Almost every company we’ve ever worked with walked in with some version of the same problem.
The story they wanted to tell and the story a journalist would actually write were… not the same story. They weren’t even on the same side of the room.
The Attention Divide is Notably’s name for the split between the story a company wants to tell and the story a reporter would actually write. Companies communicate from the inside out. People pay attention from the outside in. Every announcement lands on one side of that line or the other.
Why it’s a divide
It’s tempting to treat this like a gap you can close by pushing harder: more reporters, more follow-ups, a punchier subject line. That almost never works.
A divide has two sides, and each side asks a different question. The company’s side asks, what did we do? The reader’s side asks, what does this mean for me? Coverage only ever happens on the reader’s side. So you can’t shout your news across. You have to walk it over.
It’s also the line between the companies that get covered and the ones that don’t. And it usually has nothing to do with budget or how big the news is. It comes down to which side the story is told from.
What it looks like
From the inside, the news is the product, the funding, the new hire, the milestone. And those things matter enormously to the company! A reporter is standing on the other side, asking a totally different question: why would my readers care about this today?
One of our clients, a heritage workwear brand, is a perfect example. The natural story from the inside was craftsmanship and product innovation. Great story… for the brand.
The story on the reader’s side was bigger. Skilled trades were having a resurgence, a new generation of workers was coming in, and more of them were women. When we tied the brand to that shift, The Wall Street Journal wrote about how clothing for the trades was having a moment.
The craftsmanship was still in the story. It just wasn’t the headline.
Five signs your news is on the wrong side
- Your announcement starts with your company name
- You can’t say who outside your industry would care, or why
- The best line in your press release is a quote from your own CEO
- You’ve pitched the same news to a lot of reporters and heard… crickets
- The coverage you do get is your release, rewritten, on a trade site
How we get your story across
We start on the reader’s side and work backward. Who is this story actually about? What’s changing for them? What do they already believe that this news challenges?
Then we run the answer through our MINUTES framework -- the seven reasons people pay attention -- and look for the version of the story that clearly triggers at least one.
Sometimes the divide is narrow, and crossing it is just a matter of leading with a different fact. Sometimes the company’s news is really proof for a bigger story that’s already happening on the reader’s side, the way those boots were proof for the trades. Either way, the company still gets credit. It just gets there through the reader’s door instead of its own.
Fastest test I know: ask someone outside your company to read your announcement and tell you, in one sentence, why it matters. If they can’t? Your story is still on your side of the Attention Divide.
Crossing it is the first step in how we use behavioral psychology in PR.
Want a second set of eyes on your next announcement? Book a call with us. We’ll tell you exactly what we’d dig for.
FAQ
What is the Attention Divide in PR?
The Attention Divide is Notably’s term for the split between the story a company wants to tell and the story a reporter would actually write. Companies tend to communicate from the inside out, while readers pay attention from the outside in, and coverage only happens on the reader’s side.
Is the Attention Divide the same as the Attention Gap?
Yes. The Attention Divide is Notably’s current name for what it first called the Attention Gap. The new name reflects that the two stories sit on opposite sides, so the fix is to bring the story over to the reader’s side, not to push the company’s version harder.
Why isn’t my company news getting press coverage?
Usually because it’s written from the company’s point of view instead of the reader’s. If the announcement leads with the company, the product or the funding, and doesn’t say who outside the industry should care and why, reporters have no story to write. The news is still on the company’s side of the Attention Divide.
How do you cross the Attention Divide?
Start on the reader’s side. Ask who the story is really about, what’s changing for them, and what belief it challenges. Then find the version of the news that triggers at least one clear reason to pay attention, such as identity, urgency or tension, and lead with that.
How can I tell if my announcement is on the wrong side of the Attention Divide?
Ask someone outside your company to read it and explain in one sentence why it matters. If they can’t, or if your best line is a quote from your own CEO, your story is likely still on the company’s side of the Attention Divide.
More from the Notably glossary
- MINUTES -- the seven reasons people pay attention, and the framework we use to decide what’s newsworthy.
- Inside Voice -- how a company describes its news from the inside, assuming it’s interesting just as it is.
- The Headline Ceiling -- a story can only go as high as the best headline you can imagine for it.
- The Expert Vacuum -- a topic reporters keep covering where nobody has become the obvious expert yet.
- The Callback -- when a reporter who covered you once comes back, and keeps coming back.
All six, with a client example for each, are in the Notably glossary.