Working Local Media Into the PR Mix

 

Working with local media is gratifying and can be part of a successful PR campaign, regardless of the outlet’s footprint. Sometimes in the quest to land big stories, we forget that solid local reporting can be the bread-and-butter of a media campaign. Furthermore, community-based journalism is essential. We should do all we can to support and promote their work.

Don’t underestimate the power of local journalism either. Many times, national news stories originated in local journalism. These stories can become of interest in a major metro or national outlet due to legislation or some other unforeseen news peg. Sometimes several related stories become a trend and “rollup” into a national outlet. Even if a local story doesn’t end up in a major daily, the SEO value of small market newspapers can be greater than the businesses and organizations we are promoting and that makes it valuable in any branding campaign. As an example, here are the domain authority (DA) scores of a few small market newspapers.

• Folsom Telegraph DA 59
• Keys Weekly DA 56
• Dallas Weekly DA 53
• San Diego Uptown News DA 57
• Las Vegas Sun DA 78

I’ve worked with small market media on dozens of campaigns over the years including pro bono work for non profits, a local Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where my daughter was hospitalized, as well as our local high school sports program, music programs, and soccer teams. We’ve done lots of community outreach for public works departments on environmental review and CEQA, for notifications on construction impacts, and rate changes. In education, we’ve promoted local training centers, pulled in news crews for competitions and recognition events, landed stories about school pilots, launched small businesses, and landed features and individual profiles.

Read on for insight about these smaller media outlets and ways to engage the reporters, editors, and producers who work there.

Community-based and small-market media are varied so don’t forget to pitch them.

When building your media list, don’t forget to consider everything. Choose from print, all digital, hyperlocal, social communities, broadcast, weekend talk shows, radio, glossies, and podcasts. Some of the local news outlets still publish print editions. All of them have an online presence.

When building your lists, your media database might miss some so always check for the local Patch to see if there is an active page. Don’t overlook radio shows, community based blogs and newsletters from local government and municipal agencies.

Another very strong class are glossy community magazines showcasing local businesses. These usually cover local restaurants, real estate deals, and usually one story – often with a  light touch – on a community issue. These are great outlets to pitch stories about innovation in a school or a new building development, for example. The glossies also tend to like stories tied to regional prosperity, new jobs, and training or certification programs.

My personal favorites for bridging local news into national coverage are broadcast news affiliates for NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX news. Stories on local news can become part of a national news trend.

To land a local news story, do as much as legwork as possible for the reporter.

Most national and regional media do not need as much help as local media because they still have staff and photographers or videographers. On the other hand, community print reporters usually can benefit from you doing as much work as possible. That might mean gathering quotes from people, taking photos, collecting facts and background, or even writing photo captions and product descriptions.

Broadcast media tend to own and manage their stories from top to bottom. Their budgets are bigger. However, they are also stretched thin. We’ve found they greatly appreciate it if you can source contacts, secure times for interviews, and gather approvals for photographs, among other things. If the deadline is tight, your story has a better chance if  you can supply facts (and and easy way for them to verify that information) and b-roll. Help them by coordinating details on site, which means being there when the camera crew shows up.

Get decent photos but timeliness is more important than perfection.

It is less and less important that photographs accompanying a story be taken by a professional. Most people value authenticity in their stories and are not bothered by stray dogs in photographs or composition that is less than artful. What matters is that images be full resolution, be in a horizontal orientation, are active, and are not blurry.

When supplying photos, list the names of each person left to right. Better yet, write a caption about the location, event date, people in the photos, and what is happening. If a bunch of students are graduating, describe it as “…walking down the aisle of the Memorial Auditorium to collect their diploma.” In other words, think descriptively.

Put all your photos in a share site before sending them to a reporter and provide thumbnails in the email message so they can quickly see the options. When I have lots of photos to share, I list only the best and most relevant to the story. Reporters don’t have time to wade through 30+ photographs, however, do offer to make more available in case they don’t readily see what they need.

Use website forms AND the general email box to pitch broadcast news.

When pitching broadcast media, there is likely an email box like tips@ or news@as well as a webform. Use both of them. Call the station a day ahead, before their news meeting and again the day of. Events with a longer window of being “open” have a better chance of being covered simply because news crews are not always on a set schedule. If your event is not running all day and just happening for a short time period, arrange some options when the news crew could, for example, interview participants ahead of time.

For a local gymnastics meet, we staged a group of gymnasts together in their team uniforms and arranged for them to run through their routines in the background. A few of the kids were available for interviews, too. The crew had all this footage days ahead of the event and their story was a big help in drawing in spectators.

This idea can be replicated in multiple settings. For a school graduation, have a crew there on the day students receive their cap and gowns. For a ribbon cutting, bring the crew inside for a sneak peak on that final day of painting or when the sign goes up outside. Stage a kickoff with a local sports club or jazz band. Get creative and be ready with those ideas before making the phone call because you need to be able to rattle them off quickly.

Media advisories announce things beforehand to the media and ONLY to the media.

Understand how to use a media advisory and how that differs from a press release

A media advisory is to let the media know about something that is coming up. Advisories could announce almost anything. The language is what matters because these are specifically for the media, not the general public. Typically media advisories are to announce events, but they can be used to let reporters know an executive will be available at a trade show, or that a product will be launched soon, or many other things. Here’s an example of a media advisory for a teacher recognition program. Notice it is heavy on images and light on words. In our case, we use Prezly as our platform for releases and advisories so they can be dynamically updated.

It is okay to leave a few options unconfirmed in a media advisory, such as uncertainty about the speakers, or if dignitaries have been invited but are not confirmed. When you do have the information, update the media you’ve pitched. Advisories should include other assets like noting that a photographer will be on site, that b-roll is available, or how many people are expected to attend.

Follow the media advisory with a formal press release to summarize what happened or who was affected, or how the product was received. Include a few good quotes. Here is an example of a post-event press release for a graduation ceremony at an alternative school. Done well, both the advisory and the press release can land stories.

Business journals will not write stories that have appeared in the local daily newspaper.

Larger communities usually have two outlets that cover business news: a local business journal and the local newspaper’s business or metro section. However, the business journal will not cover a story the local newspaper has already run nor will the local newspaper run a business story that has already run in the business journal. That can make pitching a bit cumbersome.

For local business news, think through which outlet is of more benefit and pitch only one to start. Tell them the story is exclusive. If they decline, then pitch to the other outlet. This doesn’t apply between broadcast and print, though. Broadcast news and print news are different media: one writes about news, the other shows news. it is important to know the media outlets in a community because other rivalries could exist. There are fewer and fewer of these as media consolidates, but nonetheless, be smart. These can work to your advantage or detriment.

If you haven’t pitched local media before, you could be in for a refreshing treat. I always enjoy working with local reporters even though they are often harried and pressed for time. For the most part, they love their communities and are doing their best to bring important stories to the people who live there. If your story idea can be connected to the community in some fashion and you’ve supplied the elements that go into a good story, your chances of success are very high.

This was originally published in PR in EdTech on LinkedIn on July 10, 2025.