GIANT Marketing Solutions

marketing companies toronto, digital marketing agency, web design company, marketing consultant, brand consultant, mobile app development

  • Services
    • Brand Strategy
    • Web Design
    • Mobile Apps
  • Clients
  • Team
  • One Giant Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

Pitch a Strike and Get Free Media Coverage

November 27, 2012 by George Giantsopoulos

making a media pitch - Internet Marketing - Online Marketing - Small Business Marketing CompanyOn Thursday November 22, I attended the Globe & Mail Small Business Summit at the MaRS Discovery District – http://toronto.smallbusiness-summit.ca/ .  It was a great day full of insight and networking, I would recommend you attend next year.

Often, I’m asked by small business owners on how to get their name “out-there” and get some PR or media coverage.   Of course, on a limited budget, this can be difficult.  Well, one of the session’s at the Small Business Summit was a “Dragon’s Den-Like” panel consisting of Globe and Mail Small Business Editor Sean Stanleigh, Ivor Tossell , tech journalist and Marivel Taruc, CBC news broadcaster.

The purpose of this session was to understand how to pitch your business or idea to a media outlet, be it web, print or TV and get some media coverage.   There were 5 entrepreneurs that were pitching their business.

Each pitch was given 3 minutes!  That’s it!  And they had to do it in front of the panel and approximately 250 people!

Money was not the reward for the winning pitch, instead, it was a feature story in the Globe & Mail Small Business section.

I commend all the participants for pitching their businesses; not an easy task to stand there and get critiqued.  The panel gave some great feedback and below I captured 4 main points.

 

How-to-Pitch Your Business to the Media

1) Relevance to current news stories

If you can tie your business into a current story in the news (past or future stories work too), it gives the media outlet more reason to consider your business because they can tie it to that lead story and “ride-the-wave”.  For example, perhaps you are a software company that develops voting software for elections.  If there was a news story about voting mishaps during a recent election, that gives your business some leverage.

2) Hard numbers

Making statements out of thin-air does not help your cause.  If you say you are the largest distributor of baseball gloves in Canada, you better have some hard unbiased stats that show this.  The media is in the business of reporting – truthful and honest reporting.  So, you can’t make claims that are business goals, they have to be reality.  The media’s reputation is on the line.

3) What makes you different

Media outlets, according to this panel, get hundreds of requests for stories per month. To be able to “sell” their respective stories, they want to provide fresh stories to their audience that are unique.  So, if you can identify why YOUR BUSINESS is different, that will put you ahead of the other hundreds of requests.   Perhaps you make custom jewellery, but you use materials from developing communities around the world (like www.imoniq.com).  This can be distinctive because your business  is supporting developing entrepreneurial communities around the world –  a sense of social entrepreneurialism.

 4) Identify some challenges

Don’t pretend your business is perfect and has no challenges or competitors.  Remember, media wants to tell a story, so, if your small business isn’t strong enough to hold a story on its own, identify the problem and challenges surrounding it.  This way the media outlet can introduce your business by telling a story about those problems and challenges facing the community or society in general. For example, perhaps you provide counseling to youth.  If you identified trends about kids who are experiencing anxiety, perhaps, if you connected your business to “bullying” in schools, you could get some traction.
Real Growth for Real Business.

Reality Business Consulting is creative Internet Marketing Company in Toronto that works with business owners one-on-on to get found online and generate sales with their Internet Marketing Strategy. We produce real and measureable results to grow your business by using proven marketing, website, social media and SEO principles to attract new customers.

I am George Giantsopoulos, the principle of Reality Consulting.  I am an experienced marketing professional, presenter, philanthropist and an accomplished entrepreneur myself.  Through my hands-on experience of already successfully starting a business from scratch and my extensive marketing experience, I provide unique and knowledgeable insight for any business.

Check out my full BIO or Learn more about my marketing expertise by reading my blog at: http://www.realityconsulting.ca/be-real-blog/ or by following me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/Reality_Consult

If you are searching for a team  of knowledgeable and proven marketing professionals to grow your business, contact me for a complimentary consultation.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Toronto

Build your Brand, Website, or Business - Start Today.

GIANT Services

  • Brand Strategy
  • Website Development
  • Mobile Apps

Latest From One GIANT Blog

  • Tomauri Inc. – Case Study
  • On-Page SEO-Increase Website Page Rank
  • HOLD International Case Study
  • Crimson Transaction Technologies Case Study
  • Target Marketing – Successful Strategies

One GIANT Blog Topics

  • Brand Marketing
  • Case Study
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Marketing
  • Marketing Planning
  • Mobile Marketing
  • Online Marketing
  • Uncategorized
  • Website Strategies

Take Their Word For It.

George went above and beyond the call of duty for our website project. He thoroughly analyzed our competitions' strengths and weaknesses to build a strong and competitive marketing position for our organization. He also assessed our organization's brand to ensure we remained true to our identity while developing our website marketing plan. He leads a talented team that provided quick turnaround times for any issues that we raised as part of the website launch. As part of HOLD International, we wholeheartedly recommend George's work for any organization looking for an outstanding marketing firm to take them to the next level.
Ana Lobo
Chief Operating Officer, Co-Founder / HOLD International
Read what our clients say

Stay Connected.

Receive our email newsletter that includes expert insights and tips on marketing, branding and website strategy plus GIANT Marketing Solutions exclusive industry reports and funding programs.

No spam. We will never sell your email address to anyone, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 · GIANT Marketing Solutions · All Rights Reserved.

Toronto, Ontario

Copyright © 2023 · Giant Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in