The 5 Best Ways to Get Media Attention for Your Business, by Fern Reiss

This should be obvious, but even experienced publicists seem to overlook it. Journalists are looking for news, for trends, for cutting-edge story ideas.  They're not looking for "I published a new book" or "I hired a new employee" or "I have a great new business idea!"  Even though those sentences have the word 'new' in them, that's not sufficient for most journalists, whose first reaction is, "Who cares?"  If you can satisfactorily answer the "Who cares?" then you're well on your way to nailing down a story.

Besides having a newsy story to tell, it's also helpful if you can present it in a juicy, clever way.  Most of the stories that are covered by today's media profile people who can tell a good story in an interesting way.  Get some consulting or take a class with someone whose expertise is coining soundbites in order to maximize your ability to be quoted.  (I offer this consulting, as do others.)  What do I mean by a soundbite?  Take, for example, the time I was featured in a major wire service syndicated news story, in a story on the bankruptcy of WonderBread.  My quote--which appeared first in an article that also quoted the CEOs of Krispy Kreme and Bruegger's Bagels--was "America's donut days are dead."  (If you don't understand why that was a desirable quote, quickly run out and get some training!)