HOW-TO DO YOUR OWN PR: Get featured in Newspapers, Magazines and on TV/Radio- PR tips from a publicist and journalist

Beat the scroll hole of social media by creating evergreen content, gain credibility by getting featured in the press and most of all share your story to have the greatest impact. 
But how do you get into newspapers, magazines and acquire online articles and features? 
 
I’m Sophie Mei Lan, an award-winning journalist who has worked for local and national TV and newspapers and I continue to work from home as a newspaper columnist, author, documentary maker and PR coach/Media Consultant aka The Sparkle Coach (https://TheSparkleCoach.com). 
 
I am far from anti-social media - I have amassed an online following of 100k plus across platforms and utilise social media as one of the fundamental keys in sharing my own stories and building my businesses. But too often, I see over-stretched business owners, brands and influencers flog their guts and mental health over creating and consuming micro content… and overloading their brains consuming all the information being churned out. Whilst I love social, it is just one pillar of marketing (granted, there is always the exceptional story of someone going viral, but often there is more to it than just a simple tweet or social post, so I would always begin by creating the macro content (e.g. the newsletters/mail-outs, press releases, blog posts, vlogs, podcast episodes etc..) and then break this one piece of macro content down into micro content for social media. 
As social media is increasingly competitive, many of us are already creating huge valuable chunks of content which could be slightly refined and used as macro content then broken down into snippets. 
Further still, if your content is featured on a website, online blog/newspaper or YouTube channel, for example, this can serve as evergreen content which keeps reaping you rewards rather than getting lost in the overpopulated world of social. 
 
Here are some PR tips to get you started:  

• Consume 
  Read the publications, listen to the stations or podcasts and consume the programmes and outlets that you would love to be featured in. Also, think about what your customers will be consuming? And consume that content too. It’s always worth exploring a few places to get a feel for what you enjoy, what you don’t and the style of each place. Is it long-form content with a theme? Are their guest experts or other businesses featured? Is it paid for coverage or part of an honest article? 
  
  
• Contribute
  Where can you add value and how? What is current and topical? How can you link what you do to their agenda? This is where social can come in too as you can follow outlet on social media and engage with journalists on twitter and follow the #JournoRequest hashtag for example. Most of all build relationships where possible.

• Community
  Start and support local Media by offering value and support to their campaigns, coverage and regular content. Perhaps they ask for an opinion? Often, they love powerful personal stories of those in their community. 
  
  
• Craft & create timely content 
  What's happening in the news? What’s helpful to share right now?
  
  

• Create bespoke press releases or pitches 
  Get in touch for support on this @TheSparkleCoach on social media
  or via email sophie@evokemediagroup.co.uk
  
  
• Contact media & press 
  Simply get in touch and introduce yourself, offer support and acknowledge what you enjoy about what they do. It’s not about a hard sell or cold call. Less is more and us journalists are humans too (granted also with overflowing inboxes, so don’t be disheartened if we can’t reply!)
  
  

• Continue… Learn, Repeat and build Resilience
  Keep consuming, creating, trying and don’t give up… our failures are our stepping stones to success. 

 

Try not to feel defeated by the social media algorithms, up your game, they are also marketing companies with an agenda, so utilise it but swap scrolling for brain naps and get laser focused on speaking your truth and building your brand for life! 


For more focused help, email: sophie@evokemediagroup.co.uk 
and read https://SparkleUpNorth.com and EvokeMediaGroup.co.uk’s blog post. 
Or follow me @TheSparkleCoach on social media
or go to my new site (coming soon) at: https://TheSparkleCoach.com
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