Seven Steps to Generating Media Coverage for Your Business

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Meet Ramon Ray, Editor & Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com

A few weeks ago, I had the great pleasure to meet with Ramon Ray, Editor & Technology Evangelist, Smallbiztechnology.com and also author of Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses (Amacom).

Ramon has been on the Big Idea Show with Donny Deutsch and been quoted on the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, WCBS Radio, Crains New York, National Federal of Independent Business, Small Business Advocate Radio Show, Wells Fargo Small Business Roundup, Tech Talk with Craig Peterson and Smart Money.

Ramon is truly the master in attracting media coverage for small business. He’s shared some of his insight in attracting media cover in this article.

This exposure is great publicity for your business and compliments other paid or unpaid (such as search engine referrals to your web site) that you are also engaged in.
Word of mouth is the way that most smaller businesses get new customers, but word of mouth is slow. Advertising is a powerful way to generate sales, but costs money, which you might not have.

Implementing a plan for media coverage, costs nothing, but your time and focus.

Why else would you want media coverage? Build credibility. Be recognized as a though leader. Generate visibility for your brand.

Here are the Seven Steps to Generating Media Coverage:

1) Have a Plan
Would we even think of driving 500 miles to Aunt Martha’s or flying thousands of miles to Europe without a plan? Would we think of constructing a new building or hiring new staff – without a plan? No. The way to improve the results of a media coverage campaign is with a plan. Map out, on paper (not in your head) how you will go about generating media coverage.

2) Follow Your Customers
You can be covered in every major newspaper in the planet, but if your target audience (for example your customers) are not reading that newspaper, you’re wasting your time. It is important to ensure you know what your customers are reading, watching and listening to and then strategically generating media coverage in these outlets.

3) Know the media
Would you buy a car without some idea of what car you are buying? Would you propose marriage to someone you didn’t know? (If you said yes to either question, this advice will be useless to you!  )
Attempting to contact a media outlet, maybe a TV channel without due diligence of their coverage interests, their audience, the best way to be in touch with them and other information, is a waste of time. Before calling the local newspaper or ringing the phone of your local radio station, take some time to find out more about them.

4) Know the editor or producer
Knowing how the media company works is only one part of the equation, it’s also important, as best as possible to know the editor or producer of the media outlet you are targeting. This person often assigns stories, points free lance writers to sources (like yourself) and can be hugely influential in determining the success or failure of your media campaign.

5) Know the journalist
You might think I’m being nit-picky here, but trust me, knowing the producer or editor is only 1/ 3 of the “knowing” equation. The actual journalist, reporter, or writer or puts the story together is also an important person to know. At a very large paper, you probably can’t know every report, but you can at least attempt to get to know one or two reporters, for example. Especially the reporter who covers your industry. Inviting a journalist to lunch or coffee to share your insight, is a good thing and can deepen the relationships. You want to be a RESOURCE to them.

6) Timing
Timing is important with everything in life – isn’t it? Maybe you were late to catch a train one day and the girl you helped with directions is now your future wife. Some media outlets, especially print media have hard deadlines. Trying to reach a reporter during this time is no good. Maybe you’re in the financial industry and the stock market fell considerably. Don’t try to pitch a financial reporter on your company’s new growth strategy. Their interest is going to be the main news of the day – falling stock prices. Make sure you are aware of how your pitch fits in to the timing of the day and overall. Another example, maybe it’s August or September and the news outlet you’re calling upon is busy covering upcoming holiday sales. It might not be the right time to pester them about your new SUMMER grass cutting gadget.
But I don’t have any news

Maybe you think you are in a “boring business” and can think of nothing news worthy? Here’s a few ideas to think about:

Statistics are like candy to journalists. Does your business or your industry have any juicy (and factual) trends, numbers, industry observations or analytics you can share.

Commentary – Maybe you don’t have fresh news to share, but if you are an expert you can share your expertise and insight as part of an overall story on a news item of the day

Charity work – Maybe your company, you personally or your staff has been involved with a particular charity in some meaningful way. Depending on how it’s pitched, this could get you a front page business story in your local paper or at least a mention on the radio.

7) Events – Have you organized an event that has something special about it. Maybe by the huge number of people attending, it indicated lots of community interest. Maybe the event was “different” – like a special event for all your left handed customers or something.

There’s many things you, your company and your employees are doing that could be useful for generating media coverage.

Last but NOT LEAST, don’t forget about your customers. Maybe your product is the most boring product on the earth. However, your CUSTOMERS might be using the product in cool ways. Or maybe your customers are interesting and you can showcase them and get a mention of your product at the same time.

To meet Ramon Ray in person, come and join us at BizTechDay 2009 on October 22-23.

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8. Press Release?

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Here are another list of steps which makes media coverage into an online business possible. And what happens offline can also be happening in the online environment so it pays to explore the benefits of media exposure as with the emphasis of technology in this generation:

# Every one of us, even if we spend four to eight hours a day in front of a computer screen in our underwear, still lives in the real world. Our opinions, desires, priorities, and decisions are heavily influenced by television, radio, books, magazines, and newspapers. Every business, online or offline, can benefit from positive media exposure.

# Almost no business can afford to be absent from the Internet these days; even a local real estate agent gains a competitive edge from having a web site. By the same token, an online business gains a strong advantage by having an offline presence. Online and offline marketing of all types support each other.

# Search engines won't bring most web site owners business. I just did a Google search for "books", and found about 85.2 million entries. Ninety-five percent of searchers will likely click on the first two (Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com), most of the others will never get to the second page of the searches. This means that 85,199,990 web site book sellers cannot rely on search engines. How about searching for the word bookstore? Still almost seven million entries, and guess who the top two are?

# You can't cheat the search engines. Try a search for books and carpentry. The odds are much better, with only 106,000 entries. That still means 105,990 web site book sellers will rarely be found. How about books and promotion? Almost two million entries. If a million carpentry book sellers are reading this article, five are smiling. The rest will only smile with an offline presence, such as a great article in their local newspaper or a call-in show on a radio station half way across the world.

# The media can create interest in your product or service if they feature you as part of an interesting story. Online or offline, that's what media coverage does. A good story is gold.

See more articles from David Leonhardt at StreetDirectory.com