question
What's the best approach to take in attracting press attention? Is it worth hiring a PR expert or agency?
DANIEL HORNING
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
HIREAHELPER
WWW.HIREAHELPER.COM
answer
What you are talking about here is generating publicity, which represents just one aspect of the value delivered to any organization from practicing public relations.
Given that context, consider first that generating "press attention" may not always be the right strategic approach, especially if the people who read that particular media are not the audience you need to influence.
For instance, if your moving service doesn't have any way to deliver services in the Twin Cities, articles in the Star Tribune have no value. So you first want to concentrate publicity-seeking on media that your potential customers read.
Next, you need to balance the "newsworthiness" of your business for those media outlets. Press "attention" is not about your business; it comes from the needs of the readers.
Some people think that you must have established relationships with media to succeed in getting publicity. While this helps, it is just as important to generate stories that are interesting to readers of a specific paper, broadcast station or bloggers and other social media venues.
Deciding whether you need help in identifying the right press and the right stories will depend on your expertise, but if you have to ask the question, I suspect you would be well served by at least buying a few hours of time from a public relations professional. That person can help you establish the right list of media, the types of stories you can pitch, and how to best build relationships that open doors when you have news.
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