They say the best stories are often hiding in plain sight. In the world of PR, that saying rings especially true. We spend a lot of time chasing the next big thing, the splashiest announcement, but sometimes, the most captivating stories lie dormant within a company's own history.

This was certainly the case when I recently partnered with a New Orleans funeral home with a rich, multi-generational legacy. The challenge? Despite their long-standing presence in the community, they felt their history wasn't well-known, and they wanted to connect with a new generation of potential clients.

During our initial consultation, the owners lamented this disconnect. They knew their family had been serving the community for centuries, but that fact wasn't resonating. It was a classic case of a hidden gem waiting to be unearthed. We talked about their long history in the industry, and they mentioned they'd recently come across some old receipts in a box in their office. That immediately piqued my interest.

We sent them home with “homework” to shuffle through the boxes and find some documents that had visual and historical appeal. Within a few days, a goldmine turned up in my inbox – a scanned receipt on company letterhead for a funeral dating all the way back to 1914!

The cost breakdown on the receipt was fascinating. A white panel coffin was $8. Two carriages ran a total of $10. The whole funeral was less than $20! I was in shock at this gold mine of a document. I held it up to them, and all they said was, “Yeah, things were a lot cheaper then.” What they didn't realize was how interesting this document, which they had had lying around forever, was and would be to the right audience.

In no time at all, the team had drafted a short history of the company and we were ready to pitch. Then it was just a question of where to get this covered. Knowing their target audience was heads of households in the region ages 45-70, and that they were hoping to attract a new group of potential customers whose tastes their legacy services would align with, I singled out New Orleans Magazine, a major regional publication, as the place we most wanted their brand story seen. The magazine has a "Nostalgia" section at the end of each issue. This was custom-made for that section.

With a compelling email subject line – "1914 NOLA funeral totals $15 [PHOTOS & DOCUMENTS]" – I sent the story and the scanned receipt to the magazine's editor. Within a day, I received a positive response, and a writer was assigned to interview the funeral home owners and delve deeper into the story behind the receipt.

Fast forward a few months, and the story hit newsstands and the internet, sparking a wave of interest in the funeral home's rich history.

Sometimes you don’t have to have breaking news, or anything new, to make headlines. You just need to find your cool factor. And sometimes, that factor is in a really old, dust covered box. 

Moral of the story: mine your existing content, history and unique perspective for stories and hooks that might be interesting to the media. 

Try mining your old content