Newsjacking: Securing Increased Coverage
Every client wants to land tier one media coverage, but securing earned media is more difficult than ever. News cycles move lightning fast, reporters and editors are savvy and able to smell self-promotion a mile away, and – unless your name is Apple or another blue-chip brand – it’s tough to get coverage for company news.
One way to find your name in timely, topical news stories is with a newsjacking strategy. By piggybacking on trending or breaking news, you can elevate your brand and build credibility for your spokespersons.
But a well-executed newsjacking program requires consistent attention and nurturing as well as fast reaction times. Read on to learn how you can build a program that will pay outsized dividends over time.
What is Newsjacking?
Newsjacking harnesses a relevant news narrative to share your expert opinion or insights. By identifying breaking news that aligns with your messaging or area of expertise and then providing valuable commentary or insights, you can inject yourself into the discussion.
Whether through pitches to reporters, over social media or on LinkedIn, newsjacking can amplify your voice and bring valuable attention to your brand or perspective. It also positions you as a future resource for journalists on similar stories and an expert on specific topics or trends.
Putting it into Action
Recent news of increased fungal outbreaks in the United States provided a newsjacking opportunity for Kinnos, a client whose technology improves disinfection in hospitals. By sharing a pre-packaged quote about the lack of proper cleaning in hospitals, we were able to include Kinnos in a Newsweek article within days of the original study being published.
But the speed of that placement and its success were only possible with some careful preparation. Companies interested in using newsjacking to expand their profile should begin with a few basics.
1). Pick a Lane and Make it Compelling: To riff on the popular advice from mom, if you don’t have something interesting to say…don’t say it at all. Newsjacking only works if you have something valuable to add to a conversation. Reporters will ignore pitches that regurgitate existing news and perspectives.
To avoid this, we work with clients to identify the themes that underpin their brand and align with their business. We then use these thought leadership topics to develop core narratives and key messages for all their communications activities. These serve as the reference guides for newsjacking and the fodder upon which we can assemble pre-approved quotes for pitches.
A company’s contribution to a news cycle can vary – new data points, customer stories that help bring a topic to life, or new angles or information that highlight implications of a breaking story. The one thing it cannot be is boring or self promotional. Your job as a spokesperson is to extend the discussion with new information, not pitch your company or product – reporters can spot inauthenticity from afar.
The Kinnos quote in Newsweek never mentioned their Highlight product. Instead, it documented a measured lack of cleaning in hospitals and then connected it to outbreaks, including the rate of resulting infections and death.
2).Establish a Process: You can’t comment on a story if you don’t know it’s breaking. To ensure that comms teams quickly see the best stories with the greatest newsjacking potential, we recommend setting up a news tracking and feedback channel. This can be a shared Slack channel or even an email alias - anything that allows for internal and external team members to post stories as they appear and arrive at a consensus upon which ones to target and which spokesperson is best.
3). Make It Fast and Easy: Newsjacking is not a new phenomenon. It was coined in 2011 in a book of the same name. That means you are not the only one trying to capitalize on the strategy. So, to be successful, you need to be quick on the draw and with something that is relevant and simple to insert into a story.
The key to both is an efficient development and approval process. Once you identify a story or opening, build a quote or two that leverages your thought leadership themes and key messages to communicate your point of view. Most reporters will respond better to a ready-made quote they can drop into a story rather than an offer for an interview or a lengthy pitch they have to condense and rewrite.
Critical to crafting this quote is a speedy approval process. If it takes days to review and approve a quote with a marketing lead, then legal, then a CEO - you’re going to miss your window. The swift nature of newsjacking demands rapid decision-making and execution to ensure you're among the first contributors to the conversation.
4). Leverage Multi-Channel Comms: While media coverage is often the goal of newsjacking, don’t ignore other owned communications channels. Using stories to drive social media commentary or engagement can be highly effective. And posting both short- and long-form reactions on LinkedIn is a powerful way to speak to your network.
Winning with Newsjacking
A well-executed newsjacking program can effectively amplify your story and gain you additional exposure. However, it requires planning, swift execution and authenticity. A consistent adherence to newsjacking best practices produces increasing results over time. Using it as a tool within an integrated communications program can also help boost credibility and improve the hit rate for other program elements. Contact us today to learn more about how you can build and activate a successful newsjacking program.