This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
How can you get media coverage for your side hustle or small business? Welcome friends, welcome to a brand new month. Welcome as well to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host. In today's episode, we're gonna help a sustainable home goods brand break into the media spotlight.
Well, not just the brand, we're gonna help the owner because Side Hustle School is all about individuals. Let's talk about some simple budget friendly strategies for getting press coverage without hiring a PR agency. And let me just tell you upfront, I have a little bit of a bias here. Maybe once or twice in my long career as an author, have I heard from fellow authors or other business owners who have hired a PR agency and had good results. Whereas literally hundreds of times, I have heard from friends and colleagues who have spent a lot of money on a PR agency and it hasn't gone well.
Like they just did not get a great return on investment. So generally when people ask about hiring PR agencies, I kind of say that it's not a great idea. But of course you do want to get media coverage. So how can you do it on your own? Again, practical low cost ways to pitch your brand or your idea and score meaningful media attention.
That's what we're gonna talk about today. I'm hoping it's gonna be helpful to our caller and somebody else out there. Stay tuned for the detailed question and my answer. [Music]
Hi, thanks for taking my question. I launched a home goods brand about a year ago, focusing on products like reusable kitchen supplies and storage solutions.
While sales have been steady through my website, I think getting some media coverage could really help me reach a broader audience. The problem is I have no idea where to start. Pitching journalists and bloggers sounds intimidating and I definitely can't afford to hire a PR agency. How can a small business like mine get noticed by, you know, online publications, podcasts, or even media outlets without, you know, costing an arm and leg? I'm willing to put in the effort, but I need a roadmap for getting started.
- The story reminds me of my friend, Shira Gill, who had a new book come out recently. This has been a couple of months now, but her book is Lifestyle. She has written a number of books and Shira told me she had paid a PR agency and actually had a lot of success. She was on Good Morning America. She was in the New York Times.
Just a lot of media coverage. She was the exception because as I say, I hear over and over from people who hire PR agencies and don't have great results. So Shira, good work, everybody else, save your money. Here's how to create a DIY PR plan that works. Start with local and niche media.
So don't actually think about Good Morning America and the New York Times at first. Think about community websites, any alt-weeklies or alt-monthly magazines, newspapers in your area, or focus specifically on your niche. Those niche outlets can already cover sustainability, in this case, home design, green living. They already have engaged audiences looking for exactly what our caller here offers. And so if you're offering something else, what you do is search, just go to Google and search your city plus local news or niche topic plus blogs.
And it may not even be a blog you're trying to connect with, but that can often bring up a bunch of results. So just search niche topic plus blogs or your city plus local news to find those contacts. And then create a simple personalized pitch. Keep it really, really basic. Don't write a long thing.
That's the worst thing you can do. Write a short thing. Your whole goal is to get somebody to respond and just kind of build a relationship. So you're like, "Hey, I'm so-and-so. "I'm the founder of this brand.
"It is a sustainable home goods brand. "Here's one or two sentences about it, "but not any more than that. "I would love to share something." Or, "Would you be interested in covering our story? "I'd be happy to provide photos, product samples, "or answer any questions you have. "Thanks so much for considering." That should be the maximum length of the pitch.
And it doesn't always work. To be clear, you're gonna have to send a lot of pitches. But over time, you can connect with people and you can get media coverage by doing that if you're reaching the right people, if you have the right product market fit. You might wanna also build a simple media kit. This media kit makes you look professional and prepared.
Just include a brand story, like an origin story. We talk about that a lot. Or a mission statement of some kind. High-quality product photos, that's gonna be really important. Any key product details, such as pricing, features, benefits, and so on, and contact information.
With both of those things, you can hopefully build long-term media relationships. Follow relevant journalists and bloggers on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, wherever you like to engage with their content thoughtfully before pitching. And it's a long-term game. It's a long-term game of building relationships and not just waiting for miracles to happen. It's nice when those miracles do, in fact, occur.
But most of the time, it's gonna take time. It's gonna take repeated pitches. So that's what you do. Persistence, clear outreach strategy will help you, just not right away. Be prepared to put in the time and the effort.
Listeners, if you have a question or a comment, or if you have hired a PR agency and had amazing results, that's great. Let me know. sidehustleschool.com/questions. Much more is coming up. I'm excited to work on all the episodes of this month and more to come.
This was 2,982. I'll be back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is SighthustleSchool. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
