EVERY so often the lament comes forward: why does this outfit get more media coverage than me?
Marketing is a big part of getting coverage, and it is honed to a professional level with public relations firms who take on contracts to get a company's branding and message out there.
Part of that brief is to cold-call and email newspapers like the Wairarapa Times-Age, pitching an "angle" that could be attractive to readers.
Interestingly, these are rarely taken up by a newspaper that has to remain close to its readers and their interests.
Local matters are more important than an obscure guest speaker who happens to be giving a talk in Masterton.
The reality is that it is the local person, someone not trained in marketing, who is likely to get the better response if he or she picks up a phone and calls the paper with an idea. I wish more people would, because it would prevent fractious calls from those who wonder why their business doesn't feature, while a rival's does. There may even be schools who wonder why certain schools always get coverage in the paper, and they don't. I repeat: it's marketing.
The media is not omnipotent, although it is fun to pretend we are. But most of the time we are hunting for leads - hard leads, in-your-face leads, heartbreaking leads, gentle leads, cheerful, fun, inspiring leads. We want the variety. We trawl event listings, websites, and Facebook pages. We prowl community notices and library noticeboards. Even supermarket community boards provide good stuff. But most leads come from people stepping up and telling us about them. And better yet, help us with the story or photo.
I've had schools that will take three kids out of class, dress them up in funny costumes, and get them ready for the reporter and photographer. A newspaper will walk a mile over hot coals for the cute-kid factor, and often, for a lightweight story, we come because we know the photo will be good.
So the outfit that can offer the story, the photo, and get it set up, is 90 per cent on the way to getting published in the paper.
Yes, the media should recognise an outfit's worth, and we do. But you need to introduce yourself, and let us know when something fun is going down.