When marketing anything, numbers are important. Be they statistics, percentages, milestones, growth, increases, size, projections – and most important dollars etc. They matter. Don’t kid yourself. They are the basis of all news stories. Young journalists are taught to ask ‘Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?’ and most importantly ‘How much?’. If you want to sum up what ‘News’ is then it has to have all of these elements. The most important element is the ‘How much?’. If you are trying to write a media release, article, blog, Facebook post etc. you need numbers to make it interesting,give it credibility and grab the attention of your audience. This can be as simple as a milestone ie anniversaries (1st, 3rd 5th,10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 75th, 100th – these work for me). But of course, they can be as short as the first: day, week, month, 100 days etc. So after the milestone the next most important news element is dollars. Journalists love dollars. Have you noticed that the same amount of space will be given to a story about a $500 donation to a local worthy cause (St Vinnies, Scouts, Refuge) as a $50,000 donation? People seem to have a voyeuristic fascination with the ‘How much?’ question. So use it. Talk dollars. Third best numbers are percentages. 100 per cent of things can be turned into percentages (see what I did there). And, not wanting to be too cynical but, how many of us go to the source to check whether percentages are correct and are actually factual – not many. My fourth most important set of numbers are lists. Lists give structure and form and credibility. They give a semblance that there has been much research, thought and review undertaken before the list has been produced … so, in summary, my list of top numbers to include in your marketing are:
1. Milestones
2. Dollars
3. Percentages
4. Lists
Which brings me to the ‘Mannheim Steamroller’ of the Federal Election campaign. Slowly it is gaining speed and rising to the crescendo that will be election day. To illustrate the importance of my list of top numbers to include in your marketing I randomly Googled the federal election and the first article had all four. Check it here:
Federal Election 2016: Turnbull, Shorten campaign in Brisbane
Tim Benson, Publisher
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