Achieving media coverage when you are a small business does not always seem possible, especially when you are just starting out. That is why we thought we would put together some top tips on how to achieve media coverage without having to pitch to journalists.
Remember journalists are constantly looking for help with stories and you can find out about what content they are looking for by:
- Search for journalists on social media and follow them or connect with them.
- Subscribe to a media enquiry service
- Make yourself easy to find online
Focusing on the first area, searching for journalists on social media, this can be a little time-consuming. However, we believe this is the first step when venturing into the area of PR for your business. Twitter is a fantastic source of journalists and bloggers. Try to follow the hashtags #journorequest or #prrequest which will give you a feed of what they are looking for. They sometimes ask you to DM them or even provide email addresses to make it easy to get in touch.
You will find a number of requests from journalists and bloggers on these hashtags. Offering to help journalists on stories that aren’t necessarily about your business can really help. By doing this, in the future, you will not be a ‘stranger’ when you connect with the journalist again.
We would advise our clients to try to do this exercise every day, reading and responding to journalist requests via Twitter. You will then build your network of media contacts over a period of time leading to media coverage.
Secondly, subscribing to a media enquiry service such as Response Source, Haro, Journolink or Sourcebottle can really help. You will get an understanding of what journalists are looking for in the way of experts and case studies. Some media enquiry services are free and others offer free trials. Take a look today and start building your media contact database today.
Thirdly, make yourself easy to find online because journalists are looking for experts to comment on stories every day. The first thing they will do is turn to Google search and social media to find an expert. This is especially the case if the subject area is something they are not familiar with.
Some top tips for you as a small company:
- Make sure your social media profiles are up-to-date with contact numbers visible
- Have a blog that showcases your area of expertise so that journalists can read more about your subject area
- Consistently share content on your social media channels relating to your area of expertise and using hashtags
- Don’t just focus on Twitter to find journalists, they are also looking for experts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram
We hope the above helps with you gaining media coverage for your company. In the meantime, if you would like any advice or have a question then please get in touch.
