T h e F i ve Ws Getting the full story Whether you are involved in telling your own story, as for example in a press release, or trying to understand what somebody else is saying, using the Five Ws technique can prove to be an invaluable aid in helping you to get a complete picture of what is going on.
I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.
The Five Ws (also known as the Five Ws (and one H) or simply the Six Ws) is essentially a formula for getting the "full" story on something.
They stand for Rudyard Kipling
•
Who?
•
What?
•
Where?
•
When?
•
Why?
•
How?
By asking these questions in any given situation you should have a complete overview of the topic.
In a press release the Five Ws are types of facts that should be contained in the first two or three paragraphs of the story, after which more detail may be added. LIBERO PURUS SODALES MAURIS, EU VEHICULA LECTUS VELIT NEC VELIT:
www.apple.com/iwork
T h in k L ik e a Re porter Change your thinking You know what you want from your press release. Your objective is probably something along the lines that you want the newspaper or magazine to publish a feature on you or your business so that you will benefit from the ensuing publicity, in one way, or another.
Reporters do not see it as their role to promote you or your business.....
That’s all very fine and laudable, but it is only half the story. You must also fully understand what the publisher of that piece (your press release) wants, and unless they get what they want you will simply not get published, and will never get what you want. Ignore that reality at your peril.
The truth of the matter is that •
Reporters do not see it as their role to promote you or your business.
They don’t care about
•
They really don’t care all that much about helping you.
•
They are probably hassled on a regular basis, and perhaps
your product, or your
sometimes even pestered, by people (possibly like you in
service.....
many respects) who simply want to use them for their own selfish PR purposes. •
They don’t care about your product, or service, or your web site, or book, or whatever it is you are offering…….
The situation changes.......... If you are providing something that helps make their job easier, and that is: a really good story.
If you provide them with a good story things change utterly and •
Reporters love you.
Provide them with a
•
Reporters are happy to take your call or meet with you.
good story.....
•
Reporters are fascinated by your website, your book, your service or products and maybe even your life story.
Most importantly………they will be more than happy to use what you give them and tell your story.
So, you can keep your own objectives, but you must remember that their objectives come first and unless they meet their
Think like a
objectives first you will never realise yours.
reporter.... You must start to think like a reporter, which means •
Being able to separate real news about your company from promotional puff.
•
Being able to develop story angles from a reporter's perspective, not a business owner's
•
These have to be of real interest to the news reading or viewing public.
•
Being able to deliver this angle in a professional way.
•
Avoiding the use of hype, clichés and puff.
When dealing with newspapers and magazines (and the same holds true for radio and television). Give them a story, not an advertisement. Newspapers do not exist to give you publicity. They exist to provide readers with interesting stories. Your job is to give the journalist what he or she wants, while getting the free exposure.
New s y, Exc itin g an d Relevan t
The Reporters Perspective
You must always try and develop a story angle from a reporter’s perspective, but, of course, that is usually easier said than done, and may be particularly difficult for you as an entrepreneur.
Developing a story angle from a reporter’s perspective, may be easier said than
As an entrepreneur you are passionate about your business, or at least I hope you are! Sometimes being very passionate about something can make us totally absorbed in what it is we are doing. We all know individuals
done. But it must be
who are way-too absorbed in a pass-time or hobby; possibly to
done!
the extent that they simply cannot grasp the fact that the rest of us are not equally smitten! Many small business owners feel the same way about their company. In such circumstances they may find it hard to be objective and fail to realise that the rest of the world may not share their enthusiasm. They can be less than
You have to be objective.....
objective in deciding what it is that makes their business newsworthy and can feel that because something about the business interests them it interests everyone else to the same degree. The rest of the world may not really care! Unless you can make an objective decision as to whether what you propose to put in your press release is newsy, exciting and relevant, you run the risk of having it rejected.
Try this approach..... There is no easy solution to this problem, but one possible approach is to look at every attribute of the business you are trying to promote, or the story you are trying to tell, and put it one of the following categories: The NO No Category: The kind of things that might fit into this
Too boring...
category are those that simply have no news value; perhaps they are too boring, too common or obviously too self-promotional. The Too Restricted Category: This may be insider type stuff of interest to a small minority of hardcore believers, but not a wider
Too techie...
more general audience. Lots of techie stuff falls into this category – very few people may “get it”. Of course if the target market is of that type the very same information that may be of no interest to one audience, may very well excite a different audience, for example in a trade press publication. The Getting There Category. This is where you have something
Almost there...
that is perhaps mildly interesting, but is not quite meaty enough. The key is to identify what is lacking, find it and apply it to take your pitch into the final category.
PR Heaven...
The Stop Press Category. This is where you have something that is meaty, hearty news that makes journalists salivate! It is newsy, exciting and relevant. You have reached PR heaven!
You need to look, as objectively as you possibly can, at every aspect of your story and try to honestly rate its news value, how exciting it is and how relevant it is in terms of your target audience.