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Court Story Communications Founder Olivier Gibbons invites you to read and comment on his blog postings. The musings offer tips, comments and opinions about generating media exposure as part of an overall communications strategy.

Look For A Hook

Written by Olivier Gibbons on July 20, 2011

You might have a seemingly great idea for a pitch yet no one bites and you're left wondering why. Sometimes, it's all about timing. Taking that same idea you have and finding a hook, an event or issue that makes the timing of your pitch relevant will increase your prospects of success.

For example, say you're a mom-and-pop chocolate maker. Business is good and you are about to open a second location and bring on five additional employees, including someone to deliver the sweet goods. While making chocolate may be a unique business, pitching the fact that you're expanding is a story likely to get rejected. After all, employing five more people is not exactly going to put a dent in the local unemployment rate.

But what if you use a hook. Say you pitch the same story leading up to Valentine's Day. Now, local media looking for an interesting Valentine's Day tale may take notice. Perhaps you suggest that a reporter or TV crew follow the actual delivery of chocolate. You can set up a story showing the timeline of how a piece of chocolate is made right up to the point it gets consumed.

To expand the story from one of local interest to a national story, take the same Valentine's Day hook and look for a national trend. For instance, perhaps the high price of gasoline is leading to an increase in the price of chocolate, resulting in lower sales. You can pitch the idea of how a small chocolate maker is growing at a difficult time. By using a hook, all of a sudden an idea once pitched unsuccessfully gets your business in the news. 



 
 

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