Making the local press

Marketing/Communications PR & Press
1

Hey there;

Couple things. Out third Pop-Up coworking day in our town of Hinesburg made the front page of the local paper. Wow! http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/money/2017/07/26/co-working-country-hinesburg-church-hosts-digital-nomads/509298001/

So, any tips on making the most of this? Right now, I’m concurrently working on the biz plan and connecting with possible location owners / co-developers, and building an active community of people that want to help make this happen.

Our next event is 8/22. So, if anyone happens to be in the Burlington, VT area then, come and visit! http://vermontcoworking.eventbrite.com.

Kindly,

Wayne Maceyka

@hinesburgHUB

2

This is about as good as coworking press gets. Excellent quotes and it's especially good that member voices dominate.

I would do a lot of signal boosting, and go out of your way to thank the journo for what they did well.

Why? Because relationships matter (duh). And more importantly, one piece of press generally won't have much impact.

My experience and philosophy is that press is good for two things: getting more press, and community morale.

But that's about it.

It CAN help with your credibility. It's valuable to have people other than you telling part of your story. It's valuable to be in the zeitgeist.

But in terms of growing your community, press needs to be just one of MANY touchpoints for somebody before they walk in the door, and often, is one of the least influential. Celebrate it, but don't over-weight it.

So with that in mind, I would focus now on getting to know this writer, and other local writers. Use this press to get more press. Prepare to be a broken record. It's okay - most people haven't heard your story yet, so get used to the feeling of "haven't I said this enough already?"

My approach to building press relationships is long-view. I don't pitch stories until I know what stories they WANT. I do my homework to find out their take & their worldview (aka what do the pieces they write have in common? Do I fit that narrative, and how?)

Find out what kinds of stories do they WANT to cover, or do they think their editor wants to print? I like to make it clear to any journo that I'm working with that I view my job as making them look good with a great story.

I also use this as an opportunity to give them background context that they might not have, or be able to think about, during a normal "interview" setting.

Use this experience to figure out how your story connects with their audience.

Oh, and frame your first piece of print. You'll be glad you did 10 years later, trust me :wink:

And whatever you did to get that first piece, keep that up!!

-Alex

···

On Aug 1, 2017, 12:15 PM -0400, wa...@renewacycle.com, wrote:

Hey there;

Couple things. Out third Pop-Up coworking day in our town of Hinesburg made the front page of the local paper. Wow! Co-working in the country: Hinesburg church hosts digital nomads

So, any tips on making the most of this? Right now, I'm concurrently working on the biz plan and connecting with possible location owners / co-developers, and building an active community of people that want to help make this happen.

Our next event is 8/22. So, if anyone happens to be in the Burlington, VT area then, come and visit! http://vermontcoworking.eventbrite.com.

Kindly,
Wayne Maceyka
@hinesburgHUB
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3

Prepare to be a broken record. It’s okay - most people haven’t heard your story yet, so get used to the feeling of “haven’t I said this enough already?”

This sums up your marketing plan for the next 5, even 10+ years. No matter how many times you think you’ve told your story, no matter how many ads you’ve run, cards you’ve handed out, networking events you’ve attended, you are always - ALWAYS going to hear “I just heard about you. Are you new? How long have you been open?” even after 5 or more years.

There’s a marketing maxim that says you have to tell people 7 times before they hear you. I think that’s a bare minimum these days.

Glen Ferguson

Phone: 301-732-5165

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.coworkfrederick.com

Address: 122 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701

···

On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 8:10 PM, Alex Hillman [email protected] wrote:

This is about as good as coworking press gets. Excellent quotes and it’s especially good that member voices dominate.
I would do a lot of signal boosting, and go out of your way to thank the journo for what they did well.
Why? Because relationships matter (duh). And more importantly, one piece of press generally won’t have much impact.
My experience and philosophy is that press is good for two things: getting more press, and community morale.
But that’s about it.
It CAN help with your credibility. It’s valuable to have people other than you telling part of your story. It’s valuable to be in the zeitgeist.
But in terms of growing your community, press needs to be just one of MANY touchpoints for somebody before they walk in the door, and often, is one of the least influential. Celebrate it, but don’t over-weight it.
**
So with that in mind, I would focus now on getting to know this writer, and other local writers. Use this press to get more press. Prepare to be a broken record. It’s okay - most people haven’t heard your story yet, so get used to the feeling of “haven’t I said this enough already?”**

My approach to building press relationships is long-view. I don’t pitch stories until I know what stories they WANT. I do my homework to find out their take & their worldview (aka what do the pieces they write have in common? Do I fit that narrative, and how?)

Find out what kinds of stories do they WANT to cover, or do they think their editor wants to print? I like to make it clear to any journo that I’m working with that I view my job as making them look good with a great story.

I also use this as an opportunity to give them background context that they might not have, or be able to think about, during a normal “interview” setting.

Use this experience to figure out how your story connects with their audience.

Oh, and frame your first piece of print. You’ll be glad you did 10 years later, trust me :wink:

And whatever you did to get that first piece, keep that up!!

-Alex

On Aug 1, 2017, 12:15 PM -0400, [email protected], wrote:

Hey there;

Couple things. Out third Pop-Up coworking day in our town of Hinesburg made the front page of the local paper. Wow! http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/money/2017/07/26/co-working-country-hinesburg-church-hosts-digital-nomads/509298001/

So, any tips on making the most of this? Right now, I’m concurrently working on the biz plan and connecting with possible location owners / co-developers, and building an active community of people that want to help make this happen.

Our next event is 8/22. So, if anyone happens to be in the Burlington, VT area then, come and visit! http://vermontcoworking.eventbrite.com.

Kindly,

Wayne Maceyka

@hinesburgHUB

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4

Thanks for the great comments. A local radio station has reached out to me too. I agree on all points, that "earned media" is one part of the plan.

5

OH! That reminds me, while I said “frame that first press” I should have also said “keep a record of everything.” I wish I’d done a better job of keeping our press record, and I wish wish wish I had the audio from early radio interviews I did. Nowadays I ask ahead of time if it’ll be possible to get a recording, and if not, if I can record the interview on my own.

···

On Thu, Aug 3, 2017 at 6:50 AM, [email protected] wrote:

Thanks for the great comments. A local radio station has reached out to me too. I agree on all points, that “earned media” is one part of the plan.

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The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.

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