Press Releases to Promote your Micro Business

One of the little-used and totally free means of advertising your startup business is to write press releases for as many publications as will host your article. For a comprehensive step-by-step guide, try Wikihow here. It's a bit long-winded for me but it would be useful for someone who has never done this before. I am used to writing Press Releases (from student days at High School where I was Editor of the School Page contribution to the Zululand Observer). So you don't need a journalism degree to do it yourself!

Each Press Release should be geared for the particular audience. I wrote an article on Beautiful Bracelets for the "Women of Acts" monthly newsletter (an inspirational newsletter for the ladies in Acts Church).

I also approached the Editor of the SAGoodNews who has requested an article geared towards highlighting the social upliftment part of the business idea for Beautiful Bracelets.

An article for the local Midrand Reporter would have a different angle (probably geared towards "what's happening in your local area - being Midrand). Find publications in your suburb or city...Sandton Chronicle, Knysna Herald, Tygerburger or People's Post (for Cape Town). Very often they like to publish the human-interest angle on your new business.

Sometimes they might request a very small "paid advertisement" to run alongside your publication, this wouldn't be too expensive and the increased sales would probably pay for it. If you focus on the Community Social Involvement aspect of your new business you will easily find many publications happy to publish with no charge.

I will be also approaching a free lance journalist I know who might be prepared to write an article that she would be paid for but would gain a wider audience via her networks and links to publications with a broad reach. Use every connection you have to gain wider press coverage for your new business, if you don't know anyone then create a general press release and email it to the Editor of as many publications as you can think of! It would be well worth it even if only one publication picked up on the article. Be aware they may edit your Press Release to suit their style but if you have done your research you would already have written each one directed to a particular publication which would also improve your success rate in getting published!