Why right now is the time for female entrepreneurs to hit the journalists

Research analytics from Everywoman PR partner JournoLink that during the three month lockdown period, small businesses have been more than twice as active in trying to engage with the media than pre lockdown, and that female entrepreneurs and freelancers have accounted for around 60% of the activity. 

 

During the three months JournoLink invited businesses to share with journalists how they have pivoted their businesses to survive the Covid-19 crisis. 7 out of 10 of the responses received came from female businesses, the vast majority of which had found a way or continuing to run the business in a virtual and remote way, through innovation, lateral thinking and sheer determination to survive. 

 

So, now, as the lockdown eases, the opportunity is wide open to continue this trend. The percentage of women in journalism is increasing year on year. In some areas it still has a distance to travel, but equally in others the number of female journalists achieving front page articles has doubled over the last decade….the Telegraph and the Guardian in particular, with the male/female balance in the Guardian now more or less 50/50. 

 

As a result, the momentum is now there both from the journalists side and the entrepreneur side to make the most of the free advertising that the media offers to businesses able to get their brands and stories profiled. 

 

With this in mind Everywoman recently ran a series of interviews with the JournoLink team on how best to attract the interest of the journalist "Top five tips to get your PR infront of the journalists"  and also on how to ensure the message you want to land is the line the journalist takes "Five must do's in handling the journolists".

 

The key learnings for entrepreneurs new to PR could be summed up in one image, that the journalist has a career to build and needs good content, and that the entrepreneur has a business to run and needs brand profile. But these two imperatives are not in conflict. They can happily sit side by side as long as the rules of the game are followed, but it’s the entrepreneur being interviewed that needs to drive the rule book. The journalists will have their own way of delivering their side of an interview, but with good management and confidence the interviewee can manipulate the outcome. 

 

There are four simple rules to follow: 

• Really think through who your target market is and align your approach to that type of person 
• Have three key messages to land, and spend 15 seconds headlining those messages in the first response 
• Continually refer back to those points in the interview, with facts figures  
• Avoid getting dragged into the areas that don’t support your underlying messages 

 

Good access to journalists is the final part of the equation, which is where Everywoman plays its part. Providing members with the Promote service opens the door to female entrepreneur businesses getting the profile they deserve. 

 

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