You have big news.
A new product. A major hire. An event. A partnership. A new location. A milestone your team has been working toward for months.
You write the announcement, post it on your website, send the email, share it on social media and wait.
And wait.
A few likes. Maybe a couple of clicks.
Not exactly the splash you imagined.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Your news may be important to you. That doesn’t automatically make it interesting to everyone else.
Today, getting a message out is easy. Getting someone to stop long enough to care about it is considerably harder. We’re competing with overflowing inboxes, endless social feeds, breaking news, group texts, podcasts, videos and more content than any human could possibly consume. AI has made producing even more of that content easier than ever.
So the question is no longer simply, “How do I distribute my news?”
It’s: “Why would someone want to pay attention to it?”
Start there.
Pass the “So What?” Test
Before writing a press release, social post or email, pretend you know absolutely nothing about your company. Now read the announcement and ask yourself whether you would care.
Imagine the headline says, XYZ Company Announces Exciting New Strategic Partnership. Your immediate reaction might be: So what?
That’s the question your audience is asking too.
Instead of focusing on the fact that the partnership happened, think about what it actually means. Will it create jobs? Make something less expensive? Give customers access to something they didn’t have before? Solve a problem? Change an industry? Help a community? Create an interesting experience?
That’s your story.
Before distributing anything, finish this sentence: This matters to our audience because ________.
If you can’t fill in that blank convincingly, more distribution probably won’t solve the problem. You may simply need a better story.
Stop Trying to Reach Everyone
One of the quickest ways to create a message nobody cares about is to write it for everybody.
Think about who actually needs to know your news. Customers, potential customers, employees, investors, industry peers, journalists, community leaders and potential partners may all care about the same announcement for completely different reasons.
Imagine your company is opening a new location. A customer wants to know what’s there for her. A journalist wants to know why the opening is newsworthy. A potential employee may want to know whether you’re hiring. A community leader may be interested in what the new location means for the neighborhood.
Same announcement.
Four different stories.
Don’t make one generic message do all the work. Decide who you’re talking to first, then give that audience a reason to care.
Make Your Website the Source of Truth
Your website still matters. Maybe more than ever.
When someone hears about your business through a friend, social post, podcast, news story or Google search, there’s a good chance she’ll eventually come looking for you. Make sure she finds what she needs when she gets there.
If you’re announcing something important, create a clear place on your website where people can get the full story. Include the essential details, strong visuals, relevant links and contact information. Most importantly, make the next step obvious.
Do you want someone to buy, register, learn more, apply, visit, contact you or subscribe? Tell her.
Don’t make someone hunt through your website trying to figure out what she’s supposed to do next.
Attention is hard to earn. Don’t waste it once you have it.
Pitch People, Not Press Releases
A press release can still be useful. It organizes information, provides facts and quotes and gives journalists a central source for an announcement.
But a press release isn’t automatically a story, and distributing one widely doesn’t guarantee meaningful media coverage.
If you want earned media, think like the person receiving your pitch. Why would this particular journalist, editor, producer, podcast host or publication care? Does the story fit what they cover? Is there a timely angle? Can you offer an expert perspective, interesting data, a compelling person to interview, a strong local connection or something genuinely new?
Read their work before contacting them. Then make the pitch about their audience, not your desire for publicity.
“Please cover our exciting announcement” is an ask.
“Here’s a story your audience may find useful because…” is a pitch.
There’s a difference.
One Announcement Can Become More Than One Story
One announcement shouldn’t equal one piece of content.
A major company update might become a website story, customer email, LinkedIn post from the CEO, behind-the-scenes video, employee interview, media pitch, infographic, newsletter item, customer story, podcast conversation or partner toolkit.
But that doesn’t mean copying and pasting the same announcement everywhere.
Change the angle, not just the dimensions.
On LinkedIn, perhaps the CEO explains why the decision was made. In an email, tell customers what changes for them. On Instagram, take people behind the scenes. For employees, explain what the announcement means internally. For the media, identify the broader trend, impact or timely angle.
One piece of news may contain many stories.
Your job is to find them.
Don’t Underestimate the Inbox
With every shiny new communications platform that appears, email somehow keeps hanging around.
There’s a reason.
