3 proven ways to captivate the media with your material or component story

If spider silk’s enduring popularity is any indication, there’s a media appetite for materials and component stories. In part one of this post, we looked at the importance of consistent news and finding the right media for your technology.

Just as important is how you tell that story. Here are three ways to further expand your narrative and capture media attention.

Take your story into the future. Presenting your new technology to the media is the starting point. Media want to know how current tech will shape the future. You don’t have to give away proprietary information or promise anything unrealistic to shape for a reporter how your material or component will evolve, address future challenges, or disrupt a market. Creative storytelling will demonstrate innovation and thought leadership by pointing media to those next steps in technology.

C3nano consistently tells a great story around its solution-based, transparent conductive inks and films. It’s been pumping out stories regarding partnerships and developing emerging applications like flexible displays.

I like the way Intel continues to build a vision of the future. It communicates the standard news about its technologies and devices they can be found in. But what it does best is speak at conferences and in the media about new technologies and experiences that will be shaped by what they’re working on without referring to particular products. You don’t have to be Intel to do this.

Present a clear picture — or video — of your story. Compelling images and video are a must for every company and story. Period. Images and video triple views of press releases, and articles with images get 94 percent more views than those without, according to one expert. And, no surprise, multimedia dominates social media.

Indiegogo posted a handful of videos that combine humor and great production, a model worth following.

Tip: Don’t just grab a camera and shoot. Look at how media cover products, materials, and tech like yours, and hire someone who can reproduce that. Photographers for local newspapers will often freelance, giving you a cost-effective and skilled eye to get the most out of your images.

Find the talent. Your team may be the best part of telling your story. If you’re creating content or coordinating an interview with media, you know the stress of capturing the right voice and energy with the project. A CEO may not have the technical expertise to address engineering issues. A product manager may not be able to address big picture issues. Users or customers may be your best source.

Who are the innovators, personalities, and faces within your company? Who can tell the best story about your technology? Who does the best job presenting? Find these people who can lift your storytelling through personality and enthusiasm. Capture them on video, introduce them to media, and have them contribute content.

Google does a great job of this. It has a lot of smart, media-savvy people who can execute on stage, in front of the media, and on video. From the recent Google News Lab announcement to driverless cars, its bank of go-to sources is enviable from any company’s perspective.

Take stock of your resources and fold some or all of these tips into your communications strategy to develop a story as strong as spider silk itself.