I Spent $0 and Generated International Press Coverage

Over the years I’ve consistently generated press coverage for my companies when I've needed to.

Including the precursor to this newsletter! Which was been featured in Inc. Magazine.

Since I’ve launched both B2B and B2C products, the specific approach and reasons why are different in each case.

But, the underlying common ground is the same. To raise awareness and credibility of a product or service amongst a target customer base. More importantly, to build an idea in the minds of prospects.

In the earliest stages of these ventures I’ve overseen the process personally, without using a PR firm, because I’ve bootstrapped them.

I had no choice but to be resourceful and generate press coverage from zero budget. A lean methodology was key. As was guerilla publicity tactics.

There are various ways to go about generating press coverage. A fairly reliable approach is to 'piggyback' on current events and trends; by inserting your product or company into the news cycle or cultural zeitgeist.

How? Below I’m going to walk you through a methodology I use, step-by-step.

To do that I’m going to use my 'horse burger costume' news story as a case study.

I love this example because it was one of my first attempts at PR generation! And, super fun. Which makes me feel all nostalgic and tingly inside. ;)

Context and Results

A few years ago I set up a costume ecommerce store in the UK with friends.👇

The customer acquisition strategy was to acquire leads through Google (organic searches).

The website was launched on an exact-match domain we purchased specifically for the project. An exact-match domain is a domain that mirrors exactly the search query put into Google. In this case the search query was “fancy dress costumes”, so our domain was fancydresscostumes.co.uk.

It had zero reputation or domain authority with Google at the point of us acquiring it, meaning it had zero exposure on search engine results pages.

In order to appear higher in Google’s search results, we needed context-relevant backlinks from high-authority domains.

As part of the solution to dealing with that problem, I set up a sustained PR campaign strategy.

The objective was to repeatably and predictably generate articles on news websites, trusted by Google’s algorithms, that would link back to our company website.

A key focus of this strategy was to leverage topical current events. We’d insert ourselves into the news cycle or cultural zeitgeist by creating a narrative that journalists and reporters would want to write about. Mostly, by creating costumes to fit the occasion.

Since the products we sold at the costume store were fun and frivolous, we generally took a humorous approach. Often satirical in nature, as costumes commonly are.

Finding the right news stories to hook onto was key. Nothing too serious or morbid that it'd be distasteful. But, serious enough so that it's funny (controversial) to poke fun at.

Example? During that period the “horse meat scandal” story broke out in the UK and dominated news headlines for a while. For context, horse meat was found (undisclosed) in meat products sold by the majority of supermarket chains like Tesco and Aldi. In British culture eating a horse is like eating your friend, so it didn’t take well with the public. The press were all over it.

This triggered the idea to create a ‘Horse Burger Costume’ and piece together an appealing narrative that could 'go viral' in the media.

The results were even better than I anticipated.

It was picked up by a ton of outlets including HuffPo, Business Insider, Express, Metro, Mediaite, The DailyEdge, The Journal, and many more.

It even appeared on TV! 👇

And radio!👇

Next, how I did it, step-by-step.

📘 Step 1 - Product-story fit

Before you do anything, you need to think about how your product can fit into a news cycle story, the cultural zeitgeist, or industry trend.

This is super important. To get optimum results, there needs to be an intuitive connection. The story that you create about your product needs to add to the news story. Unlocking new value from it.

News cycle compatibility will vary massively depending upon the type of product or service you offer, and, if you operate a B2C or B2B business model.

Sometimes compatibility is obvious.

Example: The time I got press coverage for my B2B ad blocker monetisation solution (e.g. in Business Insider and AdExchanger) at a time when the digital publishing industry was panicking about the increased use of ad blockers.

Sometimes compatibility isn't obvious. You need to create an intuitive connection.

Example: The time I pieced together a 'hipster zombie' news story from two completely isolated but popular trends (zombies and London's growing tech scene) and connected this to costumes. The story got picked up by tech publishers like UKTN.

Certain products and services lend themselves better to this process than others. It’s pretty straightforward to be creative and tie a costume into a news cycle. But, if you sell bathroom taps you have to be a lot more creative!

If you find yourself in the latter scenario don't let this hold you back. A PR-generation strategy can still be commercially viable. Your competitors have the same constraint. And, they likely don't have a PR game at all. You only have to be moderately successful to out compete them by a huge margin.

📰 Step 2 - Pick a news story

Now you’ve got a sense of how you want to insert yourself into the news cycle you need to pick a story to piggyback on.

My general process for this step is to query news media websites that my target customer audience frequents, getting a feel for the current news cycle.

I also use Google News and use keywords that are relevant to my product and market to search for related stories. And, Google Trends to spot changes in interest over time.

Most of the stories, like 99%, are not appropriate.

They're either too distasteful (e.g. murder or terrorism) relative to the business. Or, so thinly related in subject matter that any news story I come up with wouldn't intuitively appeal enough for a media outlet to pick it up.

I have a few criteria for picking a news story. It must be:

1. Emotive

2. Controversial or challenging

3. Viable to communicate our positioning

My decision for selecting the horsemeat scandal was arrived at for several specific reasons within that framework.

Emotive - satire around the scandal was already transpiring on TV and radio. It was a humour trigger and a topic society wanted to joke about.

Controversial - national supermarket brands were embarrassingly caught up in the scandal, which we could poke fun at and use as a potent talking point. It was also easy for us to produce the assets for the story.

