The PR Power of Statistics and Numbers

Would you like to know:

The percentage of people who lose weight using a five-minute-a-day exercise program?
The number of people who make last minute holiday flight reservations?
The percentage of championship runners who run barefoot?
Your odds of getting a cold on a ski trip?
The percentage of people who will be on a blind date on New Years Eve?

If none of those grabbed you, chances are, if I kept going, eventually I’d hit one that did.  And it’s the same with the media.  People love statistics.  Statistics (percentages and numbers) seem real, whether they are or not. Stats are great to offer to producers, writers, editors, bloggers & media outlets.  It gives them a hook, something to work with.  They can use your stats and then your quotes to come up with interesting, off beat and fun sound-bites, articles, and segments.

There are different ways you can use statistics in your pitches, in your public relations campaigns; you can search online for statistics, numbers, figures and percentages that have to do with your particular field, product or service.  Or you can take a do-it-yourself approach and create your own survey offline/online.  If you choose to take the second route, go to surveymonkey.com and get a sense of how the site works.  Now create some fun, controversial, different or educational surveys that you want to run and come up with as many responses as possible.  Ask compelling questions that directly relate to your field or business.  For example if you sell nutritional supplements, find out how many more people are using more nutritional supplements than were five years ago.  If you run a pet supply store, run a survey of the most popular dog or cat breed, if you own a cosmetic line, run a survey on celebrities who create the best looks.  You get what I mean.  Come up with surveys that tie in directly to your line of work or your business.

Next develop a pitch around the statistics or surveys and weave that information into your pitch.  Now hone that down into a one-page press release.  Next pitch it to the media; once a media outlet picks it up – it’s news.  Make sure to add a paragraph on you your company and why you’re an expert in the field.  You can then not only pitch the statistics and information as a story, but you can also position yourself as an expert who can discuss the topic and explain the findings.  This is a great media relations approach.  It’s an excellent way to give an editor or producer a good media hook, and garner media coverage for you and your company.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011