GuinessMan- Fair enough, I can definitely see what you're saying. My town is pretty small though, and any feature about a resident who hit it big on the Internet could probably make it somewhere in the paper. At least I think....probably not the Detroit Free Press or anything like that but at least in my small town.
Do you have any tips for getting some press behind my new business? Thanks!
If you're in a small town the BEST way is to hold a community event. I once held a daytime all ages (parent/guardian required for under 18) scavenger hunt that sent people around town with riddles that were pertinent to local landmarks and some paid sponsors. Charged $10 per entrant and $50 to be a paid sponsor. Paid sponsors would have one of the riddles lead people to their business for the next clue OR instead of paying they just gave us equivalent merchandise we could give away as a prize. Then they all met up at the end which was a local coffee house that had a back area for live music. We would have a prize give away and also invited local bands to play through the night. We announced that to the paper in advance and they spotlighted it in their Happenings section.
To summarize:
- We made about $500 after paying for any soft/hard costs - Gas, Food, Kicked the Venue in a % and even paid the bands.
- We got coverage from the businesses. If I was in the IM business at the time they probably would have been good clients.
- We got coverage from the bands.
- We got about 30 or so teams of at least 2 per team.
- We got paper coverage.
- We got about 20 sponsors.
- I'm sure there's more but you get the picture.
It's like the ultimate offline endeavor. You're also doing something good for the community as well.
Actually - after typing this out, I may try doing this again with more of a focus on the IM side of things. Also would spend more time planning (we did this in a month from idea to production) and would also join as many networking groups as I could, Chamber of Commerce - BNI - Local Networking Groups, and promote there.
Bottom line - Community events increase your overall exposure and even if the paper won't give you press, you've got backup upon backup for other exposure.
