How do you get featured in national press?
Find the story a national audience would care about, pitch it to the right journalist at the right moment, and make their job easy. That's the whole method. The work is in doing each part well.
Small businesses get into the national press more often than people think. Journalists need a steady supply of stories, experts and real examples. A business with something new to say, and the speed to say it when it's needed, is useful to them.
What do national journalists look for?
A story their readers will care about, and a source they can trust. In practice that means one or more of these.
- News: something that's happening now, or a first.
- Relevance: a link to a story already in the headlines.
- Surprise: data or a view that challenges what people assume.
- People: a real person with a real story, willing to be named and photographed.
- Expertise: someone who can explain a complicated topic clearly and quickly.
How do you find a story the national press will run?
Start with what's in the news and work backwards. Ask what your business knows, sees or has data on that adds something to a story journalists are already covering.
Then look inside the business. Customer stories, unusual problems you solve, a founder's background or patterns in your own data often make better stories than the launch you wanted to announce. Write the story as a headline. If it wouldn't make you stop and read, it won't make a journalist stop either.
What's the step-by-step method?
This is the order we work in for national coverage.
- Write the story as a one-line headline and test it on someone outside the business.
- List the outlets and sections where it fits: news, business, money, lifestyle, tech or broadcast.
- Find the specific journalists who've covered similar stories recently.
- Get everything ready: a spokesperson, photos, the facts and figures, and a useful page on your site.
- Write a short pitch for each journalist, with the story in the subject line and first sentence.
- Send it when the story is most relevant, and follow up once, a day or two later.
- Reply to any question within the hour, and deliver exactly what was asked.
- Once it's live, share it, thank the journalist and add it to your website.
How do you write a pitch a journalist will read?
Short, specific and about their readers, not about you. Most pitches get a few seconds, so the story has to be clear from the subject line.
- Subject line: the story itself, not 'press release' or your company name.
- First sentence: the news, in plain words.
- Then two or three lines of why it matters now and what you can offer: data, an interview, photos.
- No attachments. Put the key facts in the email, with a link to the rest.
- Your name, role and a phone number you'll answer.
What about journalist requests and reactive PR?
Journalists often ask for experts and case studies on a deadline, through request services and social media. These are some of the quickest routes into national press, because the journalist already wants the story.
Speed decides most of them. A sharp, quotable answer sent within the hour beats a perfect one sent tomorrow. Keep a short bio, a headshot and a few prepared views on your subject ready to go.
What stops businesses getting national coverage?
The same few mistakes, over and over.
- Pitching the business, not a story.
- Sending one press release to a long list of general inboxes.
- Long pitches with the news buried in paragraph three.
- No spokesperson available when the journalist calls back.
- Following up again and again after a clear no.
- Expecting coverage to be a guaranteed result of spending money.
Can a small business really get into the national press?
Yes. Our clients include BidScript, a UK bid management software company featured in The Times in July 2026, and Backpedal, a UK stolen bike recovery and insurance company featured on BBC Radio 2 in August 2026. Neither is a household name. Both had a story worth telling and a team ready to move when it mattered.