- When competitors are in the news chances are you should be, too

It’s just not right. Your competitors are in the news, talking up their chances and spreading the gospel, but you’re not. You go about your business unnoticed. Trouble is, not being noticed is as good as being invisible. So how do you go about joining the conversation?

The best starting point is building a picture of stories in your category. News often is what’s already in the news, with today’s headlines the context for tomorrow’s stories. Segment stories by topic or theme and you’ll get a sense of angles to work with.

Take airlines, for example. The current story hot buttons:

- Malfunction (Great Barrier Airlines plane propeller spins off midair)

- Catastrophic failure (Air France jet goes down)

- Balls-ups (Jetstar’s launch)

- Operational changes (Pacific Blue expands NZ domestic network)

- Dirty tricks (Air New Zealand swoops on disgruntled Jetstar customers)

- Industry trends and issues (e.g bio fuels, leg room, savings)

- Market competition (Buckle your seatbelts for airfare war)

- Business performance (Air New Zealand’s profits fall)

The first thing you’ll notice is that most news is negative. That’s the nature of news and the beast you’re dealing with. But there’s still plenty of scope to get your story out there.

What are you doing to improve safety? What changes are being made to your network? Was Air New Zealand right to act as they did? Do customers care about leg room? Is there a war going on or is it just a news beat up? So on and so forth.

Answering these questions is your news launch pad. Build supporting facts, build a headline, test news value by telling your story to a next door neighbour, and get on the phone to the right journalist. (Ah, maybe call a PR person first. I know a good one).