Media coverage can be of huge value to a small business, spreading the word about a new product or other important business developments. The trouble is, business owners lack the time to write and distribute the press releases that promote their news to the wider world.
So what is the secret to making sure your business is the one that journalists choose to feature in their stories?
1 Use Twitter
They are more likely to feature you when they are already writing about something and you can help them round out their story, says Melissa Talago, founder of Campfire Communications, who works with small businesses, teaching them how to do their own PR.
“You’re far more likely to get results this way than trying to sell in a story cold,” she says.
And business owners can target those journalists by going on Twitter and following journalists who cover their business sector, and searching #journorequest to find specific media opportunities. And if you spot one, respond fast.
“If they then want to talk to you, make yourself available,” says Talago. “Have a compelling story and think like a reader. Don’t send them an advert. Inspire them or give them tips and ideas and make it sound interesting and colourful.”
2 Build relationships
What You Sow is an online gift shop for people who love gardens. Since its launch in 2012, it has secured press coverage in, among other titles, Gardeners’ World, Good Homes, Garden Answers, and Red Online.
The key, says owner Lyndsey Haskell, lies in building long-term mutually beneficial relationships with journalists.
“We do this by, for example, always having high res images ready to send at a moment’s notice. If you help a journalist out of a pickle when they have a deadline looming you will have a friend for life,” she says.
Saying thank you to journalists, by post or email, is a must, as is following up with them regularly.
“You are building a relationship, and the journalists you have worked with will appreciate you telling them about your latest news,” says Haskell.
3 Be newsy
Chocolate company Wickedly Welsh targets both national and local press coverage. They have had some success among trade publications with press releases about their products and by being a tourist attraction, while with larger, national publications press releases about them being a husband and wife team and the story behind the business have struck a chord.
But press releases rarely end up in print or published online without a lot of careful planning, research, and a grasp of what constitutes a compelling story.
The bad news for many small business owners, says Phil Reay-Smith, head of media at Ogilvy PR London, is that product they’ve sweated blood to develop, or the launch they’ve had sleepless nights about? No one cares about it.
“The number of press releases headlined “Company X launches product Y” always astonishes me. Seriously, no one cares,” he says.
However, the good news is that having devoted all that time and effort to their business and products in the belief that they will benefit from it, business owners just need to convey their story in a newsy way.
He says: “Write the text of the release like a news story, not a sales pitch. Write it objectively, as a journalist would, and in the style of the media you are targeting.”
In terms of distributing the release, a targeted approach, which entails spending time researching the media or bloggers most likely to be read by potential customers, will always be more productive than a scattergun approach.
It’s worth knowing that many online publications are run by very small teams of people, so the easier you make it for them to publish your story, the more likely it is that they will.
“Paste your story in the body of the email – never send the release in an attachment, as it won’t get opened – and include photos as thumbnails in the copy, with a link to hi res versions,” says Reay-Smith.
Timing is crucial, and ideally a press release should be sent early or late. Editors’ inboxes are under assault during the day, and there is more chance of simply getting lost in the shuffle.
“First thing in the morning a reporter might take your story into morning conference,” says Reay-Smith. “Last thing at night you may pique their interest between Bake Off and bed.”
4 Target relevant publications
Andrea Lawrence, founder of organic skincare company Toulou Organics agrees with the strategy of investing time in targeting relevant publications.
“Because the beauty industry is so large, there is an element of scatter gun in the way you approach editors. The important thing is to understand the market and know where you want your business and your products to be seen,” she says.
Another way of getting valuable media exposure is to submit products for a review, but being compared to products from your competitors in what can be quite a subjective process, does come with risks.
Lawrence says: “You are taking a risk with reviews, but the fact that we have won a number of industry awards, media coverage of which is also great PR, by the way, allows you to go into reviews with confidence.”
5 Be an expert
Another way of getting some news coverage is to offer short, succinct, and unusual sound bites to journalists who are drafting stories for which your quotes can be relevant, says David Stoch, director of Meerkat PR.
He says: “Make sure your sound bite can be part-featured on the subject of your email so it catches the journalist’s eye and stands out from the masses of long winded hopeful contributions they may receive. The benefits? Less writing work for you, less doctoring of your quotes for the journalist, and being remembered as a valuable source of comment in future.”
This advertisement feature is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with Simply Business, the UK’s biggest business and landlord insurance provider, and sponsor of the supporting business growth hub.
