Any tips for getting media coverage?

Anyone with tips on how to get my business some media coverage?

 

Generally, things like sponsoring a public event, collaborating/funding something to do with a charity, hosting your own public event (business luncheon, concert, industry event) can work, but they all cost money.

Free media coverage is much harder to come by unless you have something really interesting like a new product launch, do something controversial etc. One way is by giving expert comments on current events in your industry, eg, if there was a food recall due to some chemical contamination, and you were a food chemist you could contact papers, tv stations etc to offer your expert comment.

For print media, try sending out regular press releases to all your local papers. It's likely they won't publish articles about most of them, but they may if you have something interesting. Also, submit your press releases to big press release distribution sites. Most of these cost however. Some smaller, local newspapers also let you run an article if you buy an ad, and most newspapers let you run advertorials.

 

I see local newspapers featuring entrepreneurs that made it pretty big with web ventures (these are profitable and pretty large websites) with titles like "Creating Your Own Job During Unemployment"

 

Media coverage for your business is available through social media site like facebook, Orkut, Linkdin etc. Some other social bookmarking websites provide you enough opportunity to make your business visible to the people round the world.

 

If you sign up for PRWeb you can send out a press release that might get picked up by newspapers. Sponsor a charity event and publicize it. Start a scholarship fund. But before you do any of that, you have to do a lot of research and see what works.

Good Luck.

 

Yeah, I've used them in the past, and I'm probably going to use them again. Not ready to jump the gun yet though.

I can pretty much guarantee that I'm not going to give anything to charity or fund any event.

 

If you are an expert in any field (most peoples are..atleast in a one field), you can arrange seminars where you give such techno tips to grab the attention of media peoples.

 

Not a bad idea.

Let's say I want to teach people how to promote their websites.

 

OK, to be very frankly, there are only two basic ways to grab media's attention (or anyone's for that matter).
1. The Importance Theory
2. The Scaring Theory

In first way, you tell the importance of the stuff you have to the public. Like, web is growing wild and not just creating, but promoting a website is really necessary. Show them the profits they'll have. Like you will get brand attention and increased sales.

The other theory is about scaring peoples. Tell them that if you won't this thing, you will have to face this. Like, a simple example is - "if you won't buy our antivirus, you may lost your bank accounts details and money caused by spywares" or "If you won't buy our UPS, you may lose your important files due the improper shutdown". I hope you got the point.

So, a seminar is really a great thing to monetize it in both ways. It's upto you that what do you have and how you want to market it.

 

I run a local meetup group so people can network, has 1750 members. That would give me an instant audience if there was enough interest.

 

It's really great that you have such a ready made network. If you can monetize it, it surely gonna give you a boost.

 

You can always guest-post somewhere. Provide some valuable opinion or lesson in a forum that supports it. This could be a guest blog entry somewhere or try to get in contact with media agencies to bring you in for a local t.v. or radio station.

PR companies would be good to turn to if you have the money as they can place you better than you can yourself. Otherwise you can always just hit the phones with a good offer and hope for the best.

Outrageous stunts always work as well, but it may not give you the desired outcome of the press coverage that you wanted.

 

That seems like more work than I need. My company itself it news worthy, just need to assimilate a plan of attack. Press release is already written

 

One of the best ways to do this is to simply find a charity who is campaigning and raising money for a cause which your company supports. Schools and Community projects and other activities which generally put something back into society are favored. Newspapers and Radio love these sort of articles and will generally be more than happy to give you a mention, the advantage of using a newspaper or radio is that the general demographics for purchasing remain relatively strong, and they also usually have a sister website in which all content gets published their also. You would have better look first of all approaching your local News outlet and Radio stations.

It would be easier to give advice with more information on your company and your intended outcome from gaining the Media publicity? Customers? Good Public Image? etc.

 

MURDER!

It got a forum of mine international coverage when one of my members killed a bishop... sadly the forum is now defunct.

I don't condone such an activity.

I got another site in the local news by posting on it's facebook account with a relevant post, that just happened to be pretty much what they were wanting (so I just got lucky). There is also a chance I can get it listed in the local paper again this winter...

If you are looking for local coverage, the people factor is what you need to aim for... they have to have a reason to give you a plug! If your site is just like every other site in your niche you will be hard pressed. Get something to make your site stand out, and it will! Check out local facebook accounts, blogs, and other sources where you can plug yourself for free. If your site indeed has that people factor, they will contact you!

 

Local media, business journals, and just reaching out to as many reporters and sources as you can. Once you get one, it catches like wildfire.

 

try advertisements like facebook , twitter , my space , and possibly try ezine articles there great media coverage

 

That's not media coverage.

 

If I can jump in. How about directly contacting popular blogs and portals. They wont probably read yours or mine mail, but how come they can know if you are offering something good if they dont read it. Alex Tew contacted few UK portals and told them about his site and that's how he got advertisement for his site.

I see you are doing the same - pixel site

 

Speaking as a former news anchor -- what is it about your company that's newsworthy? How is what you're doing affecting the guy sitting on his couch watching my newscast? If you have good answers to those questions, you may be onto something. If you really think you have a legitimate story, email a couple of reporters in your area. If you just want some free publicity for your website, it's not going to work. I used to get a million of those requests on a regular basis. All of them went into the garbage.