We analyzed millions of articles to discover the very best B2B content examples & techniques.
Published January 29th 2021
You scan the paper and search the website and there it is…your brand or client’s name. And then again. And again and again. BOOM! Newsjacking success!
You’ve made the nationals, your industry media and an influencer has mentioned your client with an on-point quote about a trending story.
There’s no feeling like it for a passionate PR or marketer.
Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? Write an email, send it out and maybe make some phone calls – afraid not.
There’s a fine art to newsjacking and I should know: I started my career as a broadcast journalist working in newsrooms across the UK and answering those pesky PR calls and emails.
Then I made the switch to PR, becoming the person on the other end of the phone selling in my client’s stories.
I’ll get to what I’ve learnt from both sides of the newsjacking process and my top dos and don’ts in a sec. But first let’s cover off a few of the basics…
Newsjacking is immediately reacting to a news story with expertise to gain attention, achieve PR coverage and capitalize on a developing trend.
Let’s unpack that definition.
Definition | Meaning |
---|---|
“immediately reacting” | For newsjacking to work, you have to be fast. Super fast. |
“with expertise” | You can contact journalists or other influencers with your spokesperson’s viewpoint in the form of written content such as a quote, tweet or article. You can offer them the opportunity to interview your expert by describing why they are an authority on the topic. You can share owned data or a report. |
“attention” | For your data or content to be used it must either: say something obvious but in a unique or authoritative way that fits into the article or report the journalist is writing; or add something new to the story so the journalist has a new angle to develop. |
As well as the usual advantages of PR and content marketing – building your brand, credibility, SEO and thought leadership authority – newsjacking shows consumers that a brand has its finger on the pulse of what matters.
It’s also a potential quick win, especially in comparison to an in-depth marketing campaign.
Let’s look at each of the four stages of newsjacking in turn:
To react fast with the right spokesperson and expertise, preparation is everything.
Newsjacking might not sound like the most strategic PR marketing activity, but it can in fact help you land your or your client’s key messages across a swathe of media – if careful thinking has been done in advance.
If you’re working in / with a mid-to-large organization, identify a spokesperson for each topic based on a leaders’ knowledge, experience and personality.
“When I look for people to add to a discussion or debate – especially for broadcast material – I always aim to find an expert or someone who has a strong connection to the issue. They should be able to provide strong and clear points to clarify matters.” Parisa Qurban, BBC
At this point you will also be thinking about what you’re looking to get out of newsjacking – is it increased brand awareness? SEO uplift? Building your authority as a thought leader? What PR metrics will you be looking at?
Your objective will probably have you thinking about how you want to be referenced.
That being said, all publishers are different in how they deal with links and references, and you may not get a say.
But if, for example, you’re intent on a link to your research rather than your homepage, it won’t hurt to do a bit of research beforehand, to understand the publishers’ linking style.
If your desired publication won’t drop an ‘anchor rich’ link to a specific page for you, remember that this will still be great coverage for your client or your brand.
When it comes to SEO, according to Rand Fishkin, Google is already making intelligent connections between brands and websites, even without links.
Newsjacking and digital PR is therefore going to become even more important!
One way of doing this is by setting up feeds to come straight to your inbox on a regular basis.
BuzzSumo has a great tool for this called BuzzSumo Trending. You can quickly configure a custom feed around your target publishers, and see which of their content is gaining momentum on social.
A quick way of finding out this information is by making sure you have an Author Alert setup around the journalist’s name. That way you’ll be notified every time they publish an article across the web.
Make sure that when a news story breaks, you will have everything you could possibly need at your fingertips:
A great tip for discovering this information is to use BuzzSumo’s Journalist Profiles, which give you the journalist’s:
– Name
– Location
– Twitter handle
– Followers
– Email (if available)
– Twitter bio
– Top shared articles (linked)
– Top publishers they’ve written for (linked)
This journalist information can help you create relevant content to share with the right journalists, and better personalize your emails when you come to do outreach.
Make sure everyone knows their role, both in your team and within the client organisation, from the marketing manager to the spokesperson to their PAs.
Run a practice before your first newsjack, when you have new spokespeople, and test the technology you will be using, again and again.
Hijackable news stories don’t land in your lap. Monitoring is a never-ending endeavor.
Always be on alert:
Assess the situation and then dive into perfectly planned action.
HERE IT IS! You’ve spotted a breaking news story that you or your client can speak on with authority across key publications, to meet strategic objectives. It’s time to put into action everything you’ve prepared.
Get your team together. Work out the angle. Divide and conquer. Who will…?
“[Include] a subject line that spells out what the news is and a pitch written in honest, plain English.” Anthony Ha, TechCrunch
📬 Subject line stating the news story and what you are offering.
🗣️ Quote written which either says something generic that fits with what journalists are likely to say, or takes the story on.
📖 Concise, highly relevant biography of the spokesperson.
🎤 Offer of an interview with the spokesperson and two or three bullet points of what they could talk about.
📧 An accurate way to get in touch.
Don’t stop! Once you’ve got the messaging sorted and sent your initial pitch emails, it’s no time to pause. Get on the phone to the newsdesks to see which journalist is owning the story.
Talk to or resend the email to them. Tweet the quote from your spokesperson’s social media accounts. You could experiment with @mentioning journalists you know are covering the story and are aware of you or your client.
Newsrooms across the country look very different at the moment. Journalists are increasingly working from home. They’re carrying out interviews over video rather than face-to-face. And they’re getting even more PR and content pitches. Does that change how to pitch? The fundamentals of how to newsjack remain the same but now more than ever, only the best pitches sent to the right journalists at the right time will cut through
Make the most of coverage. Reuse and repurpose content that hasn’t been picked up.
Congratulations, you’ve done some first class newsjacking! But – sorry – your work doesn’t stop there. There’s still plenty to do to make the most of the opportunity.
If your newsjack was successful and you achieve PR marketing coverage in your key publications:
If your newsjack didn’t result in coverage:
Consider how you could improve your chances of success next time, for instance looking at who did get quoted and what marked them out.
✅ Make journalists’ lives easier. If you’ve secured an opportunity, keep them up to date on what is going on.
✅ Practice. Especially if it’s been a while, or you have a new spokesperson, or you are working on behalf of a client and have never newsjacked together before.
✅ Tailor your pitch to journalists and influencers. Spend the time getting to know journalists so you can work out the best approach. Many prefer an email pitch to telephone or social, especially as a first contact.
“I like access rather than being served or told what the story is.” Emma Barnett, BBC
❌ Ask if a journalist has received your email. Journalists do tend to read their emails and will get back to you if what you have sent is relevant.
If you call and get through (which is rare), say which story you are getting in touch about and explain why your spokesperson is an ideal interviewee and / or your data is relevant and unique.
Cut to the chase – journalists are always busy, working to deadline and likely regretting having answered the phone to a PR.
❌ Request interview questions or copy approval. You’re not going to get it on a fast turnaround newsjack.
❌ Offer a spokesperson who is not available. Nothing annoys journalists more.
It may sound fast and fun, and during those breaking news moments it really is, but successful newsjacking requires the right thinking and tools to be in place in advance.
Only then can newsjacking achieve its truly brand-altering potential.
If you want to get better at riding the wave of trend stories, BuzzSumo is here for you – try our 30 day free trial.
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