By Rusty Cawley
Every news story must have a FACE. If your forget to put a FACE on your story proposal, your chances of
interesting a reporter are nil.
All true PR Rainmakers faithfully practice this
fundamental every time they design a story proposal for
the news media.
By FACE, the PR Rainmaker means:
· F: Feelings
· A: Analysis
· C: Crisis
· E: Energy
These are the elements of a well-crafted story
proposal. Let's look at each part one by one.
1. Feelings are the emotions that your story stirs
within the reporter, and thus the reader.
The seven basic emotions are love, hate, anger, fear,
sorrow, envy and greed.
There are endless degrees, combinations and variations
on these seven. (For example, "pity" is fear blended
with sorrow.
"Rage" is an extreme form of "anger."). Your story must
strongly arouse one, and only one, of these basic
emotions. (Note that only one of these emotions,
"love," is positive. This is one reason why news is
almost always negative.)
2. Analysis provides the logic that sells the story.
Feelings open the door with a reporter, but logic
closes the sale.
Analysis may come in the form of numbers, statistics,
data, studies, surveys or expert commentary.
The key is that the analysis must at least appear to be
objective and accurate.
The analysis allows reporters to take your story
seriously. It also gives reporters a subconscious
excuse to listen to their feelings.
3. Crisis is the inherent conflict within the story.
Without conflict, there is no news. This is what
reporters mean when they talk about getting "both sides
of the story."
Every story must have at least two sides. Ideally, for
the news media, the story has a hero on one side and a
villain on the other.
You want portray your company as a hero that is solving
a problem.
4. Energy is what results from mixing feelings,
analysis and crisis in the right proportions.
Energy is what drives the story.
It is what compels the reporter to want to write the
story. It is what compels the editor to give the story
good play.
It is what compels the reader to finish the story, to
remember your story, to pass it along to friends.
The PR Rainmaker knows: You never take on the media
without putting on your game FACE.
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