Strategy to Get National Media for Start Up Companies and Entrepreneurs

Anne Fleming used social networking
to get media attention
Photo by Carolyn Speranza

By: Anne Fleming

National Press isn’t always Achieved by a Straight n’ Arrow Path

How my start up received national media in The Wall Street Journal, ABC News & USA Today

Our women’s auto centric internet start up company Women-Drivers launched in October, 2008. Timing could not have been worse, after all, the President and government had just announced the US economy was in the throws of a major recession and a bailout to the financial and auto industries were in order. Fear was my best friend.

I contacted trade publications, consumer media and Detroit alike. No one was returning my calls about our revolutionary consumer rating site allowing women to review their dealership experience, resulting in showcasing women-friendly dealers. It was a quiet time, enough for me to be second guessing what I was doing creating a business in a new industry, after all, I had spent 20 years in the fashion and travel products circles. Nonetheless, through word-of-mouth marketing, the company began getting some consumer reviews and data - enough to begin to see trends in women’s behavior at the car dealership developing.

The year turned to 2009. I spent my time slicing and dicing through analytics which resulted in 15-20 press releases. I pinged and invited friends to our Face Book page, and developing my followers and followees on Twitter. The next step was to get very active in social media by reaching out to three primary audiences—mommy bloggers and mommy publications, auto writers and industry experts, and news influencers.

In the meantime, I continued to focus time on traditional networking venues. Included in that, some not so traditional. In Pittsburgh, a recently formed gay networking group was having its second meeting in March. I ran into a key auto writer for a large newspaper whom I had been emailing and calling for 8 months with no response. After an introduction at this event, however, we had lunch three times in 10 days, and in April a story ran about Women-Drivers.com on the home page of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Within an hour, I received a call from an ABC News journalist and producer, who did a five minute on air interview as well as an extensive corresponding story that aired on ABCNews.com the following week. Fox n Friends called on Tuesday, and, for the next month they set up and subsequently cancelled five interviews due to scheduling conflicts on their end.

Using my Twitter decks and sending our time sensitive articles each week resulted in a USA Today assistant editor calling. Within days, there was a story appearing on USAToday.com about our company.

In the meantime, the Pittsburgh based auto writer introduced me to a niche website – Gaywheels.com. The founder asked me to write a story on the best ways to approach the dealership visit today. I completed that - with a link in that story back to Women-Drivers sourcing the company and myself as a contributing editor.

Two days later my phone rang – it was a journalist from The Wall Street Journal doing a story on newly launched auto websites in one of the most challenging years for the auto industry. I asked the St Louis based writer how he had found our website. His reply “I was on a site called Gaywheels, and read an interesting article which had Women-Drivers and you as the writer. I linked over. What a most timely site you have, as women are the key buyers of mostly everything, no?”

The Wall Street Journal story was on the back burner for most of the summer. I stayed in touch with the writer via email at least every other week, sharing with him latest numbers on the purchasing power of women, and reported the financial impact when women (as heads of households in the majority of homes) don’t negotiate when buying a car. Yes, I stayed in touch; enough for him to remember me, and not quite enough to be a stalker. When the article did publish in September, the story opened on the home page of Personal Finance, and led with 3 paragraphs about our company. We hit the mother load! The Oprah of the Finance World, so to speak.

That article alone has lead to several pivotal partnerships, calls for alliances, and even more press – and dealer attention. All have lead to more revenue.

My suggestion when marketing any product or service? There is no one straight way to network—traditionally or electronically. Every rock has an opportunity; turn over each one. Stay vigilant, persevere, and be creative. Look out Fox n Friends!

BIO: Anne Fleming once struggled with negotiating at a car dealership. Now, she has vast knowledge in this area and shares her insights on negotiating and creating the best dealership experience possible. Anne's goal is to empower women to take charge of their automotive experience and have it be rewarding each and every visit. Appearing in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, USAToday, Anne has effectively used social networking to elevate her company to the national spotlight.

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