It's not easy running a business.
And if you're like most CafePress shopkeepers, your CafePress shop is a part-time job and you don't have the funds to pay for a full-color ad in the newspaper! But with a little creative gumption, you may get even better exposure for free like my sister and I did here in the MN Sun Newspaper this week.
Having a news story written about your shop is just one way to promote it. And although it doesn't cost dollars, it does take time...and a story that is interesting that people will actually want to read. CafePress recently launched their PR program which walks you through the steps in how to get noticed by the media. Since Marc Cowlin did such a good job at it, I'll just let you read what he has to say: Shopkeeper PR Program
What I can add to their tutorials is a true story of how my sister and I took CafePress' advice and made it work.
Timing is everything
Since my sister and I got our start at the Dakota County Fair, we thought pitching a story around fair time might catch the attention of the local papers around Farmington (where the Dakota County Fair is held each year). I read the outline Marc Cowlin has in the CafePress tutorials and wrote, along with my sister, our story. We decided to make the story more about the fair since that is what would capture the attention of a reporter and ultimately, a reading audience. I had an editor friend of mine look it over (thank you, Jeff!) and after a couple revisions we had a press release ready to send out!
Think local
Our story would've been wasted sent out over the newswire because it was focused on the Dakota County area of Minnesota. So I did a search on Google (where else?) and found a listing of Minnesota papers. I then found contact info. for about a dozen papers. From there I emailed the contact just to ask who I should send a press release to about the Dakota County Fair (I didn't want our release to be ignored in the wrong hands). I got a few replies and then sent out the release, with photos to all of the addresses I had gathered.
Timing is everything (have I mentioned that timing is everything?)
One paper in Lakeville ran our press release as-is last week. But the better news for us came when Joseph from the MN Sun Newspapers replied and said that they were just then working on a Dakota County Fair feature and were looking for local angles. Not only was our story perfect for that section with it's local interest, but we had it in their hands just in time before the Dakota County Fair started.
Joseph was kind enough to interview us both, had his photographer come and take our pictures and wrote a great story that has run in a few papers so far and will run in several more cities next week during fair time. He talks about how Gretchen and I got our start at the fair and how we've since grown our businesses online through CafePress.com. Great publicity for us and an interesting story for local readers.
Gretchen's Book, Facepainting, a step-by-step guide can be found on her site, Paintertainment.com
My business, BusyBodies Stick Figure T-Shirts & Gifts can be found at iBusyBodies.com
