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Getting featured in the local press is easier than you might think. Journalists are constantly on the lookout for interesting stories about what’s going on in the community.
Before we crack on with my seven tips for getting your band featured in the local news, I recommend familiarising yourself with Galtung & Ruge’s news values (listed below).
Although I’m fairly confident that most editors don’t physically reference this list, it summarises a lot of what will go through their head when they are reviewing your press release and deciding whether to feature it.
Galtung and Ruge’s News Values
Negativity – Sad or negative news stories are often newsworthy.
Positivity – Positive stories are also very newsworthy, particularly towards the publications supported agenda (politics for example).
Proximity – Events that happen close to the publications audience are seen as more relevant.
Recency – Events that happened recently are seen as more newsworthy.
Continuity – Ongoing stories are often newsworthy.
Uniqueness – Events that are unique or shocking are of more newsworthy than events that happen every day.
Simplicity – Simple stories are easier to communicate than complex ones.
Personality – Stories that communicate on a personal level and affect the publications audience are more relevant than those that don’t.
Predictability – Unpredictable events are often more interesting than those that are predictable.
Exclusivity – Exclusive stories everyone interested in the story to a single publication, making the publication more money than if all publications were to feature the story.
Magnitude – Stories that affect a large number of people are considered to be more newsworthy.
1. Donate Your Local Gig Earnings to a Local Charity
Working with local charities is a brilliant win-win situation – you help out your favoured local charity and receive valuable promotion of your band in return.
2. Perform at a Charity Event or Even Better, Host a Charity Event
Similarly to the point above, performing at charity events or hosting charity events is great for the community and you are likely to receive publicity for doing it.
3. Perform at Local Festivals and Venue Launches
Local festivals attract press like honey to a bee – if you can get on the line-up and arrange an interview talking about the festival then that can be a great way to nab a bit of coverage.
4. Meet Your Local Journalists
It’s no surprise that journalists are biased to featuring people they know or like. If you’re wondering how to meet these people, I would start off by following them on Twitter or dropping an email. Start attending events they’re attending or see if you can help them in any way – they might then return the favour by helping you out with coverage.
5. Do Something Out of the Ordinary
The majority of the most prominent local news stories (as in front page stories) are due to the unordinary. If you can conjur up some kind of PR stunt that will get your band featured by local press than you may end up getting some nice prominent coverage.
6. Offer your Opinion on a Topical Story
Although this technique is unlikely to get you ‘featured’ as such, it’s a great tactic for getting your name included in news articles. If for example you have just heard that a live music pub in your area is being knocked down to make way for a library pick up the phone and tell them your thoughts – chances are they’ll put together a news piece around the story including a quote from you.
7. Tell Them About Your Successes!
Local press want to include news stories about local individual’s successes such as people launching companies, or local musicians achieving something big. If you’ve just had a video go out in front of 100,000′s or you’ve been shortlisted to play at Glastonbury then tell the press about it! Alternatively, work backwards – what could you do that would be ‘big enough’ for it to qualify sending out a press release?
Do you have any other ideas on how to get featured? Let me know in the comments below :)
Image Credit: statusfrustration
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