The Golden Rule of PR: Is it New OR Newsworthy?

Here is a hard truth about getting your business into the press: the media does not care about you. They care about their audience. And this isn’t me being mean, it’s just the truth!

When you send a pitch, a press release, or an email to a journalist, you are not telling a story for your own gratification. Or if you are, we maybe have uncovered the problem. You are providing content for their readers, viewers, or listeners. If you want a journalist to pay attention to your business, you have to look through their lens, not yours.

To do that successfully, your story needs to tick one of two essential boxes: it must be new or newsworthy.

Here is the difference between the two—and why they both matter.

1. Is it NEW?

When we talk about “new” in a PR context, we are looking at tangible changes, additions, or milestones within your business. Journalists love a fresh angle. This includes things like:

• Launching a new product or service line.

• Opening a new location or expanding into a new territory.

• Welcoming a key new member of staff who is going to shake things up or bring a unique expertise to your team.

If it hasn’t happened before, it’s new. And new ‘stuff’ has the potential to be interesting to the press.

2. Is it NEWSWORTHY?

Newsworthy means it has a wider impact. It’s the kind of information that makes a stranger stop and say, “Oh, that’s interesting.” Think about elements like:

• Winning major awards or industry recognition.

• Announcing groundbreaking research or data you’ve collected that reveals a trend in your industry.

• Doing something completely cool, innovative, or unique that disrupts the usual way of doing things.

Newsworthy stories are the ones that connect your business to the bigger picture of what’s happening in the world right now.

The ultimate question you need to ask yourself…

The next time you sit down to draft a piece of communication for the press, I want you to step away from your own ego. Take a breath, read over your pitch, and ask yourself this single question:

Will the person reading this leave with something they didn’t know before?

If the answer is no, if it’s just a self-congratulatory announcement that only matters to your internal team, or maybe you’re regurgitating something that’s already been and gone? If this is the case, don’t hit send. Go back to the drawing board and find the hook.

Make sure you are delivering something genuinely new, or undeniably newsworthy. Focus on what their audience gets out of it, and you’ll find those journalist responses start landing in your inbox a whole lot faster.

If you’re looking for more tips on how to effectively market your business, ace your PR, utilise AI (the right way!) and get social media working for you, follow me on Instagram @rheafreemanpr