Pretend a reporter offered you free reign to write your story for the front page. What would you say? How would you want to position yourself or your organization? Though that will likely never happen, it’s a helpful exercise in deciding how to frame your story. Here are some other tips:
The power of 3: Research has shown that, when presented with new information, the human memory tends to remember just three points. In telling your story, stress three key points, each no more than a sentence or two in length. Avoid business jargon. Use words most people can understand. For example, an Ovations' company that was of great interest to the press was Evercare, which provides medical coverage and services to frail elderly people living in nursing homes. It’s a complicated program, blending insurance with care delivery, but I was able to simplify the Evercare program down to three main points: 1) it’s a program designed for very old people, with the average age being 85 years old; 2) Evercare assigns a nurse practitioner to work with the member’s doctor on a customized care plan; 3) Evercare members have fewer hospital stays than other nursing home patients. I would lead and end each interview with these three points.
Proof points: The bulk of your story should be spent providing facts, statistics, anecdotes or analogies that support and provide greater detail on your three key points. For Evercare, I provided additional facts on our membership, including the number of people who were over 100, the age of the oldest member (usually around 110 at any given moment) and the most common ailments for which they received treatment (flu, broken hip). I also explained the role of the nurse practitioner in more detail, how their collaboration with the doctor worked, the number of times per week they visited each member and the emphasis on preventative care in the customized plan (hence the reason for fewer hospital visits).
Third party validation: Reporters will seldom base a story on your word alone. Multiple sources will be cited and interviewed. You can make a reporter's job easier by providing additional sources for them. For example, the University of Minnesota had conducted a study that proved that Evercare patients were hospitalized less frequently than other nursing home residents. We also had testimonials of adult children of Evercare patients who commended the program.
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