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Writer's pictureSam Duffy

Fascinating facts and dazzling data. How to pitch news like a PR pro

Fascinating facts and dazzling data. How to pitch news like a PR pro

I was recently reading a news story that said our client’s industry was set to grow in 2025. Great! But by how much? The story didn’t say. How big was the industry in dollar terms last year? I’m none the wiser. 


Now I’m not even sure the industry is growing because the journalist didn’t include any stats or relevant facts. This kind of info is what makes the news informative. It’s also the info journalists need from you and your business. 


To get your company into the news, your PR agency has researched your company, listened to your expertise, created media lists, and written a killer pitch that’s up to date with your industry. But now they’re asking: "Hey, I think we need an astonishing fact or data point to make sure this pitch lands with a reporter. It's almost there..."


But how do you know what’s newsworthy? What data points can you give them? Here's some advice we give to our PR agency's clients so they can give us what we need to be successful when pitching.


The kind of data in a PR pitch that will get a reporter’s attention 


Reporters love data. While reporters often write about industry trends and new products, they rely on data and specific examples back up their claims. They don’t want to rely on a quick Google search. They’re looking for experts who are in the trenches, dealing with the issues they’re writing about. They want to hear from you. 


So what kind of data makes the cut? 


Revenue. Maybe your industry is down or flat, but you’ve been growing by 140% each year. That’s a great way to differentiate yourself from other companies competing for media attention. But note that we’ll need dollar figures here, but just percentage growth. A 140% growth rate is newsworthy if you have millions in revenue. If your business only made $10k last year, not so much. 


Hiring. Take the fintech company Stripe, which made the news when it opened a new Toronto office with plans to hire 50 new team members. Industries like tech have seen dozens of layoffs in the last few years, so if you’re constantly growing your team, reporters want to know how you’re able to continue growing despite a rough economy. 


Client results. Our client, an ad tech company, was able to talk about the success of one of their recent campaigns for a Fortune 500 client. Their tool was shown to increase return on ad spend by 87%. Everyone looking for new ad tech products wants to know what kind of results they can expect, making it perfect for a news story. Maybe you just launched a new product, and it’s helping your clients increase their revenue, or it’s saving them a ton of money. Reporters are interested in how your clients are using your product, and what kind of results they’re getting. This one can be especially useful if some of your clients are willing to go on the record about how your product is helping them succeed. 


Funding. The aerospace startup Beyond Aero just raised $20 million to build hydrogen powered electric jets. Although they don’t have a product yet, the new funding is a vote of confidence from the investor community. VC money has been staying on the sidelines, so if you’ve just finished a successful funding round, now’s the time to shout it from the rooftops. If you just had a down round, it might draw less media attention, unless you got funded by a well known investor or firm. 


No data? No problem! (Actually... kind of a problem. Let's get creative)


Don’t feel like giving away some of your data? There are other ways to capture a reporter's attention! 


You have a brand new product. We once worked with a chemical lab equipment company that was looking for PR. They suggested that we try to get some media attention for their “new product,” a coloured beaker that had been on the market for years. That’s not going to work. When we say new, we mean brand new to your industry, not something that you launched five years ago that you haven’t had the chance to talk about yet. 


You’re disrupting an industry. Our client, a company in the supply chain industry, uses AI to optimize inventory and shipping times. That’s info that everyone in the industry needs to know so they don’t fall behind their competitors. Stories like this have a built-in CEO, CFO, CTO audience. If you’re in an established industry, and you’re using new technology to solve a problem, readers want to know if there’s an innovation they need to pay attention to. 


You have big name clients. We worked with a neurodiversity training company that had tech clients like Google and IBM, and bank clients like J.P. Morgan. This is a great way to get a reporter’s attention because these companies dominate the headlines. They want to know what secret sauce you’re giving them that’s helping them stay household names.

 

Turning your astonishing info into a story 


Now that you’ve gathered your astonishing facts and stats, your PR team will craft those insights into a story to catch a reporter’s attention. 


Let’s say your company has fantastic revenue growth, while your industry is struggling. Your PR pro might craft a story about how your industry declined by 20% last year, but your company grew by 140%. 


Now they’re relying on a quote from you to put that growth in context. You could say that you started the business in your garage three years ago, refused VC funding, and grew by reinvesting the profits. Now your stat about revenue has become a story that reporters want to tell. 


Take one entrepreneur who told her story to Business Insider. She left a big tech job that was paying her $300,000, and decided to start her own business. As she’s growing, she’s not taking a salary because she’s reinvesting all of the profits into the business. That experience tells readers a lot more about a business than the numbers. 


When can you use publicly available data?


Don’t want to use your own data? No problem. But you’ll need a hot take on something that’s going on in your industry. 


You just read a story that says 80% of your industry isn’t using AI, but you started using it three years ago, and it’s helped you grow your revenue. You can’t figure out why it’s not more popular. 


Your PR pro can craft a pitch about how using AI has helped your business grow by 300% in the last year without hiring any new staff. Or maybe your time to complete projects has been reduced by 68% since you integrated AI into your development team’s workflow. You’ve leveraged a stat from the broader industry and created a pitch around your own success. 


A story about your experience can challenge the industry standard, and give new perspective to readers in your industry. 


Here’s a gut check for whether your facts and data are newsworthy 


You’re working with your PR team to get your company into Forbes, Business Insider, Fast Company, etc., so you can always compare your astonishing facts to what’s been written in those publications.


You won’t find a story about a company growing by 10% on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. But you will find plenty written about companies that started from nothing, grew by 200% a year, and disrupted an industry. That’s the kind of info your PR experts are looking for. 


Are you ready to get your astonishing facts and dazzling data points into the news? 


Our PR team knows how to turn your data into stories that reporters want to tell. Contact the Mind Meld PR agency today.

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