News Values: Storytelling Gold

There's a value exchange required to land unpaid coverage with media and bloggers.

While understanding news values may seem kind of curious, getting familiar with what journalists are looking for can help anyone in developing a content strategy or SEO strategy.

There’s a lot of content competing for people’s attention these days so knowing news values helps you identify hooks, angles and a strong pitch.

1. Impact
How will this affect my readers’ lives? This is the real guts of the story, and it’s typically the lead that you’ll pitch to an outlet.

2. Timeliness
Why are you telling me this now? How is this new?

3. Prominence
What makes you an authority on this? Why is your expert worth quoting?

4. Proximity
Does this story matter to my local audience?

5. How Bizarre
Is there anything unexpected about this story?

6. Conflict
What are the different sides of this issue, and what are their arguments?

7. Currency
Is this trending?

8. Human Interest (my personal fave)
Can people be inspired or influenced by this person’s journey?

I hope this helps you understand that not all advertising and promotion comes at the cost of cash money - you can think of news values as your currency.
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Your personal knowledge and research can go a long way.