While enrolled in graduate studies for Journalism at Temple, I developed a fascination of headlines in the printed press. Since this time, I have been collecting historic newspapers, many of them framed and featured around the walls of my dining room. From an original 1860 newspaper announcing Lincoln's presidency to the more captivating headlines of the past century, including the Moon landing, JFK's assassination and Nixon's resignation, they all illustrate how journalism has evolved over time.
I enjoy looking at headlines and how their advancement, which is mostly attributed to improvements in press production and the introduction of electronic publishing. The announcement of Lincoln's presidency in the 1860 paper is found on page two, not page one. Today it seems so unimpressive, as it's positioned a few inches down on column two, page two, with no more than a 12-point header. In just 100 years, the headline had exploded, as evidenced in the JFK story, where the headline and news takes up the entire front page.
While we still have large headlines in print today, the printed paper is not how the majority of people get their news. Radio, television, internet home pages, Twitter, Facebook, texting and other forms of social media comprise our primary sources of media. With all these forms of communication at our fingertips, it's rare that anyone is seeing the "headline of the day" at the subway or street vendor's newsstand. By the time we see a headline in print, it's old news.
Instead of seeing the big, bold headline to know what's the major story of the day, we piece together news "nuggets." Nuggets come in many forms: the news soundbites or breaking news tickers, radio updates, Facebook posts, Tweets, online news streams, texts, YouTube videos, e-mails, etc. Instead of being exposed to a single, captivating headline for the day, we probably see a hundred or more "nuggets" signaling to us the trending topic of the day (or hour). Depending on your industry our line of work, you may be exposed to more than 100 small headlines before finishing your morning cup of coffee.
What does this mean for the pr practitioner? Your job is harder, and changing every day. There is no single, one way to reach your audience. It's neither a press release or a single Tweet. It's everything. Knowing your audience allows you to emphasize certain media outlets over others, but they all need to be acknowledged and dealt with individually.
No longer is public relations about just sending out a press release on the wire. The information needs to be choreographed to hit news outlets, your website, message boards, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail groups, industry bloggers, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other forms of social media simultaneously.
Today, it's not the size of the headline that matters, as much as whether you've saturated enough media outlets with your message. In some aspects, we've shrunk our headlines back down to about the same size of the Lincoln headline in the 1860 paper. A Tweet is about the same size, and limited in characters. The difference between then and now is that the distribution channels have increased considerably. Hitting your target isn't about printing one line in one source, it's now about getting that smaller nugget exposed in dozens of outlets.
As I'm writing this, I'm realizing it won't be long before the printed newspaper becomes entirely obsolete. I suddenly feel an urgency to add to my newspaper collection, as I can't imagine a day where people like myself buy and trade original Tweets highlighting the greatest news moments in the 21st-century.
Once you understand this fundamental concept in marketing, it will help you to better position your product. So many times businesses focus too much on what they are selling, and not the benefit to the consumer. A lipstick manufacturer's marketing department might fall into the trap of wanting to promote other benefits of their particular brand -- how many colors they make, the innovative tube or packaging, the longevity of the lipstick stain, the glossy finish, or the moisturizing nutrients added to the product. While each of these are benefits, to focus on any of those without realizing that you're selling the promise of hope to women would be a miss.
