Newspaper Closings? Make Your Own News

Newspaper closings are taking place right and left. Typical in today's environment is the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an 118,000-circulation daily, that recently announced it will be stopping the presses and experimenting with a web-only edition of the paper. They'll keep just 20 of its journalists to work on the online edition while laying off 145 others.

What's the impact of this trend on small businesses trying to get into the news?

Findings from the March 6-9 weekly News Interest Index, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, show that:

• Fewer than half of Americans surveyed say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community "a lot."

• One in three say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available.

• More people say they get local news from local television stations than any other source -- 68 percent say they regularly get local news from television reports or television station websites, 48 percent say they regularly get news from local newspapers in print or online, 34 percent say they get local news regularly from radio, and 31 percent say they get their local news from the Internet.

If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner, you can leverage this trend by making your own news. Remember that newspapers like the Post-Intelligence will be hungry for content, including feature stories, news articles, letters, opinion columns and video.

• As one trying to get in the limelight, don't count on your local newspaper for major publicity. Consider pitching to business journals and, of course, continue to pitch local TV stations.

• If you're not on social networking sites where your target audience is gathering for much of their news, start right now on Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn.

• And follow all of the tactics outlined in Shout it Out: Power PR Strategies to Create A Buzz & Get Your Name in the News. It's available as part of your Business Boost In A Box™, the step-by-step program guaranteed to show you how to grow your business and THRIVE in any economy!

Need help to leverage your expertise and guarantee small business growth? Sign up today at www.boostyourbottomline.com/freebie for your free guerrilla marketing Jumpstart Coaching call.

© 2009 BoostYourBottomLine.com

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, WEB SITE or BLOG? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Certified Marketing Spitfires™ Holly George and Leslie Hamp are creators of the Business Boost In A Box. To learn more about the step-by-step program, and to sign up for their *FREE* Marketing Mastery Success Kit, visit www.boostyourbottomline.com