turmoil
Animals - always news regardless
Kids - always news if it has to do with helping them, raising money or special needs children

Use the above as a guide to identify where your news falls - on the floor or on in the paper?

Part 2 of this 3-part series is Writing a Capturing Press Release. To learn more about DREAMFly Marketing's services, visit the firm's website.

 

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Defining Your Ecommerce Business Strategy

Launching an online store can be a foreboding exercise, no thanks in part to the deluge of technology questions you will need to answer along the way. However, before you jump into choosing the right ecommerce system for your online business, it pays to first take a close look at your needs and expectations from a business point of view.

Research your marketing needs
A common mistake is to assume that the revenue will start flowing the day you go live. The reality is quite different. Most online stores require considerable effort to promote. It’s crucial to gain an understanding of which online channels make the most sense as a promotional medium for your particular venture.

Will you focus on search marketing, social media channels, banner advertising on content sites, press releases or participating in forums? These and many other possibilities exist.

Part of your initial investigation into the very feasibility of your business must be to understand how difficult it will be to buy your new business the exposure it needs to generate customers, usually through an investment of both time and money.

Determining the right way to measure and manage each activity you embark upon within these channels will typically require either outside expertise, or a significant learning exercise to understand the space. It is not unusual for a new site to take 3-6 months to ramp up visitor levels and in many cases it can take up to 2 years to reach profitability.

So, be sure to allow a proportion of your initial budget to launch and maintain your online marketing through this growth period. Once operational, the business will also require a monthly investment of time to maintain your visibility.

Identify the specific marketing mechanisms you need to use – such as discount coupons, gift certificates, shopping comparison sites, product review aggregators, social media channels (Facebook, Twitter) and search engines.

Review competitor sites
Take the time to search out competitor sites, in the same way your customers will.

Make a note of how you found them, as this can be a strong indication of the sort of marketing that is working. Also look at how products are being depicted – including the number of photos, descriptive detail, specifications, reviews, ratings and comparisons. Consumer expectations are continually rising in terms of the amount of information and quality of presentation.
Examine what kind of assurances are made regarding product returns, warranty, support, service, shipping costs and satisfaction guarantees. Some market segments extend consumers extraordinary levels of protection from wrong choices. Be aware of the difference between what you are obligated to provide from a government regulatory point of view and what you need to add in order to be competitive.

Analyse freight costs
Analysis of abandoned shopping carts has shown that shipping costs are one of the major factors in lost sales. If unexpectedly high, buyers will abandon their orders without hesitation. Seeking out ways to simplify freight calculation, reduce freight costs and eliminate cost shock must be high on your list of priorities. If possible, let customers know the freight cost up front.

Compare payment gateways
Getting ready to accept online transactions can involve several steps. Check out the requirements of gateway providers in your market. Many gateway providers have raised the bar on the standards that must be met before they will activate your account. In some instances, they will want to review the finished website to check for appropriate security measures, privacy statements, return policies, business information and branding. It pays to know exactly what will be required before you get started, so you can factor this into the project time-frame and progress application details early on to allow for processing delays.

Check out risks and hidden costs
You should factor in consideration in budget projections to cover for product returns, shipping losses and transaction fraud based on current industry norms – which can be researched at the time you start the business.

Also thoroughly investigate the payment options you intend to offer, to fully understand the costs, fees and extraordinary charges in the event of processing issues. There are many payment services available, and costs can vary considerably. Be sure to shop around, and look at how costs may change as your payment volumes rise or fall.

Check product complexity
Deciding how your product catalog must be organised is a fundamental requirement of your new business. Some products are simple – just a price, description and photo. But others can add complexities such as variations in sizes, colours, specifications, options and personalisation. Many simpler ecommerce systems cannot easily handle such requirements.
Furthermore, your product catalog may require items to be in multiple categories, or perhaps even to have more than one way of being categorised. For example, you might initially present items by categories of uses, but then also let people browse by manufacturer and brand. Work through these needs ahead of time, and also consider the value of being able to offer a list of similar products to help with cross selling (offering complementary products at the time of product selection) and up selling (offering better products or additional items after the purchase decision has been made).

Finally - process of elimination
The planning you have just completed will provide you a clear list of needs that must be met by the systems you consider. Doing a little homework will often reveal that a budget end option you were looking at is actually too limited. Having to upgrade to a new system down the track can be costly both in terms of budget and lost business momentum. The key is to have a clear strategy guiding your choices so you can rationally eliminate ecommerce solutions that don’t meet your requirements.

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Business And Finance News defining relationships

Money begets money. This sentence is as old as the idea of money and business. There was a time when the concept of currency wasn't there. People used barter system for business. Earlier business was just about transactions fulfilling each other's need in a community. Then came the concept of "extra". With it began the problem in transaction that has been made complex. To resolve this came money. Now world is obsessed with finance news. World news talks of business of every country irrelevant of area but not the size of business it promises. Both Japan and India are of equal importance to world business news. In a way business has allowed world to be a cosmopolitan place by letting trade induced interaction on international level.

Gone are the days!
There was a time when relationships alone were considered very important. Peace treaties drove relationships among countries not money or any financial gain.

It came later. Now money has replaced it in modern times. It can't be judged whether this did good or bad for us as world citizen. Everything comes with consequence peculiar to every individual. It is only decided by the amount of importance we choose to give to it. So is with the money. World news has endless discussions on latest financial news and its impact on future of business. We still have something back to ponder upon.

Security First!
On national and international terms, only two things are of main concern. These are Politics and Trade between nations. There are times when terrorism and unrest over shadow them. But they remain prime center of discussion of world business news if it is peace for the time being. People all around the world get a set back when some mishap takes place. Even business gets shut for that time period. Security is major concern for anything to go on in proper pace.

Responsibility of surroundings
As citizen of world and a nation like India it becomes our responsibility to make sure that we report every suspicious activity around us. Our society will land on the verge of destruction, if we won't be cautious and remain aware of our surroundings. Business and money need peace all around to make World business news. Finance activities seem to be stalked by all. It stirs up reactions from every corner of the world. World news may become wary of overwhelming Finance News but it could not be helped. Nor it needs any. To Grow Is The Way Of Life!





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