Business: attracting press coverage

By Lynne Franks

Lynne Franks talks about how to get the press interested in your new business

Obtaining print publicity in your specialist trade or local media is, of course, an immense advantage when opening your business. Apart from the awareness that printed publicity can bring when it originally appears, distributing photocopies of the article in an appropriate way can encourage new business and have a tremendous effect for years to follow. The endorsement of your product by any form of print media - because it's the easiest to reproduce - without advertising (if you can get it) is an extremely important part of the marketing mix.

The way to encourage a feature article in the appropriate journal can be easy if, like any situation, you know the right people or can be introduced to them - often the role of a public relations agency.

However, if you don't know any journalists in the relevant media and can't afford a public relations agency - and it's an expensive business - you'll need to research the specific journalists and publications that could write about your company as a news story.

Compiling a press release

It's important to start putting together a press list, where you record the publications, contact details, and names of the relevant journalists who influence the thinking of your target market - and this applies to both business and consumer products.

Always include the specialist writers for your national newspapers and magazines, even if you think they won't be interested in you yet. Keep in touch with them from the beginning, and let their interest in you grow as your business does.

Don't restrict your press list to just print publications. Add to your list all other forms of media - TV, radio, Internet, community newsletters, school circulars, and local and national business newsletters - that may influence your market, and get hold of a copy of, or watch or listen to, every appropriate publication, programme, or website. Remember to bring your list up to date as often as possible.

Once you've got your list together, write a friendly but not overly familiar personal letter to the particular journalist, introducing yourself and your company. Keep it chatty and to the point, noting why you think this would make a good story for them. Attach a more formalised press release, written on your company letterhead, describing all the details of your business in the third person, with a relevant quote from you, perhaps emphasising the values behind your business.

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