Your team doesn’t need another brainstorm. They need a better process for finding stories.
When your client says they have no news and the team has exhausted the obvious angles, the brainstorm runs dry along with your motivation and creativity.
You find yourselves staring at a blank page wondering how you’re supposed to deliver another month of coverage.
After 20 years in PR, I’ve found the agencies and in-house teams that consistently earn coverage aren’t necessarily better writers.
They’ve simply got a better process for finding stories.
That’s what this training is designed to teach.
Learn the process I use to generate client coverage reports like this, in 9 months:
I work with startups and scale-ups across a range of sectors, from SaaS and fintech to travel, pets and ecommerce.
They know the value of PR and increased visibilty, but many think they don’t have genuine news to share.
The reality is they usually do.
Most businesses are sitting on dozens of potential stories. They just don’t know how to spot them.
In this workshop, I’ll show your team how to uncover those opportunities and turn them into stories journalists actually want.
What we’ll cover
How to find stories when your client has no news
The exact questions I ask clients to uncover founder stories, opinion pieces, expert commentary opportunities and media angles.
How to build stories from publicly available data
My favourite sources of data for PR campaigns, how to analyse them and how to turn them into coverage opportunities.
How to create a year’s worth of PR opportunities from one client meeting
Most agencies are leaving story ideas on the table. I’ll show you how to extract far more value from every client conversation.
How to react to the news agenda
How to identify opportunities, add value to the conversation and avoid jumping on stories that were never a fit in the first place.
How to create campaigns journalists actually care about
The difference between a client story and a media story, and why confusing the two is one of the biggest reasons PR campaigns fail.
This isn’t PR theory
This is practical training based on real campaigns.
You’ll leave with a repeatable framework your team can use across every client account.
And your clients’ ‘As Seen In’ section, will look as impressive as this:
Who it’s for?
- PR agencies
- Digital PR and SEO agencies
- Communications consultancies
- In-house PR teams
- Junior PR executives
- Account managers
- Agency founders
Whether your team is new to PR or you’ve been doing it for years, the goal is the same:
To help you find better stories, faster.
What your team will leave with
- A repeatable story generation framework
- New ways to uncover founder stories
- Data sources for future campaigns
- Reactive PR techniques
- Seasonal story planning methods
- Story generation templates
- Practical ideas for existing clients
And most importantly, more confidence when a client says:
“So, what can we do for PR this month?”
About Jessica Maccio
I’m a fractional digital PR director with 20 years’ experience across traditional and digital PR. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicamaccio/
I’ve worked with brands including M&S, MTV, GHD and Twickets and now help startups and scale-ups earn credible media coverage and authoritative backlinks through strategic PR.
Richard Davies, founder of Twickets, said: “We’ve had the pleasure of working with Jess for the past 18 months in her capacity as PR representative for Twickets. She has always been reliable, proactive and a great partner throughout our time working together.
Her guidance was especially valuable during the recent Oasis related surge in media interest around their reunion tour. She handled the volume, pace and sensitivity of the coverage with real professionalism, helping us navigate interviews, messaging and general press enquiries confidently – and removed a lot of the stress!
I’d happily recommend her to anyone looking for a thoughtful, capable and genuinely collaborative PR expert.”
Training Options
1. PR Story Generation Workshop
Perfect for agency and in-house teams looking to improve story generation and campaign ideation.
£1,250 + VAT – Half day in-person
Includes:
- Up to 15 attendees
- Training session
- Workbook
- Templates
2. Live Online Story Generation Programme
3 × 1-hour video call sessions: £1,250 + VAT
Session 1 – The Framework
- Why brainstorming often falls short
- Story generation methodology
- The key places to find PR stories
- Homework: identify 10 potential angles for a client
Session 2 – Developing Stronger Stories
- Review the team’s ideas
- Improve headlines and hooks
- Find stronger data, opinions and news angles
- Homework: develop fully formed story concepts
Session 3 – From Idea to Coverage
- Critique the final ideas
- How to package them for journalists
- Common mistakes
- Q&A and implementation plan
3. PR Story Sprint
£2,750 + VAT – Full day in-person
A deeper dive into story development, data-led PR, reactive opportunities and live client ideation.
Includes:
- Morning training
- Afternoon ideation workshop
- Up to 15 attendees
- Templates
- 50+ story opportunities
- Seasonal calendar
- Founder profiling angles
- Expert commentary opportunities
4. Bespoke Training and Video Call Consultations
Tailored around your clients, sectors and team’s experience level. Please enquire for pricing.
Prices exclude travel and accommodation where required.
Interested?
Get in touch to discuss PR Story Generation Training for your agency.