What is Story Hunting?

At HMA Public Relations, much of our 40-plus years of media relations success is thanks to effective, detail-oriented story mining, a tactic we shared here as part of our PR Toolkit series for readers.

But there is a second step to story mining we also use, both before and after the session: story hunting.

You see, from time to time the media reaches out to us with various needs for profiles, features, subject-matter experts or even just quick quotes. But, more often than not, it is our role as strategic media relations professionals to proactively seek out story opportunities for clients based on our own research, our media relationships and our own creativity.

When seeking to secure a profile for client, for example, we think about the following:

• Where does the person work and live? Often, there are regional media outlets with regular profiles on members of the community. We pull lists on a regular basis of outlets with such columns as well as their word count requirements, visual needs, general profile vibe and freelance writers most often assigned to said stories.
• Is this person active in the community? If the subject serves on a board, there might be an opportunity within the organization to profile him/her/them on the organization’s digital channels as well as an opportunity to pair the individual with an upcoming event being put on by the group or board. For example, the Fiesta Bowl or Waste Management Phoenix Open.
• Does this person have a personal connection to a cause? If so, we do an audit of the cause and determine best times of year to pitch a story linked to it.
• Does this person warrant an award nomination? In talking to any individual within an organization, we ask questions to determine if the person is a fit for us to recommend to the client for a laundry list of awards, each of which has editorial as part of the program.

We also meet personally with the media to ask them what THEY are working on; always paying attention for any connections a client may have to something already in the works.

Armed with the above as well as the individual’s story and its connection to the business, brand or organization, we are able to hunt for opportunities across the market that are both apparent as well as those that may not be as obvious to the lay person.

Interested in having HMA story hunt for your business, brand or organization? Simply click here to let us know.