Socratic public relations
This is public relations (PR) by the Socratic method.
Imagine you are trying to solve a PR problem. By answering the following questions, you will put yourself in a better position to understand it, act on that understanding, or support a PR agency in a campaign.
What do you want from PR?
Can you tell me what your PR problem is? Bad coverage or no coverage?
What do you hope to get from PR that you can't get by telling your own story directly?
Can you give me an example of the kind of story you want to see reported?
Why is that? What results do you hope to obtain?
If you had to choose one reader whose behavior you want to change, who is it?
What do you want them to do? Why?
Do you know which kind of stories appeal to them or move them to action?
What kind of media do you wish would write this story? Why?
Have you pitched it to them? What did they say?
Why did you think they would care about that story?
What have they published in the past that indicates that?
Who is your story about?
A person trying to reach a goal is what propels most of the best stories and captures the reader's attention.
Who is the protagonist in your story?
What do we know about the protagonist that would make the reader care about them? What makes them interesting? What is rare, novel or compelling about them? (What makes a character compelling to you?)
What is the protagonist seeking? What do they want? If it is an abstract noun, can you make it concrete?
What triggered them to seek that? (Ideally, it was a recent event.)
What stands in their way? What are the obstacles?
How will they overcome those obstacles?
Is there is a victim in this story? Is there a hero? Is there a villain? Where do the obstacles come from?
The "so what"
Why should the reader care? What's the "so what"?
What bearing does the protagonist's story have on the reader? Why does their story matter?
Why does this story matter now (this week or this month or this year)?
What makes it actionable? What needs to be shown for the reader to consider action? Does some aspect need to be demonstrated, proven or de-risked?
The narrative field
Think of narratives as substitutable goods. The most compelling story wins by dominating the reader's mind and pushing them to action (and by dominating the narrative field shared by groups of readers who make assumptions about each other in order to coordinate collective action).
What other stories in your field is this story competing against?
How can you make your story more compelling than those?
What is an example of a compelling story in your field or an adjacent field that you've read recently? What made it compelling? Can you make your story like that?
Doses of surprise
It's difficult to remember what's surprising about the topics and stories we know well, to remember what we didn't realize once:
What is surprising about your story? If you had to write down a list of surprises, what would they be? What did your protagonist discover that runs counter to the common wisdom?
What were the turning points where they were blocked, or realized the world did not work as they expected?
Housekeeping
A few questions about logistics and practical concerns beyond the story:
How available is the protagonist to share their full story with the media?
If they are not available, or there are parts of their story they don't want to share, why is that?
What can you do to make it easier for journalists to tell this story?
Are there people who will object to this story being told? What would they object to? Is there a way to pre-empt their objections in the story?
What do journalists need?
Now that you have thought about the story you want to see reported, you should start thinking more about reporters, their editors, and their goals and needs, to see if those overlap with your narrative.
There are many different kinds of media organizations and reporters, and their needs differ greatly, so this part will require active research, conversations and pitching organizations. (That is what people generally hire PR firms to do, because it can be time consuming. Some firms actually do it well.)
Many reporters and media organizations start with an idea or a subject to cover, and then look for material to back it up. Again, good PR firms will be aware of some of the stories reporters are trying to write.
On a high level, your research should answer the following questions (I recommend organizing the answers in a spreadsheet, along with notes about your contacts with those reporters):
Which publications cover your industry and subject regularly?
Do those publications reach your ideal readers? If not, which ones do?
Does the publication accept guest columns? How do you pitch one and what should it look like?
Within those publications, which reporters cover the topics related to your stories?
What exactly do they write stories about? (Name the last six things they've written about. Now look for longer-term trends. Which reporter's beat is closest to your story?)
What form do those stories take? (Day news and company announcements, or longer narratives?)
How long are the stories? (This will give you an idea of how much material they will need to write it.)
How frequently do they write? (Reporters writing many stories per week are generally open to new pitches, because they have a news hole to fill. Reporters writing one story every month or so are much more selective.)
How many sources do they typically quote or cite in a story? (How can you become one of those sources?)
A final exercise
Write a four-sentence biography for yourself that will establish your credibility on a topic that you want to be quoted on.