Let’s be honest – not every client comes to us with earth-shattering news.
Sometimes they’re just quietly doing brilliant work, perfecting their craft, making incremental improvements, or simply keeping the lights on.
But here’s the thing: “business as usual” doesn’t have to be boring. At Hot Tin Roof, we’ve spent 24 years proving that with the right creative lens and strategic thinking, even everyday client activities can generate content that makes editors sit up and take notice.
Take our long-standing client Kenoteq, makers of the K-BRIQ. As a sustainable brick made from nearly 100% construction and demolition waste, we’ve been working with this innovative and scaling Scottish company for more than six years. In that time, we’ve told their story through hundreds of different media platforms. One month, they’re a circular economy exemplar solving the construction industry’s waste crisis. Next, they’re an interior design revolution capable of transforming a project’s embodied carbon. Same company, completely different stories, positioned carefully to speak to different audiences.
So, how do you turn routine business activities into compelling content that gets results?
Here are our five tried-and-tested tips:
1. Master the Art of Strategic Newsjacking
The secret sauce: Monitor the news cycle like a hawk and position your spokesperson as the perfect expert commentator.
When brain injury and concussion became a massive media talking point, we knew our client HIT had the perfect story to tell. The company had developed groundbreaking tech to measure head impacts in gravity sports. But instead of just announcing their product, we positioned their device launch as part of the bigger conversation around sports safety.
The result? With the help of former world champion mountain biker Reece Wilson and rising star Hattie Harnden, who demonstrated the technology during training runs in the Scottish Borders, we quickly landed BBC, ITV and Reuters to film. These big players ensured the story went global.
The lesson: Clients aren’t just selling products – they’re solving problems that journalists are already writing about. Find the connection and you’ve found your story.
2. Find Multiple Angles in the Same Story
The secret sauce: One client update can create multiple story opportunities for different audiences.
With Kenoteq’s K-BRIQ, we’ve approached the same innovation from countless angles:
- For sustainability journalists: It’s a circular economy game-changer turning waste into building materials
- For construction trades: It’s a technical breakthrough in building performance
- For interior design media: It’s an aesthetic revolution with lower environmental impact
- For business media: It’s a Scottish company disrupting a traditional industry
Each angle reaches different audiences, multiplying the coverage potential without multiplying the workload.
The lesson: Stories have layers. Peel them back and serve different slices to different audiences.
3. Transform Technical Complexity into Human Stories
The secret sauce: Complex doesn’t have to mean complicated. It just needs the right translator.
When Heriot-Watt University landed a share of £160 million announced by the UK Government for quantum technology development, we could have drowned everyone in technical jargon while drowning in the voices of the other institutions sharing the pot. Instead, we focused on one compelling concept: “the near unhackable internet.” We worked with our client, Professor Gerald Buller, to craft accessible analogies, explaining the quantum internet as “a lock that changes every time you try and pick it.”
The result? 350 media hits worldwide, coverage on 113 broadcast channels, and interviews stretching from BBC Radio Scotland to the Evening Standard’s Tech & Science podcast.
The lesson: Every technical breakthrough has a human benefit. Find it, explain it simply, and watch the coverage roll in.
4. Package Your Story for Maximum Impact
The secret sauce: Great content needs great packaging, so think beyond the press release.
For IF Water’s revolutionary purification technology, we knew a simple product announcement wouldn’t cut it. Instead, we created a complete broadcast package. We worked with our client to find a Scottish hotel that was buying 90,000 litres of bottled water annually due to its peated water supply. We then filmed the technology solving the hotel’s problem in real-time and delivered broadcast-quality content to the world.
The story achieved 175+ pieces of global coverage, reaching viewers from Nepal to Colombia, and generated tangible business enquiries from around the world.
The lesson: Journalists are busy. Make their job easier by delivering camera-ready content when you can.
5. Turn One Story into Many with Strategic Regionalisation
The secret sauce: Don’t just tell one story – tell multiple stories that speak directly to different audiences in different regions.
When Converge’s annual awards ceremony needed to cut through the noise of countless other business competitions, we could have sent out one generic press release about the winners. Instead, we crafted bespoke releases for each main award category winner, focusing on specific regions, associated universities and specialist sectors. This meant we produced 11 separate releases in one day!
We showcased everything from real-time welding inspection technology to self-destructing plastics and therapeutic footwear for autistic children, demonstrating the breadth of Scottish academic innovation. Each story emphasised how universities drive innovation, economic growth, and social change in their specific regions.
The result? 42 pieces of high-quality coverage reaching millions of people, including front pages in the Press & Journal and Edinburgh Evening News. As Georgia Goodall from Converge put it: “Hot Tin Roof’s strategic approach and flawless execution have delivered phenomenal results – it’s the best coverage we’ve ever achieved!”
The lesson: One announcement can become multiple targeted stories. Tailor your narrative to different regions, sectors, and audiences to multiply your impact.
The Bottom Line
Creative communications isn’t about having the world’s most newsworthy clients – it’s about finding the newsworthy angles in the clients you have. Whether you’re working on a long-term client or launching something entirely new, the principles remain the same: understand your audiences, craft compelling narratives, and package them professionally.
Every business has stories worth telling. Sometimes they just need the right storyteller to bring them to life.
Ready to turn your business-as-usual into must-read stories? Hot Tin Roof’s senior-only team knows how to find the extraordinary in the everyday. Get in touch and let’s start crafting your next campaign.
