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Gaining exposure for a product or service can attract new customers and lead to more sales, but securing PR mentions can be a big challenge. Luckily, there are effective strategies that can help your brand get earned media such as press mentions, interviews or product segments featured on local news programs.
Landing such opportunities can provide valuable visibility and credibility for your brand without breaking the bank, and learning the most effective approaches for doing so is key when you’re trying to get the most bang for your marketing budget’s buck. Below, 16 Forbes Communication Council members share proven strategies for acquiring free PR and insights on how to successfully get the local spotlight shining on your brand.
1. Involve The Media In A Panel
Involving members of the media in a thought leadership panel or an event is a great way to ensure coverage. The content covered by the panel must be trending, typically, or it must include well-known thought leaders, but I like this strategy because it is a nice way to elevate a brand, build relationships with reporters and ensure that coverage results from a given initiative. - Bethany Hale, Newfront
2. Showcase The Expertise Of Your SMEs
Our subject matter experts have truly valuable insights for the industry at large, and by showcasing that expertise, we are often successful in finding them earned speaking opportunities or placing their quotes. We simultaneously build their credibility by including their insights in owned and paid content. Whenever they share expertise, it’s a chance to spotlight our brand and campaigns. - Alyssa Kopelman, Healthline Media
3. Freely Share Useful Content With Others
The amount of free PR you gain strongly correlates to how much free knowledge you give and share with others and the globe at large. Giving liberally to others, ensuring the content is relevant and useful, making sure the information is available through their preferred method of content consumption and genuinely not expecting anything in return are key ways to be seen, to help and then to get your voice amplified. - Jonathan Shroyer, Arise Gaming
4. Make Sure Your Story Is Insightful, Impactful Or Innovative
An easy trick is to ask yourself whether your story is insightful (contains a data-validated, interesting market discovery), impactful (connects to a greater purpose, such as enabling financial inclusion) or innovative (covers a breakthrough in your industry). If it’s not, be truthful with yourself and be brave enough to say, “Let’s approach this another way,” rather than risk being discouraged by low coverage. - Karen Quinn, Finastra
5. Connect A Data-Backed Story With A Hot News Topic
Pull together data—it could be internal research you may already have done or a survey you conducted—on a topic aligned with your product or brand, and make sure it connects to a hot news topic. If local, go for local data. The media always need unique, data-based insights, and it helps if your findings are unexpected or, even better, contrarian. - Valerie Combs, IAC
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6. Identify Key Reporters And Journalists
Media coverage is one of the best ways to build brand awareness. With so much content vying for attention, it’s not as easy as sending out a mass press release. Take the time to identify key reporters and journalists. Learn their beats, foster connections and develop reciprocity. Having an established go-to media contact is essential to the process. Offer an exclusive when ready. Everybody wins. - Jennifer Gaier, Elwyn
7. Sign Up To Receive Emails From HARO
We are signed up for daily emails from Help a Reporter Out, where we get questions and requests directly from journalists. Since they are looking for targeted help with a piece, we can quickly identify places we can fit our story in. And if we reply quickly and make their deadline, providing compelling and interesting content, we have a good chance of getting covered. - Roshni Wijayasinha, Prosh Marketing
8. Align Your Brand With Local Causes
Fifteen years in newsrooms taught me that local news has a devoted audience that cares deeply about community events. By aligning your brand with local causes, you can tap into people’s emotional connections with their community. This can lead to increased brand recognition, customer loyalty and advocacy. Building solid relationships with local journalists can also result in positive press. - Marie O’Riordan, EML
9. Share An Interesting Story With A Catchy Title
Members of the media sometimes need more quality content or exciting news, while people are always thirsty for a good read. If you have an interesting story and a catchy title, they will be more than happy to share it with their audience, especially if you can spice it up with high-quality photos that follow the article. Good relations with media representatives are another plus; they will speed up the publishing process. - Dora Hrkac, Esyasoft Technologies
10. Craft Commentary Related To Newsworthy Topics
Develop content that will capture the attention of journalists and their audiences. You can do this by identifying newsworthy trending topics related to your business or industry and crafting related commentary. It works well because it allows you to position your business as one that is relevant and current while lending your business legitimacy as a thought leader or authority in the space. - Asad Kausar, Dabaran
11. Provide Statistics That Fit A Journalist’s Narrative
Journalists are pressed for time and always have a narrative in mind—ergo, they aren’t often missing expert opinions. What they are often missing are the numbers to support their story; so if you can be the company to provide said numbers, it will go a long way toward gaining that elusive earned media without needing to pay through the nose for sponsored articles. - Patrick Ward, Rootstrap
12. Befriend Industry Experts In The Media
Befriend the reporters and journalists who are experts in your industry and always keep them informed of your news and news released by your partners. Since we never know what these reporters are writing about or focusing on at the time, I know that by staying top of mind and sharing relevant news and topics, they will loop us in if it makes sense to, and we may benefit from a new PR opportunity. - Victoria Zelefsky, The Menkiti Group
13. Communicate Valuable, Timely, Authentic News
The best strategy for free media coverage is to communicate valuable, timely news with an emphasis on authenticity. A relationship with the media is built on value and understanding what reporters are interested in covering. Once you can establish that your messaging is relevant, important and accurate, it will make securing press mentions or interviews that much easier. - Kristin Russel, symplr
14. Offer An Exclusive Story To A Media Outlet
Media companies are always on the lookout for the next big story, and as a brand, you can leverage this to your advantage by offering exclusivity to one media outlet. This can be a powerful tool for generating buzz and creating interest around your brand, as media companies want to be the first to break a story or share exclusive details. - Brittany Garlin, Vista Social
15. Use Words And Images To Humanize Your Pitch
Humanize your pitch with words and images. As a former reporter, I can safely say that journalists look for a “human” angle—a heart-tugging story about someone who is impacting a community, for example, or a product that’s transforming lives. Give them all the relevant information, including pictures and/or b-roll footage. Reporters are often on a deadline or covering multiple stories, so be a resource to them. - Parna Sarkar-Basu, Brand and Buzz Marketing, LLC.
16. Expand The Narrative Of A Recently Published Article
Always do your research on a reporter and pitch them not just your brand, but also the story they can tell that relates to one they’ve already told. Build on or expand the narrative of an article just published, and they’ll be much more likely to cover your brand; the story is already there waiting for them to tell it. - Melissa Kandel, little word studio
