Experts share five ways to gain local media coverage for your business
Hundreds and hundreds.
That’s how many email pitches WTSP reporter and weekend anchor Josh Sidorowicz says he and his colleagues receive every single day.
And no wonder. Traditional media remains highly influential and powerful in local markets. So there’s stiff competition for news coverage which can provide enormous reach and instant credibility to lift a business’s paid customer acquisition efforts.
But take heart: many of those hundreds of pitches are automated trash.
Often, media outreach is poorly targeted, impersonal, and not well-researched. Some view media relations as a pray-and-spray strategy: spam a large list of journalists with the same pitch, and maybe you’ll get lucky.
There’s a better way.
I spoke to PR, business, and journalism leaders to gather strategies to position you as a valuable resource. You can create a pathway to positive coverage that serves the journalist, their audience, and yes, your business goals, too.
Develop a long-term partnership mindset
The most productive relationships with media members are built on a long-term commitment to providing value to that journalist.
David Aylesworth is the founder of CēVē, an app that lowers fuel costs and travel times for commuters and commercial drivers. (Disclosure: I provide communications strategy and services to CēVē).
Aylesworth offers to be a resource for media in the local Tampa market and in the transportation space. By offering to provide context on issues related to autonomous vehicles, fuel efficiency, and related subjects, he positions himself as someone of value to media members, and an expert in his space.
Tracy Winchell, owner of Winchell Story Works and host of the Reboots Podcast, has worked both sides of the journalism partnership as a journalist and PR professional.
When I believed the PR pro knew journalistic integrity came first, I'd work to accommodate within that framework. A flack badgering me for coverage? Nope. And when I pitched stories as a PR pro, it HAD to be about what made the journo look GOOD with the boss and viewer.
The point is that if you're a PR pro, you want to NOT get your reporter in trouble. You DO want to make it easy to excite the reporter's boss which even in these odd times means creating interesting content for the media's audience.
To get value, you must first give value.
Distill national trends down to local impacts
Cristin Culver is VP of Comms at Notarize, an online document notarization service. In a previous role at online home buyer Opendoor, Culver localized corporate news, framing its impact on local markets. She shared her strategy in an interview on Ari Lewis’ podcast:
“Use some kind of like national news hook and to tie it to what's happening locally, because local newsrooms—their mandate is to take what's happening on a national level and localize it. So if you can help a reporter do that, that will help you be successful.”
For example, Culver took a corporate story—a new $400 million funding round for Opendoor—and conveyed the funding’s impact on Charlotte, North Carolina:
Opendoor says it will use the $400 million investment in a variety of ways: to integrate the Open Listings buyer platform (which it acquired this year); implement title and mortgage services; invest in market-level pricing models; build applications to connect with local contractors; and hire more employees nationwide.
Cristin Culver, head of local communications at Opendoor, says the company plans to hire 10 more people in Charlotte by the end of the year and hopes to double its headcount here by the end of 2019. Opendoor is also expanding its local footprint over the South Carolina border.
Sidorowicz shared a similar sentiment, imploring businesses to think about the news value for a large local audiences:
“If we’re going to do a story, 9 times of 10 there needs to be something that ties it in with the news of the day. If a local business has a story to tell, what would make a wide swath of viewers care about it? How does it relate to what’s happening in the community or the world right now? Also, is there an emotional aspect?”
To serve local audiences, journalists must first gain their attention. You can help them by clearly demonstrating the local impact of national news and trends. And if there’s an emotional resonance to the story, all the better.
Start small
When CēVē announced the launch of its iOS app, Aylesworth targeted the press announcement to niche outlets covering the Tampa Bay startup scene. Several, including 83 Degrees Media, carried the story.
Which was great, but there was a bonus: smaller outlets are monitored by local TV, radio, and newspapers, who are also looking for news.
After seeing the CēVē story, Tampa television station Bay News 9, reached out and ran a story about the CēVē app’s capabilities.
Sometimes, your news might be better suited to local niche publications, which are valuable in and of themselves. And, occasionally, the credibility created by niche coverage can bubble up to an organization with broader reach.
Understand the news your sharing. Is it applicable to a broader audience, or a smaller, more specialized group? Target appropriately and you’ll have more success.
Do your homework
There are a million posts on how to structure an email pitch, so we won’t be redundant here. But I will share one piece of advice. The best way to create a successful cold email is to start with something warm.
Research the journalist you want to connect with. Make sure that person covers the beat relevant to your business. Read their background and other stories they’ve filed. Demonstrate that you’ve taken the time to understand them and their work, and open your pitch that way. Comment on a recent story they filed, or find something else in their background that creates a connection and reference it.
Those hundreds of other pitches? Many will skip this step.
For example, before I reached out Josh Sidorowicz to see if he would comment for this story, I did my homework. I discovered that like me, he is a Michigan native who attended Michigan State University. I used our common background to create a connection in my cold email to him. It worked. (We Spartans stick together.)
It’s not all about text and email
Email is the standard method for reaching out to media members, but it’s not the only way.
“I’m actually more likely to see a pitch if it comes through on social media. I’d like to see more reaching out that way,” says Sidorowicz.
Both online and in traditional media, visuals matter. Said Sidowitz:
“And always think visually! Obviously, TV is a visual medium. But you’d be surprised how many people seem to not think about that aspect. Are there picture/video opportunities? What could we *see* that would really make the story impactful? This is an incredibly important part of any pitch.”
Video is critical in television, obviously. But online video’s growth continues unabated. Even traditional newspapers use video to supplement stories online.
To get, give first
It sounds simple, but standing out to local media isn’t complicated. It’s personal.
To reach your public relations objectives, become a thoughtful partner to local media. Do your research. Understand how to help local journalists gain the attention of their audiences. Then help reporters serve their audiences, and you’re far more likely to garner coverage for your business that serves you, but more importantly, the communities and potential customers you want to reach.