Tuesday Idea File: Finding Freelance Pitches in Releases

Here’s a novel idea: let’s have a day just for ideas.

Sort of makes sense, doesn’t it? And since it’s Tuesday, I think Tuesday is a good day to discuss another freelance writing idea.

So welcome to this semi-regular blog feature. Today, I’d like to talk about how to make a press release your friend.

This isn’t about writing a press release, nor is it about writing a press release about your latest achievements. This is about taking that last press release to come into your email (or your news feed) and dissecting it to find some story pitches.

 

Beginning freelance writers often struggle with where the next idea will come from.

They are, quite literally, all around us.

But that’s not terribly helpful, is it? I mean, my own view right now includes a mishmash of sticky notes, unfiled invoices, a crumb-filled plate (toast), and a bottle of hand lotion. Can you make anything of that?

Well, yes.

• What your untidy desk says about your creative process
• Organization for the unorganized
• Power snacks that increase brain power (it ain’t toast, people — trust me)
• What’s really causing your dry skin?

Maybe one of those ideas will be good enough for an editor. Maybe that list helped you come up with a few ideas of your own. The point is, once you start noticing the potential story ideas around you, this kind of idea generation will come easily to you.

But let’s get back to the press release. I started this method of idea generation about ten or twelve years ago. It came during a particularly dry spell, and I managed a few assignments from this kind of idea mining from what may seem like a standard, uneventful release.

For the record, media contacts are getting much better at sending newsworthy items, many of them framing the items in story ideas. But sometimes a company just has to announce something straightforward.

Here’s a random one from my inbox. I took the company’s name off of it, but if you’d like to pitch something and include their experts, let me know. I can provide it.

The release is this:

Smart Data

New data monetization business models to expand growth opportunities for solution providers, finds (Company Name)

Advancements in data processing tools and adoption of next-generation technologies such as augmented analytics to extract insights from Big Data are expected to drive the Smart Data market toward $31.5 billion by 2022. Augmented analytics automates data insights and provides clearer information, which is not possible with traditional analysis tools. Companies such as D, X, I, and B are already focusing on developing end-to-end smart data analytics solutions to obtain valuable insights from Big Data.

“Markets such as the US, the UK, India, and Dubai have rolled out several initiatives to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning-powered data analytics tools to generate actionable insights from open data,” said EXPERT. “Smart Data will help businesses reduce the risk of data loss and improve a range of activities such as operations, product development, predictive maintenance, customer experience, and innovation.”

COMPANY’S recent analysis, Smart Data Opportunity study (name changed) highlights key market developments, technologies used to convert big data to smart data, government programs, and the companies applying data analytics. It also presents use cases and analyst viewpoints on smart data.

 

Time to dissect:

New data monetization business models to expand growth opportunities for solution providers, finds (Company Name)

This is actually an entire story in itself. I’d title mine “Data Monetization: Hidden Growth Opportunities for Solution Providers?” No, I didn’t vary much from the title because it’s a strong idea on its own. Kudos to whoever wrote that original sentence.

The questions you are asking yourself right now — each one might even be a pitch, but they can also be the questions you ask for your article. Here are mine:

• What new models? Explain.
• How is that actually going to expand growth opportunities? What’s that look like?
• Which business segment will benefit, and how?
• Where’s the downside? What could mess up these opportunities? How can companies overcome those?

You get the idea. Just play with the idea. Then do a little online research to fill in with deeper questions.

Next part:

Advancements in data processing tools and adoption of next-generation technologies such as augmented analytics to extract insights from Big Data are expected to drive the Smart Data market toward $31.5 billion by 2022.

So many ideas in that one sentence! Let’s start with this one: The Evolution of Big Data. My questions would be something like this (and each question could be its own article idea, though just brainstorm right now):

• How has big data evolved?
• What is its relevance to smaller companies?
• What’s the disadvantage if companies don’t understand the power of their data?
• Where is the data and how do we get to it? What tools are companies missing/needing?
• How will this help companies competitively?

Then there’s this part of that sentence: Augmented analytics. I want to know this:

• What are we calling next-generation technologies? (I’d try to find four or five to examine)
• Who’s adopting these technologies?
• Why are they adopting them? What’s the benefit?

Then that bleeds into the next part of the sentence: extract insights from Big Data. Yet another idea in itself.

• With all the data piling up on nearly every part of the consumer habit lifecycle, what to do about all the data we collect?
• How do we get to the best parts? How do we pick and choose those really relevant bits of data out of a huge pile of data?
• How can we harness Big data, and what insights can we glean from it?
• Are we drowning in data (another story idea)? How is that shaping our consumer experience/company marketing approach/ability to compete? (three angles from one idea)

Then there’s this one, which caught my eye:  “…expected to drive the Smart Data market toward $31.5 billion by 2022.”

• Is that net or gross revenue? Sales? What is that number attached to?
• Where does the smart data market stand right now financially? How has it grown in the last ten years? What drove it most?
• What is “Smart Data” and how does it differ from Big Data?
• How does smart data impact a company’s profitability, competitive stance, product development?

Has anyone noticed we’ve only dissected the subtitle and the first sentence? There’s so much more in this release that just screams “I’m an idea! Use me!” that it almost seems too easy to present this one. In fact, every sentence, including the quote, could be an idea for your next pitch. Plus, this is touting a study. My lord, instant research material! This one is a gold mine for ideas.

To avoid having a post that goes one endlessly, I’m stopping here. But that doesn’t mean you have to. I encourage you to continue. Go on. Have fun with it.

Another benefit of mining ideas from press releases:

You have one source handy already.

The company is quoting someone high up in their food chain. That’s the person you want suggest you’ll contact when pitching to your editor. That’s one less expert to locate.

As for the other sources, you’re in luck with this one — they named four companies that are using this technology. You can choose among them for a second source (I wouldn’t use them all as it would be a rather one-sided article with a lot of Kumbaya and Hakuna Matata and not a lot of healthy debate).

My method of using a press release to generate article pitch ideas helps in another way —

You learn how to recognize ideas in nearly everything.

For fun, take something written in this particular press release and make an idea from it. You can tweak it any way you like (there are no rules!). You can even use this release to inspire some other idea. You’re brainstorming. And you’re a freelance writing business owner. You can do whatever the hell you want.

What idea came to you?
What questions do you want to ask about your idea?
How will you formulate that into a query?