Get Published in Your Local Newspaper

Whilst attending Matlock Business Club, in January 2012 I was fortunate enough to hear a presentation by Amanda Hatfield, Group Editor Matlock Mercury and Mid Derbyshire Newspapers. What she said seemed very easy, straightforward and differed considerably to the advice given by a couple of different PR people I had heard in the past.

So spurred into action I gave it a go and got my very first attempt published! I thought other local businesses might find the advice useful, hence this article.

Amanda's Advice (my recollection of it, at least):

1. The story must be local, very local. If you are trying to get in the Belper News it must be a story concerning a person or business from Belper.
2. All stories should be accompanied by a photo of a local person (very desirable), make sure the photos are not bigger than 1MB in size.
3. You do not need to write a finished article (that's what the newspaper pays their reporters to do), just provide the facts. Think about how much space you are likley to get for this type of article and provide roughly the right amount of words. (In the case of business articles in local newspapers usually 100-150 words, possibly 250-300 words if really interesting)
4. Put the words of your article in the body of the email, rather than an attached document.
5. Make sure the subject of the email contains which paper you think your article is relevant to (it may be the group editor scanning through 1000's of emails and this helps).

What I Submitted:

 
What Got Published:

What it was all about:

The new Carsington Sailing Club website - www.carsingtonsailingclub.co.uk