You Shouldn't Try to Get Your Story in the News If...

Sometimes, it just has to be said: everybody doesn't have a newsworthy story.

What's good news for you doesn't meant that it will draw the attention of the masses that reporters are tasked with educating, informing or entertaining every day.

Here are three simple reasons why you should NOT be pitching your story because chances are, you don't have a story that's ready for media attention.

• You just want to sell something. If the only thing you can come up with about your organization or company is what's on sale, you are not ready to start pitching. If you can only offer a reporter coupons for background information, don't bother pitching, just buy an ad.
• You can't explain exactly what you do. If you aren't able to give a clear, concise sentence about why the masses would care about your story, you need to head back to the drawing board until you can figure that out. If you can't explain it to a reporter, a reporter can't explain it to their audience...and nobody gets it.
• Your story has nothing unique about it. I run into organizations all the time that want coverage for a fundraiser. Well, thousands of organizations have fundraisers. What makes yours different and what do you have to offer people if they donate or attend?

The moral of the story? To appeal to a reporter, your story has to have elements that appeals to a mass audience.

Bridgette Outten is a journalist and publicity strategist with The Write Vision Group, Inc. With a background in print media, she has written thousands of articles for newspapers and online publications. At The Write Vision Group, Bridgette consults with nonprofits and small businesses about how to get their programs and efforts in the news. Meanwhile, she blogs on all things journalism.