Communication - the humour and lightheartedness of the situation was aligned with the positioning we wanted to communicate. The story also centred around our core product offering, costumes, which was optimal for backlink generation.

🧐 Step 3 — Review existing resources

Once you’ve selected your news story you need to check what resources you have that are applicable to it. Or, what you can inexpensively create.

Both digital and physical assets. Data you have (or can find publicly) can also be wielded into a story asset.

The more the better, since it gives the story more substance. It will also help towards building a narrative.

For the horsemeat scandal, I went into our warehouse and grabbed costume pieces that were relevant to the subject matter and started playing around with them. Combining them in different ways.

After a while, I settled on a combination of a horse head mask and a burger tunic paired with black trousers and shoes. The reason for this was simple... it looked the funniest!

Key takeaway: The Horse Burger Costume was created from assembling existing assets we already had. I did not pay to create anything new.

💡 Step 4 — Create a narrative

This part is also super important. Building and positioning a compelling narrative will seal the deal with reporters to write about your product. If it's tenuous they won’t bite.

With the horse burger costume, I knew that it was pretty funny and appealing to look at. But, I wanted to tangibly connect it with the horsemeat scandal news cycle in an aesthetically potent way.

Aware that major national supermarkets were caught up in the scandal, we made the decision to utilise them as a hook for our narrative.

Make them the punchline of the joke, rather than say, consumers, who were misled. The distinction there is key.

To do that, we asked a friend to put the costume on and “model it” standing next to supermarkets and delivery vans of the retail brands caught up in the scandal.

Below are examples of the shots we got. Reporters loved them!

🍔 Step 5 — Create a dedicated page

Now you’ve got your assets sorted it’s time to make a dedicated webpage for your story. This is what news outlets will likely want to link to in addition to your homepage.

For the Horse Burger Costume, I made a product landing page, since it made the most sense given the situation.

We continued the light-hearted humour here. Here’s what is said:

Business Insider called it “pitch perfect”.

Doing this will further increase the newsworthy-ness of your pitch to reporters.

It also gives them something else to write about. They have to produce a whole article, after all. It’s not just a tweet.

🎒Step 6 — Create a press pack

Next, you need to create a press pack. This is a folder full of assets that you will share with reporters.

Product images, logos, bios, product information. Whatever you are prepared to share that will give the reporter substance to use in their article should be included. Images are generally a must-have asset.

I usually use Google Drive for this. Create a specific folder for each story, otherwise it will get very confusing.

🔎 Step 7 — Reporter prospecting

Now you have your story ready you need to find reporters to pitch it too. The right ones, that is. Financial analysts or relationship gurus won’t be interested in a story about a horse burger costume, for example.

There’s a simple approach to this, that doesn’t require fancy tools. Hop onto Google and search for your subject matter in both the regular search box and Google News. Use this to find reporters that have written about similar topics.

For the horseburger costume story I searched for reporters that had previously written about costumes before (at Halloween, particularly).

And, reporters that had previously covered the horsemeat scandal but in a more ancillary capacity, discussing peripheral issues related to it, not the core story.

Once you start finding reporters open up a Google Sheet and start adding their details. Name, news publication, email, link to the relevant story, etc.

Their email address is usually listed on either the article page itself, their bio on the news website, or their social media accounts like Twitter or LinkedIn.

Generally, they like to make themselves contactable since they need a constant feed of material to write about.

📧 Step 8 — Send outreach emails

It’s time to start pitching reporters!

A word of warning... they are pitched constantly with stories. There is a lot of noise to breakthrough. This is where the narrative and assets you previously prepared can make all the difference.

Reporters are super busy, so the easier you can make your story to write about, the more likely they will take it. Keep your email brief and get to the point. Communicate:

1. Why your story is relevant to their audience and timely.

2. What your narrative is and why it's compelling.

3. That you have all the assets ready and tease them (ask if they would like the press pack)

You should also mention an embargo, if you have one.

Using a mail merge tool like YAMM will save you time sending emails.

👋 Step 9 — Follow up with reporters

After your initial round of outreach emails, you will have some responses from reporters to take care of.

They may ask some follow-up questions or ask for the media pack. Generally, this back-and-forth is brief — 2 or 3 emails. They don’t have time for more. It’s not an investigative piece, after all!

You'll quickly know if they'll run the story or not.

For those reporters that didn’t reply, politely chase a few times at reasonable intervals of at least a few hours or days (depending upon urgency).

No response doesn’t mean they are not interested at all, they’re super busy.

👀 Step 10 — Review published articles and search for copycats

Once your story has been published by at least one of the reporters you have been speaking to, use Google News to keep a lookout for other news outlets that also pick up the story. Other reporters will likely cover it that you have not spoken to.

Sometimes outlets will not link back to your website or app. In the past, I have contacted them to request a link, and they have kindly obliged. Reporters you did speak to may also make this mistake.

This is where supplying your own images or another asset like the results of a study gives you more leverage. It’s common practice for media outlets to link back to the source of an image or information.

If they forget to include a link, you can remind them they’ve used your image and you’d very much appreciate a link back to your website or app for the credit.

Then... voilà. You're at the races.👇

Hit me up if you need help executing this framework. I covered the basics here. There’s more nuance to the steps and in-between the steps themselves.

📧 [email protected]

That’s it for today. I’ll be back in your inbox soon.

Martin 👋

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