How to Get Media Coverage for Your Business
There’s no doubt that getting media coverage is a great way to build brand awareness, increase credibility, and even boost sales. But, to actually get your business on the news, you need to grab media attention first.
Given that the majority of top-tier publishers find between 50 and 500 pitches per week in their inboxes, it can be a pretty difficult task. Especially for small and medium businesses that don’t have a lot of PR knowledge and tools up their sleeve.
Getting media attention is not impossible, though. If you take the initiative and give a little thought to your PR outreach plan, you can easily get the media coverage for your business.
How Can You Get Media Coverage for Your Business, Then?
Essentially, there are two ways to use digital PR to your advantage when trying to get press coverage: either through “proactive” or “reactive” efforts.
A proactive approach to getting media coverage
Being proactive usually means creating attractive content, sharing it with the public (through published press releases, media pitches, and social networks, for example), and actively “chasing” journalists to cover your story.
Pieces of content that usually attract attention are original research, expert commentaries, visually-appealing infographics, and newsworthy stories (in other words: timely, impactful, relevant, human-interest, or featuring an influencer).
The key to getting media attention this way is being interesting, creating some buzz around your business, and becoming “findable”. After all, journalists look for information like most of us do: through Google Search and social media. In fact, many reporters admit to finding stories on social networks or other media outlets, as discovered by broadcast specialist agency ON-Broadcast.
The best part is that you can easily try creating engaging content pieces and share them with the media yourself. Back in the days, press releases and media pitches were usually reserved for PR specialists, but it’s no longer the case.
With media relations tools like Prowly, you can easily create press releases and publish them in a dedicated newsroom, find relevant media contacts, and send email pitches to start getting media attention.
A Reactive Approach to Getting Media Coverage
Reactive PR, on the other hand, is all about responding to journalists’ needs. The easiest way to do so is through media coverage services like Help a Reporter Out (HARO).
Such platforms aggregate queries from journalists, providing them with a database of sources for their upcoming stories. Then, sources like yourself can answer these queries and if they prove to be valuable – actually get media coverage.
It’s important to respond selectively and as fast as possible, and be sure to meet all the requirements mentioned in the query. What also helps is providing some background information about your business. You can include a link to your online press kit with all the important details and visuals that the reporter might need to get your business on the news.
Media coverage services to try out:
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
SourceBottle
JournoRequest
Qwoted
Response Source
Press Plugs
Press Hunt
RadioGuestList
You can sign up for different media coverage services to see how they work and whether they’re a good match for your business. I highly recommend it, especially since you can use some of them for free.
Another option is to use set up alerts for relevant mentions within your business niche (with Semrush, for example), and keep an eye on trending stories and journalists looking for expert comments all around the web.
No matter which method you choose to get media coverage for your business, it’s important to plan your PR activities in advance:
- Figure out what you want to tell the world about your business and where/how you’re going to publish your news
- Identify the most relevant media outlets and journalists
- Start building media relationships and create your own media list
- Try at least a few PR tools and media coverage services for both proactive & reactive PR efforts
- Create content that attracts media attention (original research, newsworthy stories, expert commentaries, infographics)
- Pitch your stories to the media
If you still feel like journalists are just not that into you, you might want to get a bit more creative and follow some of the expert tips on how to get media coverage - originally published here.