How to Get Reporters to Cover Your Brand: Proven Strategies

Have you ever wondered how to get a reporter to cover your brand and get it in the headlines? Earned media is a great way to market your brand and boost your brand awareness. Our team recently attended a panel at DC Start Up Week where a group of reporters provided insights on how to get your brand noticed. While these tips were given in the context of a startup, they could be applied to nonprofits, governments, or any other brand. Here are the 5 tips:

1. Be Trendy

The foundation of successful media coverage is a compelling, newsworthy story. This could be a product launch, a milestone achievement, a unique initiative, or a trend-related commentary. The story should be relevant, timely, and resonate with your target audience. Make sure it's not just about your brand but also about the value it brings to the larger community.

2. Be Local

Reporters LOVE covering homegrown brands, so start by reaching out to your local newspapers, bloggers, and TV personalities. If you can connect how your brand is making an impact in your local community or helping to solve a problem that is unique to where you live, then that will increase the chances of the reporter covering you.

3. Convey Emotion

Emotion and passion are the key elements to any good story. No one wants to read/watch/hear a news story that is going to put them to sleep. But, folks love to engage with something that is going to make them laugh, smile, or even cry.

4. Be Unique

Embrace the spirit from Beyonce’s song, Alien Superstar, and showcase your uniqueness. Reporters are being pitched stories ALL THE TIME so for you to break through the clutter and grab their attention, you need to be unique. Reporters will always find time in their schedule to talk to an unique brand so make your differentiators clear. So, do like Beyonce said in “Alien Superstar” and be UNIQUE because that’s what you are.

5. Include Data

Data-driven stories are highly appealing to reporters. Provide relevant data and statistics that support your story. Additionally, position your team members or executives as industry experts who can offer valuable insights and commentary. For example, if you are a nonprofit that focuses on hunger and a government report recently came out talking about local hunger statistics, then that would be a way to attach your brand to a relevant data.

In today's competitive business landscape, getting media coverage for your brand is a vital component of building awareness, credibility, and trust. Media coverage can amplify your message, reach a wider audience, and establish your brand as an industry authority.  By following these proven strategies, you can increase your chances of securing media coverage that boosts your brand's visibility and credibility. Remember, patience and persistence are key in the world of media relations.