Every brand wants coverage, but not every brand has a ribbon cutting, a new menu, or a major announcement on demand. The reality is that most businesses operate in the space between “big moments”—and that’s exactly where publicity must earn its keep.

The “No News” Challenge

Teams often confuse news with relevance. If there isn’t an official launch or breaking update, the assumption is that there’s nothing to pitch. Meanwhile, media outlets still need content every day, and audiences still want stories that are timely, useful, and entertaining.

In today’s attention economy, earned media is less about what changed inside your company and more about what matters outside of it—right now.

The Relevance Gap

When brands say “we don’t have news,” what they usually mean is “we don’t have a clear hook.” That creates an environment where:

• Great stories stay trapped in internal conversations
• Pitching becomes sporadic instead of strategic
• Opportunities are missed because timing is unclear
• Coverage becomes dependent on luck (or a competitor’s mistake)
• Teams default to promotion instead of storytelling

So how do you build consistent earned media when the calendar looks quiet?

Our Approach: Story-Mining as Strategic Advantage

At AGM, we use repeatable frameworks that turn everyday realities into press-worthy angles—without forcing the story or manufacturing hype.

1. The 5P Story-Mining Framework

We start by mining for story value across five reliable categories:

• People: the talent, experts, founders, and personalities behind the brand
• Place: the destination, neighborhood, scene, and “why here” narrative
• Product: what you sell, and what makes it newly relevant right now
• Proof: milestones, data, rankings, reviews, and credible validation
• Partners: collaborations, community ties, and cultural adjacency

For a hospitality client entering a slow season with no major announcements, we built a quarterly “5P sprint” to identify two story angles per month—one service-driven and one feature-driven—creating a predictable pipeline that kept them in the conversation without waiting for a single big launch.

2. The Hook Ladder: From True to Timely

Once we identify a story, we ladder it up to relevance. The goal is to connect what’s true internally to what the audience is already paying attention to externally.

We map each angle to proven hook types:

• Seasonal and cultural moments
• Trends and behaviors (what people are doing differently)
• Service journalism (how-to, where-to, what-to-know)
• List-worthy experiences (best-of, roundups, itineraries)
• Data-driven insights (what your audience is choosing)

For a restaurant group without a “new” menu, we reframed the pitch from “come try this” to “here’s what guests are ordering right now and why,” paired with seasonal guidance from the chef. The result was stronger fit for lifestyle formats and a cleaner path to coverage.

3. Packaging That Makes Saying “Yes” Easy

A strong angle fails if it’s hard to cover. We package “non-news” stories into a tight, media-ready kit:

• A one-page story brief: what, why now, why you
• Three proof points: credible and specific
• Two visuals: high-res images and/or short b-roll
• One spokesperson: with pre-drafted quotes
• One access offer: something uniquely coverable (behind-the-scenes, first look, limited experience)

For an entertainment client between releases, we built a “content-ready” creator/media kit around behind-the-scenes access and expertise, allowing outlets to plug the story into their formats quickly—without long back-and-forth.

Building a Repeatable Earned Media Engine

One of my favorite reminders is that consistency beats intensity. At AGM, we treat “creating news” like a system:

• Run a monthly story-mining session: Find 2–4 angles using the 5P framework
• Maintain a simple seasonal calendar: Plan hooks 6–8 weeks out
• Refresh proof quarterly: Pull new data, milestones, and validation
• Keep assets current: Photos, bios, FAQs, and quotes ready to deploy
• Execute tiered outreach: Match angles to the formats outlets actually run

The Future of “Always-On” Publicity

The brands that win in earned media won’t be the loudest—they’ll be the most relevant, the most prepared, and the easiest to cover. When you build a repeatable story-mining process, you stop waiting for “news” and start creating momentum on purpose.

At AGM, we believe the best publicity doesn’t just announce—it connects. Ready to turn your everyday moments into consistent earned media opportunities? Get in touch.