Hannah Swinson

When trying to educate your buyers on how your solution can help them overcome their challenges, what is the best way to broadcast your brand’s messaging to millions of decision-makers? Pump a lot of money into advertising? Host lavish events and hope the right people show up?
 

Newsjacking is the art of injecting your brand's messaging into the breaking news of the day. When done correctly, newsjacking gives brands the opportunity to demonstrate how their service or solution can help brands by referencing real world examples.
 

The trouble in the B2B world is that it is an all too often overlooked form of marketing. Here are Champion’s top tips for creating a successful newsjacking program that resonates with your buyers:  

 

  • Stay up to date: This one probably goes without saying but let us talk about it anyway. The first step toward achieving newsjacking success is to stay in the loop. Track any and every story, trend or theme that might be relevant to your buyers. The trick here is to start broad and then narrow down - there is no point ruling stories out until you have exhaustively analysed it for potential news hooks!  

 

  • Identify hooks: Once you have got your bank of relevant stories, the next step is to analyse each of them and identify which ones align to your marketing goals. Which stories will your buyers be following most closely? Which stories can you best use to carry your brand or product messaging? These are key questions to ask yourself as you pursue stories to newsjack.  

 

  • Do not force it: If a connection to a story is not there for your brand or product, don’t force it! This will annoy journalists and tarnish future attempts to work with them. Likewise, do not ambulance chase - remember if a brand is having a crisis, it could happen to you in the future! 

 

  • Act quickly: Timing is so important when it comes to newsjacking. The window of opportunity available to capitalise upon a story before it becomes saturated is small. Being quick with content creation and having an efficient sign-off process in place can make a big difference! 

 

  • Amplify on social media: Social media is a great tool when it comes to newsjacking. It can be used to see things like which journalists are reporting on a story and how your decision-makers feel about particular stories. Use hashtags and engage with other users who are discussing the story.  

 

  • Monitor & respond: The news moves quickly. It’s important to monitor the conversation around a story so that you can continue to be involved. Offering fresh perspectives as a story develops will help you to continue engaging with key stakeholders and build stronger relationships.  

 

When done correctly, newsjacking can be an effective tool to market your products and services to your decision-makers. By connecting your messaging to a breaking story, you can offer your buyers an opportunity to see a real-world example of how you can help to solve a significant challenge.  

 

If you would like to find out more about how newsjacking can help you to engage with your buyers, you can book a call with us here: https://bit.ly/3NzhAub.