When you are featured in the media, it can help you drive your business forward. It is often perceived that it is challenging to get featured in the national media. Many feel that these spots in national media are reserved for big brands with large budgets that have marketing teams that know all the key journalists. However, many small brands can make the national media. There are ways that your small Shopify store can get national media attention and build traffic around that, especially by leveraging social media and digital marketing.

Here are some of the steps that you need to take to get that national media attention.

Key Takeaways
1
Ensure your Shopify store is error-free and fast; first impressions matter to influential media figures.
2
Gather positive reviews for social proof; respond well to negative feedback to enhance brand image.
3
Utilize HARO for media mentions and local media for initial exposure, paving the way for national attention.

Step 1 - Get Your Shopify Store in Order

The first thing you need to do is ensure that you have a Shopify website that’s fit for purpose. Make sure there are no mistakes and that you have some of the best speed online. There are apps that can help you, and 301 and 404 errors can be fixed using SEO apps like this one here.

You have to make sure that your store is perfect because you’re aiming for people with a lot of power over the public to take interest in you. If you don’t get things fixed early, then they won’t report you in the media.

Step 2 - Positive Reviews

The next thing that you must do is ensure that you’ve got positive reviews. Reviews are a way of adding social proof to your media attention that you’re a brand worth trusting. Journalists won’t pay attention to you if you don’t have good reviews on your website or on Google. So check on these platforms and make sure that you have lots of positive reviews.

It’s likely that you won’t get all 5-star reviews. This is really hard to achieve and looks very unnatural. However, when there are negative reviews, you can improve the impression of your brand by showcasing that you care and are responding positively to the review.

Step 3 - HARO

The next step is to use the HARO email. This is a daily list where reporters seek out brands who want to feature in their news articles by asking them questions. You can respond to these questions and get a backlink and a mention in their story for your contribution.

This won’t get you national media, though places like Forbes, Business Insider and even the BBC will use this to get views. But it will give you a better reputation.

Step 4 - Local Media

Now you can start attracting the media. The easiest route is also a long route, but it is going to get attention. This is to get local media outlets to report on your business first. You can submit news such as new buildings, charitable events you’ve helped run/organize/donated to, new staff, new training opportunities, new awards, etc. Local news outlets will report on this and show this to your local community.

This has two benefits. The first is that it helps local audiences to find out about your business. You can then sell to local audiences that can offer you the chance to have local collections and local deliveries that can be easier to sort out.

And another benefit is that you can get noticed by national media. A lot of national papers rely on local papers to first report stories from local brands. Therefore, by getting into local media, you can attract the attention of the national media. It might take a few stories, but by being regularly featured, you can build a good reputation and earn that feature.