food for thought

Working With Media: Farmers & Producers

It’s farmers market and maker’s market season! Media are getting ready to write their stories about which markets are opening when, and where, and this is a great excuse to get some love for your farm or small business. It can be a little intimidating to be interviewed for an article that thousands of people will read.

If you follow the tips below, this could be your chance to shine, a rare opportunity to promote your farm or business, and your offerings to a huge number of potential customers – for free!

Make sure you also read our blogs on “PR 101” and “How to Make A Big Splash With Your Big Announcement” covering everything you need to know about what PR is, and how to get the media’s attention. In this blog, we summarize that and give you some pointers and tips specifically for YOUR type of business.

First Things First

• Make sure your social profiles, website, Google business page, etc. are complete and up-to-date with hours and offerings. 

• Get organized by planning out your social posts for at least those first two weeks – when you might be otherwise too busy to get to it (great blog about that here!)

Be Your Own PR Pro

Gather beautiful imagery (ideally, professionally taken and high resolution) that can be shared with the media. We suggest photos of your products, your farm/business, yourself, people enjoying your products, etc. Make sure you tell the writer who to credit for the photography. Be sure to reach out to your market to see if they have high resolution photos of the market you can also offer. 

• If contacted by the media, spend a few minutes researching the media outlet, the reporter, what they like to write about, and a few of their most recent articles  – before the interview, if possible. They’ll feel respected, and you’ll feel more comfortable being prepared.

Don’t say anything you don’t want to read about tomorrow. Avoid saying anything that could negatively affect your company, employees, or customers, such as commenting on rumors. Having those key messages ready means you’ll be more easily able to steer the conversation towards the positive things you want to promote.

Avoid commenting on events that haven’t yet occurred, like a deal or a partnership that is imminent, but isn’t yet signed. 

Be helpful to the reporter. Reporters are often on tight deadlines, and if they feel like their conversation with you wasn’t valuable, they won’t use you as a resource again. Find out what other topics they cover, and offer to be a resource. Find out what their deadline is and help them stick to it. If you say you will call them back in 10 minutes, do so. If you offer one of your customers as a reference, make sure they are available to speak with the reporter at the agreed-upon time.

Say thank you. After the piece publishes, send the writer a thank you note. Share the article on your social media channels, and be sure to thank them and tag them (and the media outlet) in your post. 

Leverage that big media hit! Once you land that big story, you’d like your potential customers, current customers, heck even your mom! – to see it. Read our blog, 5 Ways to Capitalize on Your Media Hits for how to take full advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

Extra Credit

• These days, people get their news and information through multiple channels, and there’s a LOT of information being shared. Increase your chances of being heard by sending out email updates, posting on all your social media channels, considering a new website banner or popup, etc.

If you have any questions about any part of this, or would like to chat about what you can do to increase your media presence, please don’t hesitate to contact us here, or me directly:

Kuvy Ax, Owner
kuvy@rootmarketingpr.com 720.329.7327

Thank you!

 📸: Daniel Luke Holton, Tyra Sutak 

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food for thought

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