How to use local newspapers, TV & Radio to advertise your dating site
Photo from the New York Post
The main criterion of the local press coverage is that the audience is generally limited to an area where you live and work or an area where you want to expose your site on. For example, if you build a video chat dating site for youngsters in Chicago, it’d be wise to try and advertise it in San Francisco.
Get your coverage for your dating site by finding the right media channel and creating powerful selling stories to the listener why they should try out your site. This way you will build your brands image and attract new users.
Here are 4 steps to get your dating business covered by the local press:
1. Get the list of local representatives
Firstly, find what choice do you have, get a list of local newspapers, TV and radio stations, news websites, local forums, Facebook groups and etc.
Try to balance between the number of press outlets and their influence. Because if a radio station has two and a half listeners, well, it won’t give you any good results.
- My friends from the US have it easier as, for example, they have a thing called USNPL or US newspaper list where they can check all newspapers by state and city. Try and check whether you have a similar thing in your country.
- Same for radio station search – a tool called radio-locator by state, city or zip code.
- As for local TV stations, you should know what major networks have local affiliates in your city or state. And if not, there are online tools that allow you to find it like this one or Google’s search page itself will give you the answers.
- Local websites, blog, groups, forums and etc will be harder to find as no-one creates a list of those. But simply googling ‘news’, ‘blog’, ‘events’ and your desired location should present you with the most popular sites.
2. Contact the media representatives
After you compile a list of local press outlets, it’s time to contact their representatives or contact person. Better send a personal email to each and every one. People then tend to reply better than mass emails.
Almost everyone nowadays has a website: newspapers, TV stations, radio stations and etc. And on those sites they have Contact us or About us section with either email address, a phone number to call or a physical address.
3. Compile a convincing pitch
Now comes the best and the easiest part — to create your pitch. Remember that’s basically a small essay why this person should be interested in covering your business. What benefits does it give?
Generally, pitches include:
- Personalized greeting. Better use only first name, it puts you both in more intimate communication.
- Intriguing or eye-catching subject. In order to ensure that the open rate of your letters is high.
- Pitch itself. Here are a few questions that you may want to cover here: 1) Why should the recipient be interested?; 2) What are the key points?; 3) Why do they need to act fast?; 4) Where can they get more information?
4. Send the letters and reply to interested journalists
When you send a letter. there is always a chance that it was swept under spam folder or the recipient accidentally skipped it. So there should be a follow-up from your side after 3-5 days. You can always try contacting the person in social networks or phone or personal meetings.
And when you get replies from journalists that are interested in your piece of news, note that it’s important to answer as quickly as possible. Also, try to find out the questions or the topics the journalist wants to get covered so you can prepare better.
And yeah, don’t forget to practice for the interview, even just in front of the mirror. It does help.
Basically, the whole process is to find the right person who wants to cover exactly what you want to get covered. It’s a process of trial and error and consists of several small parts like compiling a list of outlets, finding contact person, creating a compelling pitch and etc.
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