You won't get press coverage through
brazen self-promotion
Using public relations (PR) is a cost-effective way of getting your business known. The challenge is to create a story about your business that will interest journalists. Here are three quick PR tips:
1. Tell a compelling story. Journalists receive hundreds of press releases every day. Make sure your story stands out.
Newspapers and magazines like stories with strong human interest. For example, the website
FranchiseSales.com — which helps people find a franchise to buy — put out a press release about the former president of a bank who bought a handyman franchise. In the space of a week, he went from handling millions of pounds to fixing washing machines.
Journalists loved it. The story came first — a great human tale about a man who dumped his city life and suit for a toolbox and overalls.
The promotion of FranchiseSales.com was secondary. The trick to effective PR is to tag your business and what it does onto something that will capture people’s imagination.
2. Select the right media. You can build lists of thousands of journalists, broadcasters and other media people in the hope that, if you throw enough mud, some of it will stick. However, your time will be better spent carefully selecting the right media outlets for your PR.
Be realistic, look at the magazines and newspapers you are going to target, and make sure that your press release fits their profile. Get to know the style and content of individual journalists.
If you’re starting out with a restaurant or bar, then make sure you contact your local newspaper and find the person there that deals specifically with these stories. Invite him or her along for a free lunch.
3. Have a press kit. Make it easy for journalists to write about you. A press kit can include photographs, statistics, history, contact information, product spec sheets, team biographies, and so on.
If this kit can be accessed online it will be even easier for journalists to cover you. Remember: these people are short on time, so help them out.
You could even include feature ideas related to your business, such as ‘10 Facts About Convenience Stores’ or ‘5 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Garden’. Photographs are an important part of PR, simply because newspapers and magazines need to illustrate their publications. They will be keener to cover your story if you provide a high-quality digital image free of charge.