It gives you direct access to people who have already indicated some level of interest in hearing from you. But that doesn’t mean they’ll read whatever you send.
Your subject line matters, and so does your first sentence. Get to the point and make the value clear. Segment your audience when appropriate instead of sending everything to everyone.
Most importantly, don’t make every email about what you want. If every message asks someone to buy, register, read, attend or donate, eventually people stop listening.
Give them information they can actually use. Teach them something. Make them laugh. Tell them something interesting. Help them solve a problem.
Earn the right to appear in their inbox.
Treat Texting Like the Access It Is
Text messaging can be incredibly effective precisely because people pay attention to their phones.
That’s also why businesses should treat that access carefully.
Use text communications with people who have chosen to receive them and for information that makes sense in that format. An appointment reminder, event update or time-sensitive offer someone requested can be useful. A lengthy corporate announcement arriving unexpectedly on someone’s phone probably isn’t.
Access to someone’s text messages is valuable.
Treat it that way.
You Don’t Have to Be Everywhere on Social Media
Really.
The better question isn’t, “Which platforms should we be on?”
It’s: “Where are the people we’re trying to reach?”
For a B2B company, LinkedIn may matter considerably more than TikTok. For a fashion brand, the opposite might be true. Another organization may find that YouTube, Instagram or a highly engaged niche community produces the most meaningful results.
Choose platforms based on your audience and your strengths, not because somebody told you every company needs an account everywhere. Then create content that actually feels natural to the platform.
And remember that followers aren’t necessarily customers. Views aren’t necessarily influence. Virality isn’t necessarily business.
Decide what outcome you’re trying to create before deciding whether a post “worked.”
Activate the People Who Already Believe in You
Your most effective distribution network may already exist.
Employees, customers, board members, partners, investors, vendors, industry colleagues and community supporters can all help a story travel farther, especially when they genuinely feel connected to it.
Give them something worth sharing and make it easy. Provide a strong photo, short video, a few key points, a link or suggested language they can personalize. Most importantly, tell them why their participation matters.
People are much more likely to share something when it feels like a story they’re part of rather than marketing they’re being asked to distribute.
Build Attention Before You Need It
This may be the most important communications lesson of all.
The worst time to introduce yourself to someone is often the moment you need something from her.
Don’t wait until launch day to meet the journalist. Don’t appear in someone’s inbox only when you want coverage. Don’t start building an audience only when you have something to sell, and don’t contact a potential partner for the first time with an ask.
Pay attention to people before you need their attention.
Share their work. Offer useful information. Make introductions. Comment thoughtfully. Answer questions. Be a resource. Stay in touch.
Relationships compound.
Then, when you eventually have something important to say, you aren’t shouting into a room full of strangers. You’re talking to people who already know why you’re worth listening to.
And Yes, Use AI
Use it.
Just don’t let it make you boring.
AI can help brainstorm headlines, organize ideas, repurpose a longer announcement into shorter formats, identify potential audience angles and create first drafts. All of that can make communications work faster.
But if every organization has access to similar tools and can produce more content in less time, producing more isn’t necessarily your competitive advantage.
Judgment is. Originality is. Expertise is. Relationships are. A genuinely good story is.
Before publishing AI-assisted content, ask whether it sounds like something only your organization could say or something any company could have generated in 30 seconds.
If it’s the latter, keep working.
Before You Hit Send
You’ve written the email, scheduled the social posts, updated the website and prepared the media pitch. Everyone is ready.
Ask one final question:
Would I care about this if it weren’t about my company?
If the answer is yes, you’re probably onto something.
If the answer is no, don’t immediately buy more distribution, post more frequently or send another email. Go back and look for the human angle, the surprising fact, the useful information, the problem being solved, the person being helped or the reason this matters now.
Find the story.
Then tell it well.
Pink POV
Nobody owes your news their attention.
And that’s actually good news, because it forces us to stop asking, “How do we get this in front of more people?” and start asking the much better question: “Why would someone want to know this?”
Find that answer first.
Then write the email. Make the video. Call the reporter. Post on LinkedIn. Text your subscribers. Ask your partners to share it.
The tools for getting a message out have never been easier to access. Almost anyone can publish something, distribute it and create more of it tomorrow.
But more content doesn’t automatically create more attention.
Getting someone to care? That’s still the art.
