How Small Business PR Can Get You Free Media Coverage and Attract New Customers

In this insightful episode of the Talk About Digital Podcast, host Mark A Preston delves into the transformative role that PR can play in driving growth for small businesses. If you're a small business owner or an SME looking to boost your visibility, build trust, and attract new customers, this episode is packed with actionable advice on how to get started with PR and make it work for your business.

Unlike paid ads, PR offers you earned media exposure, which not only enhances your credibility but also builds long-term customer loyalty. Mark breaks down how to harness the power of public relations by focusing on the following:

• Why PR is Crucial for Customer Growth: Learn how PR can help your business establish a voice in your market, create trust, and generate a loyal customer base. Mark explains the long-term value of earned media coverage and why it’s more impactful than traditional advertising.
• Identifying Your Unique PR Story: Mark highlights one of the biggest mistakes small businesses make when approaching PR—treating it like an advertisement. He shares the key elements of a newsworthy PR story, such as uniqueness, timeliness, human interest, and local relevance. By thinking like a journalist, you’ll be better positioned to gain media coverage that matters.
• How to Get PR Exposure: From creating a press release to identifying the right journalists to pitch to, Mark shares his process for securing valuable media attention. He also offers a pro tip: use Google News to research what stories are getting published in your industry, giving you insights on how to craft your own compelling PR angles.
• Leverage Local Media for Exposure: One of the best starting points for small businesses is tapping into local media outlets. Mark’s TAD Takeaway for this episode is to leverage community-driven stories to build authentic local exposure. He explains how to pitch stories that highlight your business’s impact on the local community—whether through job creation, supporting local events, or offering unique services.

What Will You Gain?

By listening to this episode, you’ll walk away with practical, easy-to-implement PR tips that will help your business secure authentic media coverage. Whether it’s through local newspapers, radio stations, or online blogs, you’ll learn how to connect with the right journalists and tell stories that resonate with their audiences, driving trust and visibility for your brand.

If you’re ready to take your small business to the next level using the power of PR, this episode is an essential listen!

This podcast is produced by Voice It Podcast Agency
https://voiceitpodcastagency.co.uk

Transcript

[00:00:00] Mark A Preston: Welcome to Talk About Digital, the podcast for small and medium sized businesses looking to grow new customers through impactful, low cost digital marketing strategies. Have you invested in digital marketing with zero positive impact? If this sounds like you, then this is the place for you. Each week, we provide actionable steps to move your business forward with our TAD takeaway, helping you to harness your biggest asset, yourself, to achieve big impact with minimal investment.

[00:00:36] Stay tuned as we dive into the world of digital marketing, offering insights and advice that will transform your business. Let's get started. Welcome to today's episode of the Talk About Digital podcast, where we'll uncover how PR can be a game changer for small businesses looking to grow their customer base.

[00:00:58] I'm your host, Mark A. Preston, and I will be sharing simple actionable PR tips that you can implement to secure PR exposure for your business. Let's dive in. Firstly, I want to talk about why PR is important for your customer growth. Well, to start with PR gives your business a voice in your market. It's not just about getting your name out there.

[00:01:26] It's about establishing trust, which leads to more customers. It's about being known for that thing you are an expert in. It's about getting your business in front of your potential customers. And unlike paid ads, PR helps your business earn media coverage and trust, which has a greater positive impact on customer loyalty.

[00:01:53] Next, I want to talk about identifying your unique PR story. I want to point out that one of the biggest mistakes I see small businesses making when it comes to PR is PR is not an advertisement for your business. If your press release is in any way seen as self promotional, it will be classed as an advertorial which must be paid for.

[00:02:26] You need to earn the media coverage and make journalists who write about what you do want to publish your press release because it is pure gold and their readers will want to read it. Now, I want you to think, I want you to think about Things like uniqueness, human interest, relevance and timeliness, problem solution approach, local connection or community focus, surprising or quirky angle, results driven, credible, or just a vision or mission orientated related story.

[00:03:09] Think newsworthy story. Bye. To get those creative minds flowing, just go to Google News and search words and phrases relating to your business and industry to see the kind of stories that get published. Coming up with a great newsworthy story, finding the right journalists and sending them your press release is the basis of getting great PR exposure.

[00:03:39] There's not enough time on this podcast to go into detail about the whole aspect of writing, coming up with a story, creating the press release, finding the journalists and reaching out to them to get published. But we have some great PR guides on the Talk About Digital website you can easily follow.

[00:04:02] Now, I want to end this podcast by giving you This week's TAD Takeaway. One piece of actionable advice you can implement into your small business today. Are you listening? Now, leverage your local media for authentic exposure. Pitch a community driven story to your local newspaper, radio station, or even a local blog.

[00:04:32] Focus on how your small business impacts or contributes to the local area, whether through job creations, supporting local events, or unique services tailored to the community's needs. Local media outlets are always looking for stories that resonate with their audience and being a small business, highly rooted in the area, makes you an ideal candidate by securing even a small feature, you can gain trust and Visibility and attract new local customers who may not have discovered you.

[00:05:10] Otherwise join me next week, where I'll be chatting to a real life PR expert who has a creative mind, which is not easily replicable until then. Bye for now. Thank you for tuning into the talk about digital podcast. Remember every small step you take brings you closer to your business goals. If you found today's episode helpful, subscribe to our podcast and sign up to your free 12 week TAD customer growth course.

[00:05:40] At www.talkaboutdigital.co uk to receive even more customer generating tips and in size. Until next time, keep harnessing your strengths and making actionable, impactful moves in your digital marketing journey. See you soon.