{"id":35,"date":"2016-09-30T09:42:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T08:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wearecentrifuge.com\/?p=35"},"modified":"2017-01-02T12:00:20","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T12:00:20","slug":"making-friends-with-the-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/30\/making-friends-with-the-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Friends with the Press"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"news3\"<\/a>
Drawing by Angel P<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One way to get free publicity is to make friends with your local newspaper’s business editor. They are usually on the lookout for stories and unusual angles on businesses in their area. If you can come up with a good story around your business or game then it could catch their eye \u2013 and help you both out. Grab a copy of your local paper (or check it online) and find out who writes business stories and what day the business news usually appears. It is usually pretty easy to find a journalist\u2019s email once you know a name \u2013 or see if they are on Facebook and Twitter to make contact even faster.<\/p>\n

The easier you can make writing an article or feature about you, for them\u00a0\u2013 the more likely it is that the paper\/magazine will use your story. Write a good concise press release \u2013 but don\u2019t waffle or go into too much detail. Something short and sweet and then say \u2013 if you\u2019d like to know more contact us \u2013 and give your details. If you\u2019re not sure what a press release looks like \u2013 then there are plenty of free examples on the web.<\/p>\n

This one is pretty good:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.marketingdonut.co.uk\/marketing\/pr\/writing-a-press-release\/a-complete-guide-to-writing-an-effective-press-release<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

This one has real life examples too:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/Write-a-Press-Release<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry if your first press release doesn\u2019t get any response \u2013 it usually isn\u2019t personal. It could be that the journalist is busy or has too much copy for that week\u2019s paper. You could try over holiday periods when things might be a bit quiet on the business front.<\/p>\n

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Picture by Gina Carpio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once you have made contact and got a story in the press \u2013 then it is easier to drop them a line every now and again when you have new stuff happening. You never know \u2013 your local paper may be part of a big national group and other papers may pick up your stories too \u2013 so it is worth a bit of effort getting your story told locally first.<\/p>\n

We got a lovely article in our local paper The Sentinel \u2013 and also recorded a video for their online version\u00a0 http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/htvj9t5<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Also it might help if you look up your local Chamber of Commerce or Business Coach \u2013 as these will often have free mini-courses or networking events for anyone running a small business. You don\u2019t always have to be a member. You can pick up quite a lot of good tips and make contacts in other fields \u2013 and you may well bump in to local press at these events too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve attended free courses in online marketing, social media and how to write a business plan so far \u2013 and they have all come in very useful!<\/p>\n

Check other topics in this blog \u2013 like how to apply for awards and get yourself noticed \u2013 coming soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One way to get free publicity is to make friends with your local newspaper’s business editor. They are usually on the lookout for stories and unusual angles on businesses in their area. If you can come up with a good story around your business or game then it could catch their eye \u2013 and help … Continue reading “Making Friends with the Press”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[4,6,5,8,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wearecentrifuge.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}