Free Publicity Beats The Best Advertising
Free Media Coverage Is The Most Cost Effective Business PR
Nov 10, 2008
Most small businesses need to advertise to attract customers and grow the business, but advertising can be very expensive. Free advertising through a newspaper article, or local radio or TV item, is best of all; not only will it help to save on your advertising budget, but it’s usually trusted more by customers than a paid advert. And you don’t need a PR agency to get what amounts to free press, radio or TV advertising.
Editors are always looking for interesting, amusing or newsworthy items to fill their publications or programmes. With a bit of imagination it can be quite easy to get them to publish stories which will help to promote your business and attract more customers. It helps to adopt the style newspapers prefer.
Subjects to Attract Free Media Coverage
Any small business will have newsworthy events, such as:
- Employees joining, celebrating long service, returning after maternity leave etc, retiring, being promoted or achieving new qualifications.
- School visits or work experience training.
- Job creation, expansion or new investment.
- Record sales, production, customer levels etc.
- A business anniversary.
- New premises, or unusual or state-of-the-art equipment.
- Gaining a business award.
- Winning a prestigious new customer or account.
- An interesting or celebrated visitor.
Making it Interesting
Imagination can give a relatively routine event more impact:
- Look for an unusual twist or human interest factor.
- Take photographs - preferably of a photogenic subject. You may even have a staff member who is a keen amateur photographer.
- Invite some local celebrity - mayor, MP, DJ etc - to make a presentation or launch the new premises or equipment.
- Link it to some wider news subject of topical interest.
Developing Media Contacts
It’s useful to keep a list of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations and journalists who might be prepared to take your tid-bits, bearing in mind what sort of item might interest them. Too frequent or unsuitable material, e.g. a purely local item offered to the national media, or something with little visual impact offered to a TV station will turn off their interest.
Develop contacts with as many journalists as possible, particularly local ones; they’ll often pass on good items to their own national contacts. An invitation to visit may well be a good start, particularly if your business is in the leisure sector.
Preparing a Press Release
A short press release is the normal way to alert the press to your news item, and is very simple to write. Following a simple press release format helps both you and the journalists.
Include:
- The name and address of your business.
- A short, eye catching title. Model this on a newspaper headline, preferably giving an interesting angle.
- A subtitle to flesh out the main title and avoid making it too long.
- A main body summarising the essential facts related to your story.
- The name of the person issuing the release and contact details for more information or photographs.
- Arrangements and timings for press visits, photo opportunities etc.
- Any request to delay release until a particular time.
Avoid at all costs making it a eulogy of your business. The press won’t be interested; they want a story. Keep to the story, and the publicity will follow.
You can send a release by snail mail or fax, but nowadays email is the norm. It often helps to phone ahead with a brief verbal plug to whet the journalist’s interest, asking how and where to send your release.
Timing Your Press Release
Topicality is crucial. News 2 days old is dead. Equally, too much warning, and interest will have died before the event happens.
Think deadlines. Except for a major event, a week is ideal notice for a weekly paper, the day before is best for radio or TV.
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