How to get a story on the local news
[Read show notes transcript]
Have you ever wondered how you go about making a start getting free press and PR for your business?
It's not easy, but in this episode, I’m going to be talking about how to make a start, the first steps and about building your confidence so that you can reach out to journalists and publications and try and get your business featured for free.
Why is PR a great marketing tool
Now there are multiple reasons why PR is a great tool. The biggest reason is that PR, public relations is far more believable to the audience than any form of advertising.
You can pay for advertising, but this can be costly, no matter what, the public will see through it as an advert and that reduces the value of it instantly and they will filter it out. Just like an advert in between a television program or an advert that you see as you turn the pages of a magazine, you will filter that out. It has to be a really good advert to actually make you stop and look at it and take notice and believe it.
Whereas with PR, it's based on what we perceive to be fact and therefore we are more likely to engage with it. It's usually a story-based item, which is enjoyable to read or gives you more information. That's what makes it so, so valuable.
So, PR is worth a huge amount to you, monetary wise and for raising your profile as well. I know that a lot of people are really scared of PR. They don't quite know where to start and so in this episode, I'm going to be telling you about how to begin, the very first stages, trying to get you comfortable and more confident with this.
Making a start with local press coverage
That's why I'd like to encourage you to start with local press and PR because this is a far, far easier win for you than going straight to nationals. It's not as scary, you know your local market and it just gives you a good testing ground to make a start.
Local PR means that you can build your confidence and it's often easier to get published. I've worked with multiple organizations and individuals who gained literally thousands and thousands of pounds worth of free PR just by concentrating firstly on the local market.
So, don't think you have to go straight in and get yourself in OK Magazine, you don't. You just have to start small and build up, just like anything in marketing. Take your time, feel comfortable about it, and then take what you've learned and move from there.
Steps to get you started
There's going to be three steps to this process and I'm going to walk you through them one step at a time. The first step is, you need to write specifically for a publication, having one publication in mind.
Who is your audience
I want you to really think about your market, I want you to think about your ideal customer and what your ideal customer reads. Which publication in your local market or on your local radio does your ideal customer read or listen to? This is where you need to be.
Choose the right publication
It's not what you read, it's not what you listen to. It's what your ideal customer reads and listen to. So now you've chosen your publication, go and buy a copy or listen to the actual radio station or the radio show and go through this with a fine-tooth comb.
Where will your story fit?
Work out what is happening in that paper and how it's laid out because every single week, every show or every newspaper or every magazine will have the same layout.
There will be an opinion section, an advert section, there may be a news or business section, there may be a family section. So take a really good look, go through and actually write down all the areas that are within that paper. I can guarantee that every week this will be the same.
You have got to really understand how that paper works because if you send in something randomly, that isn't going to fit into any of those slots, then it makes a journalist's life hard to try and work out.
Now you've had a good look at the publication and you've maybe found a few areas that you like the look of or are tailored to something that suits your business.
What story do you have to tell?
Now it's time to stop, take a step back and go back to the drawing board and think, "Okay, what story have I got that I can actually send to press? What is there that I can talk about that people are going to want to read?"
The first thing to note is you can't broadcast. So it's not about you telling people about a new product or service that you offer because if I'm really going to be brutally honest with you, then that's a little bit boring and it's just not going to cut the mustard when it comes to getting in a publication, even a local publication.
So we really need to think about the story that we've got to tell. So many people say to me, "But I haven't got a story to tell."
Everybody has a story, it's about the underlying path of what you do that is a real key to all this. It's not the most obvious thing that's the story. So it's not that you've developed a new widget or that you've got a new hamper or that you've got something going on or you're going to be at an event? That's not the story.
The story is, how does what you're about to do, think or say affect other people? How are you helping? How are you making a difference? That's where the story comes in.
Think of throwing a stone into a pond, you think the stone is the story but it’s not! The story is the ripples that come out of them along the water.
