We all know that hiring a PR firm can be expensive. If you’re a start up or a small business you might not know if it is worth the money. And while I always recommend PR if you can afford it, I can still offer a few tips to gain media attention on your own.
- Events
This is one of the easiest and most straight forward ways to get media attention mainly because you don’t have to come up with a story idea. The event itself is the story. Also, when writing your pitch you can just use the details of the events, so there isn’t much to write. This is great way to get local press.
- Finding Contacts
If you are small business, the first place you want to start is your local media. The good news is that you don’t necessarily need some fancy PR data base to find their contacts. Just some simple digging around on your local newspaper or new station’s website should do the trick and connect you to the right person to contact.
- Don’t be annoying
As the owner, no one is going to be as big of an advocate for your business as you are. However, you have to be able to harness the excitement. This means don’t call or e-mail reporters over and over. You have to remember that they get hundreds of e-mails with story ideas a day, so you can’t take it personally when they don’t respond. An e-mail follow up here and there might be okay but don’t be excessive.
- Keep it short
This falls under the same category as my third tip. As an owner you’re excited to talk about your business and what you do. And while that’s great, what most people don’t know how to do is reel it in a little. We all live in a digital world where less is more. When we see blocks of text we automatically shut down. So, remember this when you’re sending e-mails about your business. Get to the point, and keep it as short and concise as possible. You have to use an unbiased eye to figure out what is really the most important information to share.
Interested in learning how to do your own PR? I cover these tips and many more in my workshop, “The PR Crash Course: How to Get Fantastic Press Without Hiring a Publicist”. For more info, please contact me at Rebekah@fifteen-media.com
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