Four ways your Brighton business can get press coverage on a budget

Brighton businesses are increasingly gaining worldwide press attention with their high quality, creative products. From world-leading social intelligence company Brandwatch to Brighton Gin, recently named the UK’s Best Gin at the People’s Drinks Awards, Brighton is a great place to be for business owners right now.

But for those who are yet to become famous, it can seem hard to know where to start.

Here are some top tips to bring the kind of press and public attention to your Brighton Business that’s enjoyed by top local companies like Brandwatch and Brighton Gin.

Get a photoshoot

Don’t wait until you’re already famous to organise a professional photo shoot. While it might seem like a bit of an indulgence, this is actually critical to making your business more visible. People buy from people, and being able to see the company founders, especially if they can illustrate what the company does in the image, will get you bigger and better pieces of coverage than your competitors who can only contribute words. And Brighton has a number of high quality photographers who can help you out for a reasonable price.

Establish a narrative 

To build a presence in the media, you’ll want to be able to describe how your company came about, in a way that people can relate to it. Think about how you can tell that story in a compelling way, and ideally from the perspective of the founder. What made you decide to set up the business? Was there a ‘eureka’ moment? Did you have to overcome obstacles or your own misgivings? All of these things will help people understand where you’re coming from and encourage them to by into the brand.

Help out the journalists

Be ready to respond to journalist requests. Two free ways to find out whether you can contribute to articles are to follow the #journorequest hashtag on Twitter, and to sign up for HARO emails - it stands for 'Help A Reporter Out'. For the more ambitious, Response Source is a shrewd investment in the early days and can lead to high quality press and links with less competition than the free options. As a Brighton business, I probably don’t need to tell you this but do negotiate hard so you can get the best deals.

Write the news

Many people think of a press release as a promotional tool, and it is. But for your release to gain any traction, it needs to be more than just promotion. Think about what makes your story newsworthy and write it just like a news article. That means, eliminate industry jargon and write in the third person, so it’s all ready to publish. News stories work best if there’s an element of surprise if it’s something people care about if there are fresh statistics and if there’s a news ‘peg’, something big, that’s already happened, that your story relates to. This might mean a bit more work than you anticipated, but the results will pay dividends in the long term.

If you'd like to learn more about how to get press coverage on a budget, come along to our training event on May 11th. Coverage Class: How to gain press coverage and use digital PR. Use the code FullStory10 for a 10 percent discount. Book your place here 

Thanks to Full Story Media for writing this blog

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk