Recently I asked my followers and Facebook group members – what’s your number one challenge when it comes to PR?
Almost every single person responded – ‘I just don’t know where to start!’
I did a live training on this in my group and wanted to bring you my top three tips for getting started with PR so you can land your first piece of media coverage.
Start with your audience
The most important thing in business is to be really clear about who you're targeting and to understand as much as you can about your ideal client.
Getting clear about this will help you to secure relevant coverage that reaches people who really want to work with you.
Media is often broken down by demographics, so you need to think about:
Gender - are my clients female? Male? Non-binary?
Age - how old is my ideal client?
Location - am I targeting people in a specific area?
Industries – do I work with one industry? Photographers, coaches, health professionals, for example
Outline your target publications
Now you want to make a list of all the outlets and publications that target your ideal client – TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and blogs.
You can search online, but also speak to your audience. Ask them what they’re reading and watching and listening to. Even better – ask them what are they reading or listening to get answers to the problem you solve? If you’re a coach, for example, where are they looking to for help and advice on personal development?
Once you’ve got a list, rank them from your most relevant publication, down to the outlets that reach a wider audience, including your ideal client.
This will help you to know where to focus your time and energy and also to quickly identify which opportunities are worth pursuing.
Get familiar with them
If you’re just getting started pick your top three publications and outlets– and get to know them!
Read them, watch them, listen to them. Find out what topics they’re covering and what subjects they’re most interested in.
People often ask me – what makes a good news story? And that depends on the publication. By getting to know them you will soon learn what makes a good story for that particular outlet.
You can also identify regular slots and features that might be a good fit for you. These will be things like ‘A day in the life of’ or a spotlight on small businesses, for example.
Get familiar with the journalists writing for them and the topics they’re really interested in.
Apps like Readly and Press Reader will help you access print titles digitally.
Ready to go all in?
If you want to know more about how you can work with me 1:1 and learn everything you need to know to start securing your own media coverage, drop me an email today and we can arrange a call! hello@skyeferguson.co.uk