Leveraging National News for Local Media Opportunities
As a coach, you’ve learned how to pique a journalist’s interest in coaching for career and workplace development stories, as well as leverage your clients for compelling case studies, but what about times when coaching can lend itself to the bigger picture of a news cycle for a particular story?
National news stories are never just national—they touch our daily lives within our local communities, too, and touch on a wide range of topics and themes. Whenever you can draw out those connections to touch on a current event or hot topic and connect it to your local community and/or your expertise as a coach, you’ve got a great opportunity for media coverage.
Here’s how you can take advantage of national and international news events for local media opportunities.
Bringing Coaching into the Headlines
Sometimes, inspiring stories arise that involve professional coaches. These can include leadership coaches helping students avoid burnout or career coaches helping entrepreneurs catapult their startups to meteoric success. The inclusion of professional coaching in the news can be an opportunity for you to write a blog post or contact a reporter to offer yourself as a source to re-emphasize the power of coaching in a way that connects back to your community.
But you don’t have to wait for coaching to be directly brought into the spotlight to take your opportunity. Look for ways your coaching expertise can bring unique insight to unfolding events on the national or international stage, as well—and be sure to get out there and offer it to a relevant reporter.
For example, think back to last year when the world was captivated by the Thai youth soccer team and their coach that were trapped in a cave for more than two weeks. The leadership reporter for the Washington Post spoke with the head of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University about the unique type of leadership that officials and rescuers used to turn tragedy into triumph.
If you have a remarkable take on career or leadership development that can apply to a variety of situations, keep it handy for when it could apply to a particular news story.
The Importance of Preparation
If you would like to earn this type of media coverage, do yourself a favor by thinking ahead and staying tuned in to the news. Positioning yourself for expert commentary during breaking news and recurring news cycles requires planning!
Jot down a list of the topics that you are comfortable talking about, along with relevant testimonials from clients, and any research that you’ve done in the field. Similar to developing an elevator speech during networking and job interviews, having a list at the ready that you can send to reporters to showcase your qualifications for speaking on such matters can be the difference between big opportunities and missed ones. The news cycle can shift gears in a blink, so speed matters!
The nature of the 24-hours news cycle is that stories can break at any moment. Preparing in advance to have necessary materials ready and knowing how to contact the right reporter can position you to be quoted as an authority on a matter that relates to your coaching experience.
Adam Yosim (USA)
Adam Yosim has a background in broadcast journalism, and he spent seven years as a local TV news reporter in North Carolina, Kentucky, and Baltimore, Maryland. He is a senior account executive at Stanton Communications, ICF’s public relations agency of record. Adam specializes in media outreach and social media to earn positive media coverage for clients.
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