How to get press coverage for your brand: we reveal our top content marketing tips

Hold the Front Page: newspapers are crying out for your brand story

It’s been a year since the global Coronavirus pandemic changed the way we live our lives, the way we work, the way we play, how we engage with each other and even how we view the world beyond our garden gate.

But perhaps the biggest sea change has been in the media landscape. The initial March 23, 2020 lockdown gave ailing print media a bloody nose, when it was already on the ropes begging for mercy.

Print media is generally reliant on commuters. No commuters meant no customers. No customers meant less advertising revenue and less advertising revenue spells disaster in the long term. 

The fact actual newspapers were already on life support, having seen crucial ad revenue siphoned away by Facebook and Google, left them in an incredibly precarious position.

But amid the doom and gloom within the publishing industry was a welcome ray of light for brands and content creators who work in marketing and PR. 

By far and away, the most effective way to quickly build brand awareness is a positive national or local news story.

And if you’re lucky, you might get a backlink from a national press site to your website that will massively boost your SEO and domain authority.

Online news sites are crying out for interesting stories

Lockdown left traditional newspaper consumers – typically older Brits – with no alternative but to turn to the web to catch up on news or to cheer themselves up with light-hearted memes or videos posted by friends and family on Facebook. 

Couple that with the fact that much of the working population now works from home, it left us with the world wide web at our fingertips for nine hours a day without a boss leaning over to check what we’re up to. 

Traffic to online news sites increased exponentially (20% year-on-year according to research from Newsworks), as did numbers for online magazines. Cue the old axiom of supply and demand. As online sites noticed spikes in traffic, their main aim became to try and keep these new ‘customers’, as it were. 

Sites like the MailOnline cry out for free content. Yes, they still pay press agencies for the use of images, words and videos, but they would prefer not to. So, the first hurdle is out of the way. 

Remember news media need readers – or viewers as we call them now – to stay on the page as long as possible. Interesting stories and clever content that keeps eyes on the page for long enough to increase the average “dwell” time, a key metric for advertisers, is more in demand than ever. 

But this does not mean any old tosh will land on MoL and instantly be seen by millions of readers around the world resulting in driving traffic to your site and ultimately your product flying off the shelf. It might.

The most engaging content is created by real people for real people

A great story starts with a human story.

We recently worked with two young female entrepreneurs who used to work for famous ‘fast fashion’ brands. The duo quit their jobs after becoming disenchanted with the ‘throwaway’ fashion culture their employers were feeding. They then set up a company during the pandemic that makes stylish female activewear from recycled plastic bottles. 

Faced with lengthy periods of coronavirus lockdown that prevented them from recruiting professional models, the women roped in local villagers for the photoshoot. Among the ‘models’ were a police officer, a pole dancer, a yoga teacher, a school teacher and an acrobat. 

This made for a lovely story. More importantly, we had 20 images of models in their range of clothes. That particular angle was key to the story. It would have been impossible for the media to publish without using the photo. 

Once the story was published – with a link to the clients’ website - the women received a huge number of orders from around the UK and abroad. In fact, they were inundated to such an extent that they SOLD OUT of three lines of products.

And all it took from our perspective was one phone interview to spot the story.

That’s successful content marketing in its simplest, most cost-effective form.

Story for a sustainable clothing brand landed by Doug Shields in the Mail Online; link here.

Start at the top and create a cohesive content marketing strategy

This type of approach should form part of an overarching campaign to create different types of content with a cohesive content marketing strategy. 

You probably already have a ton of content that you’ve been using, but is it working for you? On too many occasions we see great ideas for storytelling buried on pages of websites that we know will never see the light of day.

Reach for the stars and start at the top. Go for the big idea, the splash story in the news media. Look out for a successful story you can tell, what makes you stand out from other businesses or spot useful pieces of simple information you can share.

Cleverly crafted blogs, beautiful images of your product in use or positive reviews from customers - this is all attractive content that sells. Sometimes there are also hidden gems buried in the middle of a dry annual report that can shine a light on an existing news story.

Every business also employs people. And your people always have interesting or uplifting stories.

