News Hijacking and How to Use the Headlines to Your Own Advantage

With the festive break rapidly approaching, it may be that keeping your business front and centre in the news isn’t your top priority. But with so much going on right now, and with newspapers and magazines more eager than ever for content over the Christmas period, there has honestly never been a better time to consider a little news hijacking…

I understand that you may not have the time – or the inclination – to carefully craft and polish a few blog posts. You may be more excited about Quality Street and cold meat than brand messaging and column inches, but if you can keep a gentle eye on the news headlines then you may be able to secure some high profile coverage with minimal work. Sound good? …

News hijacking. Media monitoring. Headline leveraging. Whatever you want to call it, it’s where us PR types spot a theme or story developing that our client should comment on or otherwise be involved with, and we then promptly draft and share some supportive editorial.

If you respond in a timely-enough way, if the quoted person has enough kudos and a perceived right to an opinion, and if you are adding something of value to the story or topic, then you’re likely to get coverage. And that’s front page usually.

It could be that you’re an estate agent and Halifax releases their latest mortgage lending ratios and statistics. You can approach your local newspapers and offer a local angle on the national story – they’ll love it and the front page story will be wrapped in your brand.

Perhaps you run a care home and there’s a piece on the BBC about quality and standards. You could share your own work or experiences, and find an interview with you running on every news segment.

Or else you may be an environmental expert and able to shed a little more light on the horrific floods being endured by many of those living in the North of England. You get to help prevent it happening again, and to showcase your expert status.

Let’s be clear, this is not about callously stepping in and taking over a story, nor is it about benefitting from others’ suffering, but it is an opportunity for you to advise and guide people who are sure to need it. And hey, if they appreciate it and come to you at a later date commercially then all the better.

Good luck and do let us know how you get on.