One of the most effective ways to spread the word about your company in a market is via the local media.  

Although communicating with the local media may feel like a daunting task, we’ve broken down the process into five simple steps to help make it easy for you. 

Step 1:  Craft Your Message

Before you contact the media, decide exactly what information you want to get out to the general public. Then stick to your agenda. Too much information may obscure your message. Take care to simplify your language. If you don't, the reporter will never understand what you are talking about and pass on covering your news.

Timeliness and local activity make a story appealing to regional media.  Grand openings, local fundraising, community involvement, ownership profiles and anniversaries are just a few topics local reporters will find of interest. 

When drafting a press release, it should rarely be more than 2 pages.   Remember, you are not writing an article, just trying to interest a journalist in your story and provide them with the necessary background information. Communicate with the 5 W’s and the H:  who, what where, when and why and consider these points as well:

• Why is this news?
• What is the actual news?
• What is the purpose behind the news?
• People, products, dates, items related with the news
• Relevant information on your company

Step 2:  Define Your Audience

Create a list of reporters at community dailies and weeklies who you want to send your news to. You should also look for local bloggers, message boards or influencers on social groups like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Below are several resources you can put to use to help find contact information for reporters in your community. 

• Google – If you know the name of the reporter you’re trying to reach, try imputing their name and the publication they write for into a search engine such as Google and see what comes up. You may find their LinkedIn profile or past stories with an e-mail address included.
• MondoTimes.com – This free site contains information for more than 20,000 media outlets in over 200 countries. Locate your city under “USA Local Media” and a list of sources will appear. 
• Actual paper – Skim through your local newspaper and chances are you’ll find contact information in the masthead or on the front page of each section.
• Chamber of Commerce – Give them a call and they will help you identify the newspapers in your local market.  

Step 3:  Get the Word Out
You may be wondering, how is the local media going to find out about my business?  Once you

have created your media list and press release, it’s time to draft your pitch e-mail. Your pitch e-mail is critical in attempting to persuade local newspapers, magazines, online outlets, bloggers, radio, or television stations that there is a story in their community about your business that they don’t want to miss. Like a cover letter to a resume, a pitch e-mail provides just enough information to peek the reporter’s interest.

Make sure you copy and paste the press release below the email pitch. It’s best not to send any attachments. Reporters and the outlets they represent often have filters that delete e-mails with attachments to prevent viruses.

Step 4:  Follow Up

Now that you have sent out all your e-mails, you should begin to follow-up with the reporters on the phone. Typically, reporters get hundreds of e-mails per day, so it’s important to call them and make sure they received yours. When calling reporters, understand they are usually on tight deadlines, so it’s best to be short and polite.  Speak from the heart and share your story as a small business owner. 

By engaging with reporters on a consistent basis, you can eventually develop a relationship with them.

Step 5 – Monitor

The last step is monitoring your local news for any coverage. Sometimes reporters will run the story without letting you know in advance. One easy way to monitor is to set up a Google Alert, which is an automated email alerting you of when your keywords hit online. To set up a Google Alert, visit google.com/alerts.

If a story does run, it’s always nice to send a quick thank you e-mail to the reporter you worked with and let them know that you are available to comment on any additional stories they may be working on in the future.