How often does your business make the headlines in your local media market?
Businesses are always looking for cost-effective ways to gain exposure and expand their customer base. Local media outlets such as newspapers, local TV, magazines, and even online publications are powerful marketing tools for entrepreneurs and business owners. Local news typically focuses on community centers and events, smaller local businesses, and the residents of their community, making it a perfect place to advertise for entrepreneurs looking to gain exposure within their own community.
However, pitching a story to local media takes more skills than just simply emailing the newspaper editor a press release. In order to successfully pitch your story to local media you need to put the same energy and thought that you do into running your business into effectively gaining media coverage. There are a few golden rules for getting media coverage, and some ideas that will help you refine your ability to pitch stories.
Do Your Research
When you pitch an article to your local media outlets, make sure you are familiar with the publications you are pitching to. Know the outlet’s format, target audience, frequency, and reporting style. You should be able to have a brief conversation about the media outlet, and why you chose them. Read similar articles and get a feel for what they cover, and how they write about local businesses before you approach them.
Make sure you know who you are contacting. Don’t just email a press release to a general “info” email contact. Dig around websites, Twitter, and Linked In until you find an editor’s email address and first name. Engage with them on a personal level and you will be much more likely to get a response. Just like you might not accept cold calls from solicitors, newspapers may not pay attention to unsolicited pitches.
Target your Pitch
Each time you pitch a story to a local media outlet, you should make sure that your story is tailored specifically to that media contact. This can’t be stressed enough. Don’t send a form email. Don’t cut and paste your email and change the name of the editor. Make sure you are creating an individual pitch that explains why your story will engage the readers of that publication.
Ask yourself “why would these readers care about my story?” and emphasize this to your media contact. If you take the time to present yourself and your business, as well as the way it relates to readers and followers, you will be able to build a real relationship with your local media outlets.
Make it Personal
Local media outlets are focused on their community - this includes the businesses, community attractions, and people. Find a way to connect the story to your own background to make it engaging to local media outlets and their readers. Did you go to a nearby college or high school? Did you grow up nearby? If you can find a way to tie yourself to your news story, you will easily bring that local touch that makes a successful local news story.
Make it Worthwhile
Media coverage shouldn’t be thought of as free advertising. Getting a story in the local paper and running an an advertisement are not the same thing! Make sure that any story you pitch has a purpose and highlights an aspect of your business that will engage to readers. Don’t submit stories that are solely self-promotional - they will come across as spam to readers and are unlikely to be published. You will lose the interest of editors and reports instantly, so wait until you have a real story to pitch!
Be Brief
Brevity is an invaluable skill when pitching your story to local media. Long rambling paragraphs with links and attachments will probably be ignored. Save your media kit or press release until you’ve started a conversation. Small paragraphs that are easy to read are key. Keep it short and simple and make it easy for an editor to say “yes.”
Same goes for your subject. Keep it to seven words or less and grab your reader’s attention. Stay away from subjects like “Please read!” and tailor your subject to your reader, just like the rest of the pitch. Would you open the email? If not, revise your pitch and subject line until you are sure they are engaging!
Be Patient
The reality is that you can easily send 10 pitches and maybe only one will get picked up. This is okay. Don’t slow down because of rejection: simply refine your pitch and repitch it to another media outlet - or even just another editor!
If you haven’t had a response after a week, you can follow up with a brief email inquiry. After two weeks you can make a phone call to check with the editor. However, don’t spend time calling and emailing excessively. Simply refine your pitch and move on.
Remember that local news media can be a powerful way to engage your customer base and get your business known. Since local media outlets are constantly on the lookout for what is happening in and around the community, illustrating what your businesses is doing and how you interact with other businesses, customers, and community centers is a great way to get your name in the news.
This is a guest post by Shannon Ryan. Shannon is a writer, runner and WordPress enthusiast who loves writing about small business, marketing and anything else that involves the written word. She is currently the community manager for the Nusite Group, a specialty trades company in Toronto. You can reach out to her on G+.
Gary Shouldis
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Great information! I actually was wondering how smaller media brands do this? Example a Entertainer comes in town for a concert and the smaller media outlet gets an interview? Or the local Skate shop gets Nike’s Skate team to do a signing at there store? I take it these local business are taking the same approach.
Hey Manny, thanks for the comments.Getting media attention is hard work and takes some planning, but it can be a great payoff in terms of exposure in the community.