We need to have a candid conversation: Not everything that happens at your company is newsworthy.

I speak to you with love in my heart, but my inbox and social feed is stuffed silly with non-news trying to masquerade as news-news. Maybe you've seen it too? An organization …

• Spins a rebrand as worth reporting on
• Announces a minor product upgrade
• Hires a new executive*
• Does something else so unremarkable that I can't even think of another bulleted example right here

Are those kinds of things news to share in your all-hands staff meetings and on your intranet? HECK YES.

Are those kinds of things news outside of your all-hands and intranet? HECK NO.

I'm not sure exactly why companies do this, or why writers like us go along with it …

Are we trying to placate an executive with a massive ego yet minuscule marketing sensibility? Are we paying PR agencies based on the volume of press releases issued?

I don't know. But I do know this: Don't do it. Think of your audience first.

In his seminal book on journalism, Writing to Deadline, Donald Murray offers a pointer on how to find the focal point (or lead) in a story: “What would make the reader turn and say to her husband, ‘Now listen to this, Ira…'?”¹

Murray isn't talking about how to decide what's worth sharing and what isn't. But it's a good filter to use. You might not be targeting Ira's wife as your reader, but consider her a proxy for your own reader by asking, would the reader find this useful to know?

If the answer is yes … Boom. Share it.

If the answer is no … well, issue a press release if you must. But your mission as a marketer is to make sure it stays off your company blog. Stash it in the Press or Media section of your website as background for journalists, researchers, analysts, or your mom.