How to do PR and get Featured on Forbes
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When a top publication site or influencer discovers your product and raves about how great your product its, business will grow overnight.
If you are wondering how to reach that level and get featured on Forbes, TechCrunch, Mashable, Inc., BuzzFeed, and Huffington Post, the following PR strategies will help you growth hack that process.
What is PR?
PR or Public relations essential is the art of getting coverage in the media (newspapers, websites, radio) and it is vital when you are growing your business and building your brand.
Reputation and public perception is extremely important, PR is a powerful tool that allows you to actively maintain your public image and help get your foot in the door for major publication sites.
A positive public image helps you create relationships with clients, leading to recognition of your company and eventually, sales.
Considering hiring a PR agent to increase your chances of exposure on big publication sites? You don’t need to. It can be expensive so it is important to understand ways that you could be your own PR agent and get featured.
Follow this guide to become a PR Pro:
1. Find what makes your product stand out
What makes your product unique and engaging? What is innovative about your product or company’s mission that makes a reporter, journalist or influencer want to promote your brand?
It is key to figure out what will appeal to reporters. Reporters are looking for news. If you want to be able to acquire press with the help of reporters under the top publication sites, it is important for you to identify what makes you better than your competitors.
Flux Portable Chargers has numerous competitors claiming that they are the best portable charger/power bank in the game. Founder Alejandro Rioja, was able to leverage the fact that it is the sleekest portable charger, slides easily behind your phone and no extra cords needed to make his product stand out among his competitors. Flux Ventures was able to get featured on Mashable, Business Insider, and 60+ publication sites.
Identifying what makes your product stand out is newsworthy, and incentive for reporters to promote your brand.
2. Know your target audience, but more importantly, who is targeting them?
First and foremost, it is important to have a good understanding of which communities will utilize your product. This is a precursor. Now, find the names of relevant reporters and publications they contribute to.
This can easily be done by visiting the top publication sites or top industry-specific publication sites.
The easier you are able to identify your target audience, the easier it will be to figure out which resources you should use to build your brand.
Your resources are the relevant reporters that are targeting your consumer audience that you want to eventually expose yourself to. It is key to know who is targeting your target and utilize them as your main resource.
Contact reporters and pitch your unique idea. Be prepared with a short, actionable email ready for them.
3. Approach relevant reporters only
It is important to find reporters that will directly contribute to your business growth. Keep in mind that it is not efficient to target just any reporter to promote your unique product. Reporters, journalists, and influencers tend to promote news when its related to their area of expertise.
Once you visit the top publication sites or top industry-specific publication sites that are relevant to your product, visit the “contact us” tab where you are sometimes able to obtain important contacts.
Simultaneously, find articles that resonate with your product under the top publication sites. Find which articles exemplify how you want your product to be seen by the public and follow these Sub Pro Tips:
- See who published it and reach out to them directly.
- Once you find those “relevant reporters,” figure out whether the reporter is a freelancer or a reporter for a certain publication. Confirm the reporter’s publication through other forms of public social profiles like Twitter and obtain their email through publication sites.
- Continue to do further research and figure out what kind of articles relevant reporters write. What seems to draw their attention? What matches their expertise? Use this information to draw the reporter’s attention to your short and actionable email.
4. Target the Media used by your target audiences:
In addition to knowing who is targeting your audience, know where your audience resides. Figure out which media outlets your target audience subscribes to. These outlets range from blogs, apps, websites to videocasts and podcasts.
For example, Future Sharks is a top publication site specific to entrepreneurship, where it draws the attention of audience members interested in how to obtain entrepreneurial success or the latest news about the next up and coming businesses.
It is a great place for entrepreneurs to promote their brand to these audience members.
There are tools out there to begin your research on popular media outlets for your target audience. You can acquire information about which media forms your target audience is subscribed to using information from SRDS.
SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service) allows you to obtain information on media forms including websites, magazines, TV, radio, and forms of advertising. With this program, you could obtain demographical information about readers, allowing you to better understand the community you are serving with your product.
5. Identify what will draw your audience to your product benefits
Once you have established who and where to target, identify how you are able to benefit your client with your product.
Although special features are a great way for you to make your product stand out, features are not as important as what your product does for your clients. What are your product benefits to your users?
Although Flux Chargers is sleek and cordless, it’s target audience cares primarily about it’s function of being an efficient power bank over these features. This main function and product benefit is the main contributor to their sales.
6. Establish your product as the remarkable
The advantages of your product are evidence to your users that your product is the best. Establish your product as being the best, most efficient, fastest and most cost-effective product compared to your competitors.
7. Utilize testimonials and have others promote your brand
This establishes credibility. It is important to convey that your company is creating value for your client. Take it one step further with establishing credibility and display evidence of your customers’ satisfaction. When your clients testify, they are promoting your brand.
Keep in mind that this process is a cycle and each pro tip contributes to one another.
To sum up, figure out which publication sites will expose your product and find channels that will your promote your brand for you. Provide the content and find the resources and outlets but establish credibility and let this carry you.
Other pro tips you should also consider to improve your PR game:
8. Maintain relationships
The value of public relations comes from the relationships that communicators develop and maintain with the public.
Keep in contact with your target audience, and resources (your target reporters), who will promote your brand.
For your target audience, create engaging content and make sure they know that you value your service to them.
For your reporter contacts, follow their publications and reach out to them in meaningful ways. Failing to develop a good relationship with a journalist or contributor to a publication will risk your opportunities on getting featured in publications that they contribute to. While you are maintaining a positive company brand throughout the media, simultaneously maintain yours too.
9. DM reporters directly
Use other forms of communication to get a hold of reporters, journalists, and influencers. Besides from conventional emailing, you could DM (direct message) them on their twitter accounts. Many reporters and social media influencers are constantly active on their twitter accounts following the latest news!
10. Use Linkedin
Linkedin is a great place for professionals and thought leaders to post content, following and keeping these contacts is a great way for you to get your content promoted. As a professional network, this also helps your brand establish credibility.
As you can see, if your content is newsworthy, you are fully capable of being your own PR pro. Not only is this cost-effective, but it is an efficient option because no one knows your story better than you do. Now that you have gone through the tips on how to become your own PR pro, keep in mind that the following cautionary pro tips to maintain a smooth ride
1. Assume you are on record
Assume that whatever you verbally say or write to a reporter or client is on the record, this information is fair game for their publications. Do not say or write anything that you don’t want in print.
2. Communicate effectively
When you are having external resources like reporters, journalists, and influencers promote your brand, make sure you are communicating exactly what you want the public to perceive about your product or company. The purpose of your PR is to maintain a strong and positive image, and you don’t want others inaccurately portraying your content.
Now that you developed a toolset on how to be your PR agent, you are ready to positively expose your professional brand through the top publication sites and let your business grow overnight.
Sites to get listed on
If you are looking to get your first publication, here are top publication sites to get the most exposure:
- The New York Times
- Forbes
- Huffington Post
- Business Insider
- Mashable
- Inc.
- Elite Daily
- Buzzfeed
- The Wall Street Journal
- Bloomberg
- ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX
- Thrive Global
Although those are the most popular ones, you should consider looking into the top publication sites for your particular industry. For instance if you are an entrepreneur, you should check out:
- Future Sharks
- ForbesTech
- TechCrunch
- Bloomberg Business
- MarketWatch
- 9to5Mac
- Entrepreneur
- CNet
- The Economist
Want to get featured on Future Sharks? Go here.