It’s a very funny feeling, steeping outside the realm to the web and starting to market your business in the ‘real world’. However, I’ve taken the plunge.

How to get in the press without a PR company

Tim and I were fortunate enough to meet Sam Farrow from the NZPA who has been walking us through the ins and outs of writing and submitting a press release.

Most small businesses in New Zealand aren’t aware that you don’t need to hire a PR company or pay advertising fees to get into the press. What I like about the NZPA is, that with a little cunning, it lets you play the same game that the big boys do. When you submit a press release to the NZPA, you pay a fee to get it on ‘the wire’ (a constantly updated list of all press releases that gets sent to different newspapers and tv and radio stations depending on the deal you choose). Basically it lets you avoid having to find and schmooze particular journalists or pay a fortune for a PR company that has.

How to increase the odds of being published

While the press is a funny beast and you can’t guarantee being published - in fact it may take a while before anything you write gets published, there are things you can do to up the odds. I submitted out first press release a week or two ago, and have compiled a list of advice that Sam sent through with my own little tweaks :)

• Look at the news all the time! If you submit your press release at the same time as larger companies have big news, you will be forgotten. Slow news days are better than big news days. It’s also a good idea to stay on topic! Look at what’s making the news and fit in around it.
• Think about the business result you are trying to achieve. Is it to raise your local profile? Encourage local sales? Get speaking engagements?…
• Think strategically. You want to keep hitting the spot with your message so think about your key message and submit several news articles around the same theme. Think about everything that happens in the business and is newsworthy and how it fits into our strategy.
• Define your target audience. Who are you trying to connect to? Who are you trying to sell to? Is it the government or small business owners or consumers?
• Define your desired result. Is it to get them to want to buy or to make contact? Is it purely so they hear your name?

Next week… Writing your first press release