I really had to train myself to try and think outside the box and try and think about the ripples rather than the stone. I'm going to give you an example. So imagine that you have developed a new product, you're opening a new cafe or a new restaurant and you really want to tell people about it, but actually are people really interested in the fact that this is something new that's opening or are they interested in what this means to them?
So the fact that you're opening the cafe, people might be interested in the food that you're serving or the local provenance of what are the relationships you have with local producers about the food or it might be about the chef and where he's come from and his talents and what awards is won in the past.
It might be something different about it. It might have a disabled-friendly access. It might be the fact that you are hoping to attract a whole new market or serve a market that isn't served in your local neighborhood at the time.
What is it that makes you different from the rest that you can talk about and that people are going to be interested in?
Don't just pitch a piece that's about just you. What effect does it have on other people? So who can you get a quote from? Who's eaten in your restaurant? Who can you get quotes from? Who's provided you the local produce? Where's the link in the story?
Where will your story fit?
It could sit in the news section because it could be about new business. So it might be that you focus on the economics of the business, bringing new jobs to the area, providing work for people in the area, growth in the area.
It could be that it's a food and farming piece or it might be that it's in more of a family life section or a food section. Where exactly is it going to fit within the publication?
Who will you pitch your story to
Now go back to the publication and find out who the editor is. This is usually front left, as you open the paper or within the website, you'll find the editors of the different areas of your newspaper.
Now there'll be an overall editor and then there'll be writers and editors of each of the sections. So it might be the sports section, it might be the job section, it might be the news section. It's those people that you need to be able to talk to directly, so you have to find them. You might need to call a paper and ask for a contact name and email.
Full press release or pitch your story
Once you know this, then you need to be able to decide, am I going to write the full article or am I going to pitch an idea to them?
And again, this is trial and error, if you write well (it's worth getting a copywriter to write these pieces for you if you're not a copywriter yourself) you will be a godsend to them because they'll probably be able to print what you write, without hardly any amends.
But some publications prefer to actually produce the content themselves. So writing the whole thing would just mean they would change it anyway and you will run the risk that it might not be something they're interested in. In this case, the best thing to do is to pitch your idea.
Contact the journalist with an idea and say, "I've got this story and I wonder if you'd be interested." Keep it very short and just try on wet their appetite.
I have a story you may be interested in. This is what it's about and keep it very, very simple. Just the very key points. You're trying to hook the journalist in, get their attention very early on and don't waffle, journalists are exceptionally busy.
Remember they get hundreds and hundreds of emails in a day, you’ve got to catch their imagination very, early on and don't try and be clever. Write a plain title that says exactly what the story is about.
Now, what's the worst that can happen?
You know, you might not get a response. You might get a response saying, "Thank you, but no thank you," but really, is the sky going to fall down? No, not at all. Don't be frightened.
Can you imagine being a journalist, having to fill so much content every single week? Sometimes that must be a major headache for them, especially local publications when there's actually not that much to talk about. Finding somebody who is going to bring them a nice story on the odd occasion, that is easy to run and that their readers love is a real help.
Don’t send a blanket press release to everyone
Your story may have multiple uses, if you've got a really good story, you can switch it and you can write it for different magazines or run it on different radio stations.
But don't release it to everybody because it won't actually get you anywhere. People don't want generic press releases!
It's far better to be known for sending quality stories that you have strategically targeted. And then if the story is a really good story, pitch in a different way to different media outlets.
Start to look for stories everywhere within your business, I might not think you are interesting. But I can guarantee that you are because people love to hear other people's stories!
Bio
Alison Teare is a qualified, marketer with more than twenty-five years’ business and management experience, in both the public and private sectors, at local and global levels.
A social media expert, Alison is a trainer and speaker who regularly provides advice to businesses to guide their social media and marketing policies and strategy. She developed an integrated Social Media Management programme which enables businesses to co-ordinate a successful implement their own sustainable social media presence. Alison also mentors entrepreneurs and small business owners, helping to reduce overwhelm and providing purpose and clarity in their business development and marketing.
