The media landscape can be a daunting place, with trends changing from minute to minute and the Google algorithm keeping everyone on their toes. When working with lifestyle clients, it’s important to keep on top of trends, changes in the market, competitor activity and media consumption. But how exactly can we predict what will grab a journalist’s attention?
Find a trend that has recently started flourishing online
A big part of working in PR is keeping on top of trends, no matter which client and industry you work in. Not only are you able to keep track of what your competitors are up to, but it also gives you the chance to see an emerging trend early on!
For lifestyle clients, trends can really help boost their brand awareness, if you manage to jump on the bandwagon early on. Adding this content to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram can also help share your client’s brand to a broader audience. So, make sure to collaborate with your social team to make people notice the brand you’re working on.
Read journalists’ old work and find their niche
Nothing beats a good, personalised email and a press release. Lifestyle journalists can write about several topics in their publications, but if you go through their past articles, you might be able to find a red thread in their work. Do they write mostly about relationships, or gardening? Have they covered something similar in the past? Do they write about studies with heavy statistics and data, or light, fluffy proactive pieces that require no data at all?
Make sure you only outreach to journalists who write about the topic of your campaign. Sending a press release that doesn’t fit in with their current work will often send your future campaigns right into their spam folder. Relevancy and personalisation are key.
Lifestyle is more than love stories and diets
Some clients prefer to be closely tied to the campaigns you run, while others are happy to loosely relate back to the topic at hand. Focusing on pop culture and generational differences can bring some interesting and shocking facts. You can also look at statistics that vary between different genders. Consumerism, fashion and animals all tie into lifestyle, and is something the public is always interested in reading about!
Use statistics
Working with data and statistics often strengthens your campaigns, as it backs up any key points you make. The stronger the statistics, the more likely it is that journalists want to cover your story. A press release polling 2,000 Brits, compared to five hundred stands out in the crowd, as journalists want strong sources and reliable data. But don’t worry if you don’t quite have the budget for it. Data using five hundred people is still good data! Using other platforms to source information from, such as Statista.com and Google Analytics can really help amplify your study, too.
Evergreen content works
Sometimes, evergreen content can work just as well as intricate, data-driven campaigns. With generic content, it is important to time it well – think seasons and awareness days. With summer approaching, you could focus on weather, fashion, gardening, travel tips, animal facts and so much more!
When creating evergreen content, a smart trick is to include data from Statista or Google Trends. Sometimes, journalists are looking for content that doesn’t require too much focus, and evergreen content is perfect for just that!
Regardless of who your client is, the points above can work for any industry. You can never go wrong with statistics. Plus, creating friendly relationships with journalists can really help you overall, as they will be more likely to cover a story from you if you’ve already established that you send reliable, personalised content their way.
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