The Right Way to Mine for Newsworthy Data

Last month, I contributed an article to PR News titled, “How PR Can Feed the Data Journalism Pipeline,” which is an important topic that can lead to huge PR success. Following are a few key takeaways from the piece (click on the link above to read it in its entirety):

Data journalism from a PR perspective is mining a company’s proprietary data, or conducting third party research, to illuminate a unique insight into its market. It has the potential to fuel the entire PR pipeline. However, not every piece of data is going to catapult a company to “The Today Show” or USA Today. The keys to success lie in the data itself and the creative presentation of that data. A successful data journalism initiative hinges on the following:

1. Valid data. The data must come from a company’s proprietary data set, or from a respected third party data provider.
2. Unique insight. If it’s already been done, your data may fall flat.
3. Broad implications. If you want to broaden your story to the business and or consumer press, think about what data points will resonate. USA Today will not care about the percentage of server failures last year. They will care about how many people lost access to their mobile devices.
4. Repeatable model. To sustain interest, your data must be repeatable and show change over time.

Some examples of InkHouse client campaigns that have worked well include and have garnered broad coverage in outlets ranging from TechCrunch, to “The Today Show,” Huffington Post, and USA Today (just to name a few!):

• Fiksu’s Indexes
• Captivate’s Office Pulse