Even if a particular staff member’s story isn’t strong enough to make national news, it may still be good fodder for your company’s Facebook page. Or it could form the basis of a blog post that can be posted on Linkedin which showcases your business in a positive light. 

The best content is staring you in the face

Pictures and video are the way forward now. Every words-led story we have filed over the past year has had to include 12 or more photos. Often, before we have even been given the green light to file a story, we are asked, ‘What are the pics like?’ 

Do you know what looks good in your business? It could be you, your product or service, your cool office or even the office dog! (We’re not joking – having a cute looking office dog WILL generate interest in your product or service if you package it properly)

If there’s something you’re proud of that you like looking at, others will too. 

Get together a couple of hundred stunning photographs taken at day, night, dawn, dusk or midnight. Use filters, colour, black and white. Go all out to create a library of great images.

Videos, animation or graphics will also do the trick if positioned correctly. 

Our thirst for video or picture-led content is growing - you only have to see the incredible numbers of posts on TikTok, the new kid on the social block. 

And consider converting any written content into something visual. For example, create a video sharing your most viewed or best tips about how to use your product.

Repurpose existing content to save money

Ah, you say, but what if you don’t don’t see a news story or have a ‘great brand story’ to tell?  That’s fine. We’re comfortable with that. 

That’s when it’s time to reverse that process. Start with smart, engaging content which can begin its life on your website or on your social channels.

Blogs work brilliantly and are the easiest place to start. They sit comfortably on your site (if you don’t have a blog section, create one now) and are easily shareable on social channels too. See our tips above for writing about your team, your products or best tips. Done well, blogs provide content that satisfies Google’s appetite for original content. And with the help of a little SEO (search engine optimisation), they might rise up through Google’s rankings.

If you last updated your blog pages before the pandemic, we recommend you refresh your existing content simply by adding in the latest trends, updating your keywords, referring to the current news and updating your photos and headings.

Currently ‘listicles’ are all the rage too. Bite-sized chunks of information are perfect for people looking for a quick overview of your product or service. So think of ways to condense hints, tips, how to’s, do’s and don’ts for your site. Guides and top ten tips are perfect formats for your website and social platforms too. 

And you probably have other content too that you haven’t thought of. Dig around and check out your survey results, email newsletters, FAQs, sales collateral, content created for events, case studies and eBooks - this could all be repurposed into blog content or videos. 

For example, content that is your business’s internal customer data could form a fascinating trends story that can be brought to life with infographics, animated content or a video.

Then, using that theme, maximise exposure by sharing that content on relevant social media and blog channels. See what works and what content spreads organically from there. 

Finally, if you’re stuck for story ideas, chat with friends and brainstorm with colleagues. Think of a few guerrilla marketing ideas you could do for little to no money. Play around with videoing yourself - or your pets - on your mobile phone. Tell your story in a lighthearted, engaging way. And take loads of pictures.

If nothing else, you’ll have some fun content you can share on your personal channels.

So bear all this in mind when creating your content marketing strategy. 

Content marketing companies can help you tell your brand story and land coverage

As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities for you to successfully tell your brand story. But perhaps you or your team are struggling to find the time to find uplifting stories or to give enough consideration to create brilliant concepts. 

Great content creators can do that for you. And we don’t charge the earth by the way.

Mostly it’s easy to find content marketing companies who will engage with your business or brand and work with you for fees that won’t break the bank because we get as much of a buzz from landing content for you in the national press as you do from seeing it in your coverage document. 

If you’re stuck for ideas, we’d love to help you find your best content, come up with some ideas and hopefully land your brand’s story in the press.

Get in touch here or email quinntessentiallycontent@gmail.com for a free chat.

More about the author

Doug is a self-confessed news hound who can sniff out a story like no-one else in the PR industry. After working on news publications across the globe in London, New York and LA, Doug took over as creative director of news generation specialist 72Point. Working on thousands of campaigns for the world’s biggest brands such as TUI Cruises, Doug was responsible for creating branded newsworthy content for distribution to online and print publications. He joins the content marketing team at Quinntessentially Content as the ideas generator as part of The Power of Six.