Here's how to gain coverage without using your success story

Although a success story is a great way to gain coverage for your small business, it's not your only approach. Talking about the problems you've faced while starting up is a road less travelled when it comes to pitching to a journalist and could make you and your business stand out. By holding up your hands and showing that not everything comes easy, you can create an interesting case study as well as sharing your advice with others. 

Create a case study 

Journalists often look for quotes from businesses that have faced problems when starting up, especially when it is trending in the news. For example, TrooGranola released a press release (Does Honey In Health Food Negate The Health Benefits?) on their delicious fresh homemade granola gets a huge thumbs down in the latest Government sugar-focused ‘Change 4 Life’ app. By recognising the problem they have presented themselves as a case study, including what the problems were and how Troo Granola was affected as a business. 

By recognising themselves as a case study and providing a quick response to key news topics, Troo Granola were featured in The Telegraph the following week: Sugar Smart app gives small drinks and snacks firms a toothache.

Ask for help 

When starting a business there are certain things you’d like to ask an industry expert and many publications offer this in the form of coverage. However, journalists tell me they are inundated with advices from the experts and fall short on businesses asking for help, but what they don't know is this can lead to great exposure. For example, CAPR-Style were struggling to expand from a localised market onto a nationwide stage, as it presented challenges from finance to manufacturing. The chances are if you are facing a holdback then other small businesses will be going through the same thing, meaning its relatable and journalists will want to write about it. 

CAPR-Style used their problem to gain coverage, as well as to receive some answers, killing two birds with one stone: Business clinic: growing a company that meets a special need.

Share your advice

As well as asking what your failures have been a journalist may also want to know how you overcame these problems and moved forward. For example, on JournoLink we received a request ‘looking for a small business that has experienced fraud’, Copify were quick to respond and explained how they had a few experiences to share. This is a great opportunity to show how you’ve grown as a business and present yourself as a thought-leader within your industry.

From this they were able to share their experiences and provide information to other small businesses on how to deal with fraud: Fraud lessons: How the owner of one e-commerce platform is fighting payment fraud on a daily basis.

With JournoLink, you can receive journalist requests, which means you can send a direct answer to journalists who are looking for a comment or a case study for their next article. To access this feature, you need to register first. Click here for that!

Written by: Camilla Holroyd, Media Relations Executive

Camilla is the all-important portal between JournoLink's businesses and journalists; connecting them on a daily basis through press releases, Twitter engagements and editorial requests.