Telling relevant stories through creative channels

Getting your company’s messages heard is no small task these days. Nearly every marekting channel is clogged, and information gate-keepers (press, analysts, infleuncers) are inundated with pitches and story ideas on an hourly basis.

To get your message across, you need to 1) have a unique, timely, and relevant story to tell, and 2) you need to be creative about how you communicate that message.

Creating a relevant story shouldn’t be difficult if you know your customers, know your product, and understand what your audience (be it consumers directly, or press, or analysts) are already interested in.

Telling that story in a unique manner is typically where many companies get hung up. The easy channels, the standard channels, are within the reach of everybody – and therefore impossibly clogged. Press releases still work, but only with relevant stories – and not all of the time. Sometimes, a different approach is required.

Case in point this morning is a uniquely-told story about the slowing real estate market. HouseValues, Inc., which offers marketing and technology services to real estate professionals, released a White Paper addressing how real estate professionals can actually grow their business in the next 3-5 years, despite a changing market.

By leveraging great press relationships and a solid understanding of what both the industry and it’s influencers want to hear, the story quickly appeared in Realty Times, one of the industry’s most popular online news services.

And, the White Paper is being leveraged directly with prospective customers, as a means of demonstrating thought leadership in an area most agents care deeply about.

It’s a relevant story, being leveraged in creative channels.

The next time you’re thinking about issuing a press release, take a quick moment to consider the story you’re tell, and whether you’re using the right channel to effectively tell it.