This is your weekly tip for marketing yourself without social media.

Last week, I told you about HARO, one way to up your PR game with little effort.

Because let's face it - as nice as it sounds to get into Forbes the first time you try...that one might take a moment. It's good to start somewhere. And it's also good to start somewhere and build your meeting-the-press-chops for the moment when Forbes calls ;)

This week, let's talk about PR and the press more.

Make Friends With The Local News

If you're a company with a local or regional focus, it's time to make friends with the local news. What I mean: get yourself a story!

Local or regional news can do a couple of things for you:
raise your profile, let more people know about what you do (=free advertisement), and help the community get to know you through an interview or a background story on what you do (=a branding exercise).

As a bonus, like I said above, local news can help you build your press chops.

And more often than not, local news are looking for stories. Going local or regional is a way easier pitch than going for the top 5 magazines in your country out of the gates. Also: If your clients are mainly based in a certain geographic area, you want to get in front of their eyes first and foremost.

How to do it:

Find your News Outlet

Which outlet is suitable for you, depends on how local your local news are. Local to London, Berlin, or New York is different to local in the alpine village I'm writing this from. In a big city, you can go granular around a publication for your borrough or a shared interest publication or radio station across town.

Where I'm at, in a rural region, there's only one radio station and one newspaper, so the choice is more straight-forward ;)

Pitch

Once you've got your outlet(s) chosen, you can do two things:

Ask around in your community or social circle, if somebody can make an introduction or pitch them directly. If you pitch - most likely via email - make it concise and help them understand how what you do matters to the community and/or what makes your story stand out.

Some examples: Maybe you're the only wedding photographer in the region who uses an OG film camera. Or you did a really interesting switch in your career that makes people do a double-take when they read the headline. For exmaple: how I went from nurse to cafe owner. It helps when you give the reporter something to work with when you pitch. Saying "hi, this is me, I own a cafe in town, interview me" is not enough. Peak their interest, just like you want to peak your prospective clients' interest in your marketing.

One more tip: Prepare yourself for following up on your pitch. Editors are busy - if you don't hear back from them, it's fine to follow up and move your request to the top of their email pile again.

Happy marketing and happy pitching,

Johanna

Founder
Bye, Social Media!

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