Different kinds of media explained
About local newspapers
Successful local newspapers reflect their area in a super-local way no other media can match. Even big city dailies which splash “council corruption” on the front page, still devote pages to really minor parish council news from small villages, or the latest fishing results. They do this because the closer a newspaper is to its community, the more successful it is.
Yes yes yes, big exciting front page stories and free gifts sell newspapers, but it’s by putting the community at its heart that it maintains its readership base. If the community loves fishing, it’s fishing they get.
Understand this to use it to your advantage. Your local paper will not publish your story, no matter how good it is, unless there’s a genuine local slant to it. This is basic PR communication.
About local radio
There are two types of local radio station – commercial, and BBC.
The commercial stations are mostly music stations. There are two ways to get publicity on them – in the news, and by catching the presenters’ attention (most radio people prefer being called presenters than DJs – DJs are thought of as people who play records in clubs).
The news team has to fill a couple of minutes each hour, and will want much of that to be local news. These stations tend to be very good at knowing their target audience, so will be looking for very specific types of local news.
When the presenters talk inbetween songs, that’s called a link. And again, they will be looking for local content to fill those links. Unlike the news team they probably won’t present a straight story or do interviews, but often they will comment on something happening locally. It’s a good idea to get all of your local radio station’s presenters on your email distribution list… you never know when you’ll catch their attention.
At BBC local stations, the speech content is often much higher than their commercial rivals. Much of this is often news orientated, and every single piece of it must be local. Again, make sure you send your press releases to the presenters and their producers, as well as the news team.
Don’t trust the news team to email anything onto presenters, it doesn’t always work like that!
About local television
It can be pretty tricky getting your story onto local TV, whether it’s ITV or BBC.
They are looking for all the things the rest of the media want – great story, something different, local angle – but they are also looking for great pictures.
Of course, you can make your story more attractive by deliberately including elements for the cameras. A kebab shop should make the world’s biggest kebab, and get all the local Scout troops to come and sell bits of it for charity. A clothes store should put on a fashion show for pensioners. A florist should do flower displays in celebrities’ images – then sell them for charity.
Think visual and you might just attract the TV stations’ attention. Plus there’s a real trend at the moment for bites of ultra local coverage within regional programmes, so your chance of getting coverage – even if it’s just a few seconds – is higher than it used to be.
About the nationals
It’s not easy to get publicity with national newspapers, radio or TV – but it’s also not impossible.
They’re all looking for the best stories from around the UK. And each title will be looking for its own spin on each story.
One of the easiest ways to get national coverage is get a really good story in the local media. Many national stories are sourced from local media. It’s a really cool snowball effect to watch when it happens.
Another good trick is to try and come up with a tie-in to a running national story, or offer a new angle in reaction.
About magazines
The beauty of trying to get free publicity in magazines is that they always have a clearly defined tight audience. Magazines are best kind of niche PR targeting you can do.
Want to reach accountants? Then go for Accountancy Age magazine. Builders and contractors? Construction magazine. The bigger the audience the more magazines there are to serve them.
There are trade magazines and consumer magazines. Trade magazines tend not to be widely available in shops but can be purchased over the internet or on subscription. Many are given free with professional memberships. Consumer magazines are typically on sale in shops. And the more magazines for a particular niche, the bigger the potential audience for you.
