3 Ways to Get your Business in the News
You have news and you don’t even know it. It might not be the Wall Street Journal that picks up the fact that you have a new head chef in your restaurant, or a new winemaker at the winery, or that your software company just hired a new VP, but you’ll be surprised at the local coverage or online coverage you may get if practice a little public relations for your business. Every little bit helps!
3 Ways to get press for your business:
1) If your industry or the associations you belong to give out awards, apply for them! Just like the Leading Moms in Business Award here on StartUpNation. Then post the news if you win on your site and do a press release. Include a quote from the association or maybe even a customer. It is an inexpensive form of advertising that may get your name in the news. If you get word that you may be a finalist ahead of time, make a few phone calls to a local or trade publication and see if they think the award is worth covering on their site, blog, or publication so that when the announcement is made it is still timely and relevant.
2) Create news yourself by leveraging your current customers or your email subscribers. Create a survey and ask questions about your industry, the economy, etc. Then craft a press release and highlight a few of your findings out. VerticalResponse surveyed our small businesses around tax time last year and asked if they had already spent any refunds they might get. We then crafted a press release around it. Do you know what happened next? CNBC and an LA TV station picked up the news! It sure got our name out there.
3) No time to issue a press release or not sure how to write one. Try leveraging social media tools for effective public relations programs. Craft a short paragraph about a new service, new hire, or news about your company and email it to a few influential bloggers, twitters, and your company facebook page. Someone may just help spread the word for you if they happen to be suffering a little writer’s block that week. Need some ideas: your company experiencing exciting growth? moving to a new office location? hire an industry expert to join your team? survey data or research? speaking at or sponsoring an industry event? It may be just get you in the news.
Finally consider submitting your press release so the world knows about it. You can use free services to do this like PRLog or The Open Press. If you want greater distribution you can spend a little money and use PR Newswire or MarketWire.
Got any other ideas?
April 21st, 2009 at 9:18 pm
It’s about time that somebody unlocked the basics of PR for business. Just a few simple steps can get your business some great publicity…and without breaking the bank too. I recommend these types of articles to my own customers and clients at my own website. We need more of these kinds of articles for business owners ad entrepreneurs.
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
great info, thanks!
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:59 pm
As always, thanks for the wonderful tips of the trade!
I was named Volunteer of the Year by Riverside County Code Enforcement of Southern California!
Is that newsworthy? I volunteered to help non profits and the community throughout the year.
: )
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:39 am
Couldn’t be more perfectly put. Those are some of the best ways to get your company out there. My wife and I haven’t done it yet but it’s in the works right now.
April 24th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Good stuff, also craigslist.org, prweb, marketwire, dmoz, killerstartups.com work well too.
April 25th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I definitely agree that it is wonderful to issue press releases because free PR is way better than paid advertising.
One thing that I think business owners often miss, myself included, is that reporters generally want to hear a story about a person, not a business. It’s tempting to tell about all the wonderful aspects of your business, but often it’s the business owner’s personal story that is really press worthy. I learned this when I was a winner in StartUp Nations Home Based Business competition, and reporters wanted to talk about me as a business person. Now I try to include the personal aspect to all my pitches and press releases.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:55 am
What a good read!
This blog is really informative and helpful for those who are just starting their business. Giving the new entrepreneurs a good outlook.
Kudos!
April 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Very good information for small business.
Thanks,
Mike
April 28th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Great article and the timing couldn’t be better! In the past 4 months I’ve been interviewed for my site http://www.BackYardChickens.com by Newsweek, USAToday, Associated Press, and many others. My problem is, I need to find ways to get the news out to even more outlets.
We’ve got almost 30,000 members of our community and many are willing to contact local news outlets, but they don’t know where to start or what to say. We’re thinking about creating a simple “talking points” document about the growth of the nice and our site, but again, the members don’t know where / who at the local news stations (radio, TV, newspaper) to contact. Any suggestions?
PR via press releases is great, but there are SO many companies / organizations doing it how do we leverage our community members to take PR to the next level?
April 28th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Rob- this is perfect use for email marketing. You already have a list of 30K members. Leverage your audience and educate them on how they can help you get the word out, and share the good news. Give them tips and share how you did it on your own, but keep it simple. Finally, don’t forget to thank them for their generous support and inform of them of the significant impact they’ve made on your business.
Good Luck and Congrats on the great press!
April 28th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Thanks I hadn’t heard of two of the PR sites you mentioned. This is some great advice for my small business.
Blessings,
Wendy
April 28th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Great advice. This will help me with my Spanish tutoring business!
April 28th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Great blog. We are just starting to develop a strategy for increasing our PR coverage. Thank you for the resources.
Warm regards
Graham
July 28th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Enterperneurs especially need publicity (free advertising) and a press release is the best tway to get it. I suggest you contact the paper if that is where you want it to appear and ask specifically ‘who’ to send your press release to. What editor would best appreciate your news? Ask what format they prefer, many will not open attachments, ask if you are you permitted to include photos.
Good Luck…start writing!