In the world of digital marketing, there are three types of content (or medias): earned media, paid media, and owned media. Earned media is press (PR). When you get a mention or article written about you (without paying for it), that’s earned media. Paid media is content about you that you paid for like advertisements, advertorials, social media ads, or influencers you paid to write about you. Owned media is all of the content you create for your business like your blog, website, and social media.
Owned media costs time and labor to produce; 
Paid media costs a significant amount of money (and some time) to buy;
Earned media costs nothing but takes a little effort.
While these three types of media are all necessary, earned media generally has the most impact. So how do you get it? We were recently featured in the Richmond Times Dispatch, our hometown’s major news source, and thought why not share our tricks and tips with other business owners? Getting earned media is easier said than done but there are some things you can do to position your business for it. Here are three ways to earn PR for your tax business.
Build relationships
PR is more about building relationships than it is about writing press releases. Want to earn some PR? Get to know the journalists who write about business and taxes locally. Research local newspapers, news stations, and new sites that cover your industry (or business in general) and find emails for the journalists assigned to those beats. Send them an email introducing yourself and your business and let them know you’d be happy to be a resource.
It’s the first step to building that relationship. When the Richmond Times Dispatch or Accounting Today need someone for a quote or insight into a particular topic, we are top of the list because we have good relationships within those organizations and have proven to be knowledgeable. That’s the type of relationship you need to foster.
Reach out
Don’t sit back and wait for someone to contact you. Send press releases and reach out with information that would be interesting to readers. Our most recent article was a result of a press release we sent out about the new book, Guide to Start and Grow Your Successful Tax Business. We also regularly send blogs and information to journalists that might help them with a story or give them an idea for a story based on what we see as important information. The tax law changes that will affect business owners and taxpayers are a great example.
We also tag journalists on Facebook and Twitter when we post blogs that might be of interest to them.
Keep them updated
Did you do something newsworthy like publish a book or partner with a charity? Are you hosting a seminar or event? Do you have a quirky promotion going on? Write up a press release with all of the relevant information and send it out to your list of contacts.
You won’t always get a bite but it’s worth a shot and another way to keep building that relationship. Here’s a link to the article written about us recently – a great story about the beginnings of The Income Tax School: