How to pitch a story to a local journalist (without sounding like a sales email)
You've got a story. It's local, it's got a person at the centre of it, and it's got a reason to matter to readers right now. So how do you actually get it in front of someone who can run it?
Most SME pitches fail before they're even read properly, because they read like adverts. Journalists get dozens of these a day and can spot one in a subject line. Here's how to write one that doesn't get deleted.
What makes a local story press-worthy?
Many small business owners think press-worthy means big news: a launch, an award, or a big new contract. When nothing like that is happening, they assume there is nothing to tell a journalist, and the phone never gets picked up.
That is the wrong measure. A local journalist is not grading your business on how impressive it is. They are asking one question: will this matter to my audience? Will it interest someone reading my news, on line or in print? Get that right and a fairly ordinary update can become a story. Get it wrong and even genuinely big news can land flat.
The January dip: why small businesses lose visibility after Christmas and how to protect it
January arrives with an odd mix of optimism and silence. Many small firms see website visits fall, Google Business impressions slide, and enquiries slow to a trickle. It can feel personal, as if something has gone wrong behind the scenes.
Most of the time, it is nothing of the sort. The dip is seasonal and very predictable. It happens every year, even to the most active businesses. The trick is to understand why it happens and to ease yourself back into view before the quiet turns into a slump.
News story or blog post? How to choose the right way to tell your story
We were chatting with a local business owner recently who had just finished writing what she thought was a press release. It opened with a warm story about how the idea for her new product came to her in the queue at the post office. It was heartfelt and engaging, although after a few lines, it was clear it wasn’t a press release at all. It was a blog post in disguise.
Moments like that happen all the time. Small businesses have plenty to say, but the line between a news story and a blog post can feel fuzzy. Both sit on your website. Both explain something about your work. Both can help people understand what you do. Yet they serve different purposes and land differently with readers.
Here is a simple way to decide which one you need.
Stop chasing, start attracting: how PR creates a magnet effect for your business
Turn your business stories into a magnet for new customers instead of chasing every lead.
Most small businesses know the feeling of chasing. Chasing new customers. Chasing attention online. Chasing the next lead. It’s tiring, and it can feel endless. But there’s another way to think about it. Instead of chasing people down, what if you built something that pulled the right people in? A magnet rather than a net.
That’s what good PR does.
GEO and SEO – finding the right balance
Search is changing. Google, Bing and others are now serving answers generated by AI, not just lists of links. That has led to a new idea in digital marketing: Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO.
For small businesses, this can sound like yet another thing to worry about. First it was SEO, then local SEO, and now GEO? The truth is simpler. GEO builds on the work you are already doing with SEO. If your website does not appear in the top 20 search results, the AI models have little chance of pulling you into their answers.
In other words, you cannot skip SEO and jump to GEO. So where should your effort go?
Why local SEO still matters in the AI search era
While AI tools can now answer questions instantly, draft emails, or even plan your next holiday. But when it comes to something as simple as “coffee near me” or “electrician in Farnham”, AI still isn’t great at giving clear, local answers.
That’s where local SEO comes in. For small and medium-sized businesses, making sure your business shows up accurately in local search results has never been more important. AI might dominate the headlines, but local SEO is what gets customers through the door.
PR in the age of AI search: why your stories matter more than ever
AI search is growing fast. Tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews and Perplexity are becoming part of everyday life, and they’re changing how people research businesses. But here’s the surprising thing: most of what these tools repeat about companies doesn’t come directly from their websites. It comes from media coverage, social posts, reviews and community forums.
That makes publicity more important than ever. And it raises a question for every business: what stories can you tell that are worth being picked up, shared, and recycled?