content tips Archives - Stacey Meadwell

Finding a strong story angle for B2B press releases

‘How can I come up with a good angle for my press releases and content?’

It’s something I know PRs wrestle with, particularly as non-comms people in the business don’t always understand what is newsworthy or how journalists work.

And it’s something I faced as a regional features editor, visiting the same cities several times a year. Some markets hadn’t changed since the last time they were covered, but I still had to find a fresh feature angle.

I’d love to present a formula for making something worthy of a press release or coming up with a strong story angle, but there isn’t an easy one.

What I learned is to look at a story from different perspectives. So here are some things to try or consider which could help shape a story… or article.

Research

What sort of stories do your target publications typically run? What detail do they generally include, and what is the hook they use for similar stories?

You need to be up to speed with these things anyway, but a quick scroll through some similar story might reveal the angle you need to go for.

It will also highlight if certain information is always included and where there might be a barrier to certain stories getting picked up.

For example, for property investment deals, some publications/websites may only publish stories with the price paid and the yield.

Target audience

This should also be part of your research. Who reads the publications or websites you want to target with this release? What sort of information is helpful and useful to them?

I regularly used to get press releases from a company which made window boxes which was never going to be something that would interest commercial property agents and developers.

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Content marketing, General, SEO, Writing tips

What makes a clickable headline

A piece of paper in a type writer which has the word 'news' written at the top. — Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

People will decide whether to click on a story or article based on the headline.

You could write a brilliant article, blog post or press release, but if the headline doesn’t ‘sell’ the content to your target audience, it won’t matter.

Think of all the headlines you scroll past vs what you click on to read.

Headlines are so important that some national newspapers and magazines have specialist writers called sub-editors to create them.

So what makes a clickable headline?

Different styles work for different types of content, but the key is creating some intrigue or tapping into an emotion or need.

Headlines also need to give enough information so that the reader knows what they’ll get from reading on.

Here are four headline examples and a breakdown of how they work:

1. Pique interest news headline

This headline, from the North West Business Insider, tells the reader enough, so they know what the story is about but leaves out certain information to help create curiosity.

It tells the reader that it is a development deal, the size of the deal and where it is. What it doesn’t say is who was involved in the deal, the type of development and the details of the transaction.

To find that information, the reader has to click through to the story.

News headlines are a balancing act. Reveal too much, and there is no reason to click through; reveal too little, and curiosity isn’t pricked.

2. Challenge or surprise headline

Presenting a statement in a headline that is incongruous with common thinking or trend is a great way of getting people clicking to read on.

This headline on a LinkedIn article by Daniel Paulusma creates different levels of intrigue depending on your views of hybrid working.

It appears to challenge the thinking of advocates of hybrid working, potentially highlighting something they’ve missed: Am I wrong? ‘What is the evidence?’

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Video

Personality in B2B content and why its good

Some thoughts on showing personality in B2B content and if it’s ‘professional’

There seems to be a fear about showing personality in B2B content. Either that it doesn’t sound professional or makes people feel exposed.

Showing some personality can be using a particular turn of phrase or choosing more conversational words in your writing.

Or perhaps using an anecdote or talking about a personal experience or how something made you feel, something that shows some of your personality.

What is ‘professional’?

First of all, being professional isn’t about sounding or dressing a certain way.

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B2B media

Want people to stop scrolling and click on your B2B content?

Promoting your content on social media can be a great way of increasing engagement with your B2B content but there is an art to writing posts that get people to stop scrolling and click through to your content.

A row of people in suits all looking at their smart phones - picture is a close up of their hands. — Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash

Think of LinkedIn or Twitter as like a huge crowd with everyone shouting to be heard. You need to craft a few sentences that stand out and grab attention.

It’s not simply a case telling people you’ve written something and they will click through and read.

Doing this just lets down all the hard work you put into your creating your B2B content.

Look at it this way. If you were selling a book door to door, you wouldn’t simply say: “I have a book, do you want to buy it?”

You’d talk about what was in the book and why it was interesting or useful.

And yet it isn’t unusual to see a social media post that says something like: ‘Our latest report on the office market is out’.

Now context, the business brand or person writing the post might help.

But it may not.

And if you are relying solely on who you are to ‘sell’ your content to potential readers, then you are missing out.

Hint: People may not know who you are or have read anything you’ve written before.

You want to make people stop and pay attention and to do that you need to capture their interest or intrigue about your content, so people want to click through and read it.

Here are some ideas for how you can do that:

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Uncategorised

How to fashion your content for your audience

We’ve all tried on clothes only to realise they weren’t designed for our particular size and shape. The designer, it seems, was thinking of someone else wearing their clothes and the same thing can happen with B2B content – if you don’t focus on your audience.

I’m 5ft 2 (on a good day) which means a lot of clothes are too long. I don’t buy clothes that don’t fit well.

But it’s not the clothing designers fault. They can’t make every garment suit every size and shape. They develop their designs for a brand’s particular target customer base – their size and tastes.

As consumers, we find the brands that target us; we get to know which ones generally offer clothing to our dimensions and style. We buy from these brands because they offer us what we want and need.

And that’s the space your B2B content needs to occupy. Your content marketing strategy needs to target a specific audience and speak directly to them. One size fits all isn’t going to get you the results you want.

Clarity on your audience

Which means you need to be clear on who your target audience is. And it is likely you will have more than one target audience depending on what you want to achieve.

For example, a house builder or developer might want to target potential investors and joint venture partners. But they will also want to target house buyers or occupiers.

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