The Most Important Thing To Consider If You Want To Get Press Coverage and Build Your Brand

Getting press coverage for your company is pretty much the holy grail in an entrepreneurs mind. The fantasy of being famous, being recognized for your contribution, and profiting handsomely from it, makes PR firms who basically just email a bunch a journalists a boatload of cash from a truckload of clients. The sales pitch promises exposure to millions of eyeballs, the equivalent of millions of dollars in advertising all for the low fee of $5k a month.

However, If You Are Like Most Small Business Owners, You Can’t Afford to Drop $5,000 a Month on a PR Firm. 

In fact, you might not even have the budgets to spend that much money on advertising. Still, the desire to be recognized by the media, to BE DISCOVERED and APPRECIATED is a universal desire shared by most companies.

From an SEO perspective, getting links from high value media outlets certainly have lots of value in establishing your credibility in Search Engines. After all, if a journalist who is bound by integrity and scrutiny of millions of readers feels you are worth writing about, odds are your company is legit and worth showing in search results. In fact, some of the best link building initiatives I spearheaded involved publicity stunts, and linkbait to attract media attention. With some creativity and proactivity you too can get exposure for your business.

There is an excellent blog post on Search Engine Land by Ted Ives about getting press for your website. While he talks at first about developing your story and sending out your press release, he touches on perhaps the most important detail about getting press.

If You Want To Get Featured In The Press, Make It As Easy As Possible For The Journalist To Feature Your Story. 

In fact, Ted defines a press release with a brilliant insight,

““An organization’s take on some (hopefully) newsworthy event, put together in such a way that busy journalists might just republish it, or paraphrase it, as their own article.”

This is brilliant insight. Journalists are extremely busy, and everything you do to make it just a little bit easier for them to cover your story will better your chances of getting featured. Another important way to get featured is to put together a media kit. Just put yourself in a journalists shoes for a minute. They want to cover interesting stories, they get paid to. They get bombarded with pitches and press releases and need effective ways of filtering.

If You Can Find A Way To Make It SO SIMPLE For A Journalist To Cover Your Story, You Have An Immediate Edge.

The truth is, there is a lot of work that goes into getting press. You need to have something to say, you need to say it in a way that positions your brand and informs the consumers of your message, you need to find ideal media targets, you need to develop relationships with the journalists, etc…

Here is what I will tell you though, getting covered in the press doesn’t do much that you can contribute directly. From my experiences it will get you a bunch of resumes, and salesman knocking on your door, and some nice link juice. But remember, As David Ogilvy said, “There is a Moving Parade of Interest.” Just because the person doesn’t buy today because they aren’t in the frame of mind doesn’t mean they won’t buy in the future because that story they read a few months back. I personally have hired people and companies months after reading about them, and getting that third party validation from a media outlet is the only reason I trusted them. This is also why I write my blog, who knows who might read a post I write, and months or even years later take action and hire me.

Brand are built on the back of third party validation. Word of Mouth and Press. So, do what you can to get noticed and published, but always ask yourself the Big Question, “If I Was The Journalist, What Type of Story Will Be Easy to Publish and Make Me look Good To My Boss and Readers.” Think about why people share stories and companies, they do it because it increases their own stature in the person they are speaking to’s mind.

So, Make a Journalist Look Good, Feel Good, and Make IT EASY For Him/Her To Write About You and You Will Build A Killer Brand.