Insights
Why “it isn’t a story” is useful feedback
“This isn’t really a story.”
It can sound like a dead end. Usually, it is useful feedback.
When an announcement, opinion, or piece of content fails to land, the answer is rarely to pitch it harder. More often, something important is missing from the idea itself.
That is the point to diagnose the story, not rewrite the subject line for the fourteenth time.
A weak story is usually missing one of four things
When we pressure-test an idea before it goes to media, I am usually looking for four things.
Tension
What is unresolved, contested, changing, or at stake?
A company can have something perfectly sensible to say without there being any reason for somebody else to care about it today. Tension gives the idea movement.
Consequence
What happens because of this?
If nothing changes for customers, investors, an industry, a community, or the market, the idea may be informative without being particularly newsworthy.
Evidence
What can we point to beyond the company’s own assertion?
That might be customer behaviour, transaction data, research, a real example, a regulatory change, or something the business can see from a position others do not have.
Proof is often the difference between an opinion and a story.
A point of view
What is this person actually saying?
Not “this is an important issue”. Not “businesses should prepare”. A useful point of view gives somebody a clearer way to understand what is happening and why it matters.
The problem is often upstream of the pitch
PR teams can spend a lot of time polishing an idea that was never strong enough in the first place.
The release gets rewritten. The subject line gets sharper. The media list gets longer.
None of that fixes a missing story.
This is why good media relations starts before the outreach. The job is to work out whether the organisation has something worth taking into a journalist’s inbox, then strengthen the underlying idea before asking for attention.
It is also why sometimes the right recommendation is to wait.
What to do when the answer is “not yet”
If an idea is not ready, I would usually do one of four things:
- find the evidence that makes the argument demonstrable
- connect it to a live market, policy, customer, or reputational trigger
- get closer to the person with genuine authority or proximity to the issue
- move it to a channel where it belongs, such as LinkedIn, customer communications, or owned content
Not everything needs to become earned media.
Knowing the difference protects the organisation’s credibility and the journalist relationship at the same time.
The sense check
Before you pitch, ask:
- What changed?
- Who is affected?
- What can we prove?
- What are we saying that is genuinely useful or distinctive?
- Why does this deserve attention now?
If those answers are weak, the pitch probably is too.
Final thought
“It isn’t a story” is not failure. It is a diagnosis.
The useful question is what would have to become true for the idea to be worth somebody else’s attention.
That is where storysensing starts: recognising what is there, what is missing, and when an idea is ready to travel.
Related: What storysensing means at Hyde & Seek and explore Hyde & Seek services.
Written by
Jasmin Hyde
Founding Director, Hyde & Seek
Jasmin Hyde is the Founding Director of Hyde & Seek Communications, with more than a decade of experience across journalism, public relations and strategic communications in Australia and Southeast Asia. She has led communications for federal and state government, global technology companies, superannuation funds and international NGOs, and advises founders, executives and organisations on earned media, executive positioning, reputation and AI visibility. Her commentary has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, B&T, Mumbrella and PR Daily.
