“Yesterday’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper”
To create newsworthy content on your blog, you have to move quickly. Research shows the average shelf life of a news story is 36 hours.
More precisely, 36 hours is the amount of time it takes for half of the total readership of an article to have read it, the paper found. So timeliness and relevance are probably the most important bearing on your success as a media spokesperson.
Identify the issues you want to comment on
Have you ever read an article and wondered why that particular person was being quoted? Ever thought the writer was missing an important angle or detail? If so, you’ve missed an opportunity to be quoted. Don’t feel like you have to have an opinion on everything, but identify the keywords and issues where you have expertise and where you can add an interesting perspective.
Set up Google Alerts
If you’re a female business coach who helps women entrepreneurs, you must have views on women and entrepreneurship, you may have a view on the writings of Sheryl Sandberg, or Anne-Marie Slaughter, so set up alerts for their name. Whenever they feature in the news, you’ll get an alert so you can respond with your viewpoint in a timely way.
Ask what it means for your audience
Whenever a key news event happens, you need to ask yourself what it means for your audience. Why should they care? Why is it important? Are most people responding to the event in the wrong way? What are they missing? Most writers say you need at least three new points in any comment piece. Outline the basics of the story, what people are saying (in case your readers have missed it) then add your points using additional research and examples to make your case. Use a headline like: What [news event] means for female entrepreneurs or Why [person’s name] is wrong about female entrepreneurs.
Be proactive
Often a writer will need someone to comment right away. They will post on Twitter, on Facebook groups, or platforms like Haro [Help a Reporter Out]. Pitch to freelancers with story tips and feature ideas, if you’re good, they’ll keep coming back to you for more.
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