Many small business initially struggle due to lack of exposure. In most cases, there are numerous business in the same field as your own, so it is important to make your business stand out among your competitors. This greatly applies to a company that focuses on wedding planning, since there are multiple business that provide wedding planning services. Creating a personal “pizzazz”, your company’s branding will stand out. Without positioning your company to stand out from your competitors, your business will get lost in the mix.
In order to make your small business stand out and gain recognition, it is essential to take every opportunity to position your company as an expert in your business field. While there are many different ways to gain a following, one of the easiest means to do this is contacting your region’s local newspaper or news website. A small company generally does all of its business in the surrounding area of its location, so getting recognized locally is highly beneficial to progressing your company.
When contacting your local newspaper or news website, it is important to clearly state how and why your business deserves a part in their publishings. For instance, giving a brief background of your company, as well as previous writing material you have personally done, can make or break getting your work published. By providing news outlets with revised, top quality work, they will feel more comfortable with publishing your writing.
When inquiring about writing for a news outlet, it is important to show how your writing can be beneficial to them as well. If contributing to a column or writing a standalone article, your work is not only a reflection of your skills, but the news outlet as well. By writing an effective piece that stands out, you are not only benefiting yourself by improving your writing credentials, you also are making the newspaper look good as well.
If writing to promote a bridal show, it is important to provide the news outlet you are inquiring with what a bridal show is about. By showing the news outlet pictures, video, and other related materials from previous bridal shows it can give them a sense of what happens and why a bridal show is important for potential brides. Before submitting samples from previous bridal shows, it is essential to ensure you are giving the news outlet your best, top quality material.
While getting your work published by a news outlet is an accomplishment, securing an online article or column is the ultimate goal. By having your writings online that pertain to your business, it enhances your search engine optimization (SEO).
Search engine optimization is something that can easily be looked over, but by not acknowledging your SEO position, your small business can be blocked out from your competitors. For example, when someone does a Google search for “wedding planning companies” you ideally want your company to be the first result. If your business is the fourth or fifth result, it is likely that your site will not even get viewed.
Once your work is eventually published through a news source, it is critical to establishing a working relationship with that particular news source. If all goes well after your first publishing, with your small business and the news company as well, the news outlet will likely request you to write articles or columns for them in the future, which will benefit both parties.
While owning and operating a small business requires a great deal of time and effort, there are many ways to find and maintain success. Gaining widespread recognition of your company through various news outlets will only propel the advancement of your business. Also, maintaining a trustworthy and reliable working relationship with the news outlets who publish your work can only boost the credibility of your small business all the way up.