July 2025

Y’all really loved the email topic last month, so I’m going to dig into another aspect of PR for small business today — pitching yourself to media.

If you missed last month’s email, I’ve put the info together into a blog so it’s easy to find and share. There are great first steps to pitching yourself that you need to check out. Read it here.

Even without a PR background or degree, you can do your own PR — I would argue you need to — but you have to dedicate time and effort to it. Throwing something out there and hoping it gets picked up by media is not going to work.

So here’s my biggest PR Pro Tip: PR takes time, patience and you have to follow-up. It may take up to 3 months before you see any press coverage, and you have to find the time in your schedule to make it a priority.

Is this newsworthy?

When doing your own PR, the first question you need to ask yourself is whether the announcement or business news you have is important to a wider audience.

If the answer is yes then you need to put together a press release.

A press release should include the following info:

What your news/announcement is
Why this matters to a wider audience (be as specific as possible)
Any relevant research or data points related to your announcement and your work
An elevator pitch about who you/your business are
How to contact you
Any relevant pictures or videos

PR Pro tip: If you feel like you need more guidance, I have a press release template available that walks you through step-by-step how to put one together.

Get Press Release Template Here

If the answer is no, then refocus your efforts into putting together a media pitch. The goal of a media pitch is to pique a journalist’s interest enough that they decide to put together a story related to your business or expertise area — and use you as a source.

When putting together a pitch, ask yourself the following questions (literally pull up a blank doc or grab a piece of paper and write the answers down.)

“Who would care about my business/work/expertise area?”
“Why would (or should) people care?
What does my work/my product/my business do differently than others? (How are you setting yourself apart in the market)
How does my business fix a problem for people?

Then put that info together into a single email. And don’t forget to attach your media kit!

PR Pro Tip: Your business needs a Media Kit. I talked about this last month, but if you don’t know where to start building one, grab my Media Kit template to help you get started.

Time to pitch yourself

I think about these as two separate buckets — external and internal audiences. Too often as small business owners we completely ignore one or the other of these audiences. However, a good PR strategy includes both.

External media

Local and regional media (TV and print)
Local and regional magazines
Niche trade journals
Podcasts (don’t overlook this one. Podcasts are constantly looking for guests!)
Social media influencers (this one is a little trickier these days, but start by seeing if they have a management company.)

Internal media

Friends with small businesses that are relevant to your work (pitch working together!)
Send it to your business’s email list if you have one
Push on your own blog and social media channels.

Once you send it out, though, make sure you schedule time to follow up. This is absolutely key, especially with external media. I cannot stress this enough — make time for it.