I recently met with a young professional who is exploring career options because she will soon be out of a job. She told me about a job opportunity she turned down. Basically, the job involved promoting what many would believe to be dull, overly complicated content. She wasn’t sure she could handle doing that kind of work every day because it would be, well … boring. 
A challenge for many PR professionals is figuring out a way to make boring content interesting. It’s not an easy task, especially for those who got into this field for the excitement of working with media, handling crisis situations and planning cool promotional events. But, for the truly dedicated PR pro, this is when our jobs get really interesting. It’s when we can tap into our creativity and strategic thinking expertise to uncover the exceptional story behind that “dull” content.
While I’ve had my fair share of excitement in my career, I’ve also spent much time uncovering cool stories to share with the media. Here are some tips I’ve learned along the way:
- Never go in thinking your assignment is “boring and will never get picked up by the media.” If you have that mindset initially, it’s pretty difficult to overcome. It’s best when you look at each new opportunity with fresh eyes and without judgment.
- Peel back the layers. As you do so, you may find the interesting details hiding under a lot of jargon.
- Do research on the topic. Take some time to understand what you are to promote. Google is an excellent tool but you can also look at what competitors are doing, check out industry publications to see what else has been written about the topic, talk to experts inside your organization and ask them to give you specific examples of how that product/issue, etc. is having an impact, or speak with clients and others using the tool/product to see how it is making a difference for them.
- Go back in time. If you have a new product or tool to promote, go back through historic publications or talk to internal experts who have been with the company a long time to get a feel for what it was like before that tool was available. Find out what the alternatives were at that time or how many people it took to do something without that tool. See if there are historic photos you can use in your media outreach or internal promotion.
- Get the story of the people behind the issue or product. I’ve found that people who are passionate about what they do usually have a unique way of sharing that passion when they speak about it. I once spoke to an engineer about his job—a job most people would find awfully boring and technical. After a 30-minute conversation, he had me excited about the engineering field and all of the cool things it is responsible for in our everyday lives. His passion was contagious. That conversation gave me just what I needed to infuse some new life into the writing project I was doing for a client.
- Look beyond the features. It is far too common for people tasked with promoting a new product to tout its features. For example, if you have a new software tool that will help streamline the way people manage data, don’t go the easy route and talk about how much time they can save, how easy it is to use or how accurate it is. Think creatively—ask questions about how the tool is solving problems, find out about the experience of using it, why it was created, how it works and how it benefits end-users. Ask as many questions as you can and you will likely find a compelling story that goes beyond the features and gets to the heart of why this tool is a must-have. Media relations expert, Brad Philips, recently wrote a blog post about this and included a clip from the television show Mad Men. I highly recommend checking it out.
- Be realistic. The issue or product you have been asked to promote may not be worthy of a Nightline feature or an appearance on Good Morning America, but it probably has what it takes to be included in a trend piece of a trade publication. Don’t look at the fact that it isn’t BIG news as a bad thing. The greater opportunity, and probably more worthwhile, is a placement in a specific journal or trade publication. People who will be most interested in the product read those publications and rely on them for news to help them do their job.
If there is a story to tell, you will find it if you are positive and open to new ideas. Ask questions, do research, dig deep. Chances are, you will see that dull content through new lenses and a great story will help you gain the interest of the media.
Have you ever had to find a story in something that appeared boring on surface? What did you do to uncover the greatness and achieve results?
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Hollie Geitner is vice president, client services for WordWrite Communications. You can find her on Twitter @JustHollieG.
