By Jordan Baker, Founder of Fair Public Relations and former UK national journalist
If I ask a small-business owner where they would most like to be featured, the answer is rarely:
“A really relevant trade website with exactly the customers I need.”
They are much more likely to name a national newspaper.
I understand why.
National coverage feels substantial.
It can provide enormous credibility.
It may create a strong backlink.
It gives the business an impressive piece of independent media evidence.
And national press is one of Fair PR’s main specialisms across both the UK and US.
If there is a credible national opportunity, I will generally want to explore it.
But that does not mean every business should ignore local and trade media while waiting for a national newspaper.
The best outlet depends on:
what you are trying to achieve
who your customers are
where they live
what the story is
which journalist actually has a reason to care
A niche B2B publication read by buyers can be extremely useful.
A regional newspaper can matter greatly to a restaurant whose customers all live nearby.
And national media becomes particularly powerful where the story or expertise has relevance far beyond one local area.
Good media planning starts with the audience.
Does bigger coverage always mean better PR?
No automatic rule works.
Consider two businesses.
Business A
A home-services company operating entirely within Greater Manchester receives a substantial feature in a well-read regional publication about an unusual local expansion.
Business B
A similar business receives one short national mention in a generic article that barely identifies the company and reaches few people likely to buy locally.
Which is better?
It depends on the objective.
The national mention may still provide strong credibility and online authority.
The regional article may be much closer to potential customers.
If the business primarily wants local enquiries, geography matters enormously.
If it primarily wants national authority, backlinks or wider online visibility, the balance may change.
My general view on national media
Fair tends to aim heavily at national and international coverage.
That is our specialism.
And as a broad rule of thumb, I would usually consider strong national media the bigger PR result where the story genuinely fits.
It can deliver:
greater visibility
stronger perceived authority
significant credibility
good digital-publication signals
and potentially substantial SEO/GEO value where the online coverage is relevant and accessible
But there is a very important qualification:
National media is better when it is relevant.
I would not recommend forcing a weak national pitch purely for the logo while ignoring a much more natural local or trade opportunity.
What is local media coverage?
Local media can include:
local newspapers
regional news websites
local television
regional radio
community publications
city magazines
independently edited local outlets
The geographical connection is central.
A local journalist usually needs to understand:
Why does this matter here?
Suitable angles can include:
a significant opening
jobs
a local founder story
an unusual community initiative
a relevant local event
expertise connected with a local issue
a business development with consequences for the area
Merely being based in Birmingham does not make every company announcement Birmingham news.
When is local coverage particularly useful?
When customers are local.
A restaurant.
A salon.
A trades company.
A private clinic.
A local attraction.
A retailer with one physical location.
A hospitality venue.
A home-services company.
If most potential customers live within 20 miles, ignoring every publication serving those people because it is not national makes little sense.
Local publications also frequently provide online links and searchable public coverage, which can give the result additional value beyond the immediate readership.
Can local press become a stepping stone?
Sometimes.
A good local story may attract wider attention.
A national journalist might see it.
A strong founder story can begin locally and then develop.
But I would never sell local press as part of a guaranteed ladder:
Local → Regional → National.
Journalism does not work like a computer game where collecting three local articles unlocks the national level.
The national story still needs national relevance.
Local coverage can have value in its own right
This matters.
A regional feature is not a consolation prize.
If a café’s customers are local, the article may be closer to the commercial audience than many national results.
The correct question is:
What is this coverage supposed to achieve?
What is trade media?
Trade publications serve a defined industry, profession or specialist audience.
Examples might cover:
recruitment
accountancy
technology
construction
hospitality
legal services
interior design
healthcare
retail
almost any established profession
Their total audience may be much smaller than a national consumer newspaper.
But the audience concentration can be extremely high.
Why can trade media be valuable for B2B companies?
Imagine a consultancy sells a £50,000 service to HR directors.
It appears in a specialist HR publication read by exactly those people.
That can be commercially meaningful even if the publication has nowhere near the audience of a national tabloid.
Trade journalism can create:
sector credibility
buyer awareness
professional authority
useful backlinks
peer recognition
a stronger evidence base during sales
Again, there is no guarantee any article creates customers.
But relevance is strong.
What kind of stories work in trade media?
Industry insight.
Research.
Sector trends.
Expert commentary.
Technical explanations.
Business developments.
New products relevant to the industry.
Leadership interviews.
Case studies.
Regulation.
Operational challenges.
The level of detail can also be much deeper because the audience already understands the sector.
What is national media coverage?
“National press” covers an enormous variety of journalism.
It is not one type of article.
A national publisher may contain:
breaking news
consumer advice
business coverage
homes
health
money
travel
food
technology
lifestyle
shopping
property
careers
and specialist expert features.
A client might appear as:
one expert quote
a product recommendation
a founder interview
a consumer case study
a business story
the central subject of a feature
So saying:
“We want national press”
is only the beginning.
Which desk?
Which journalist?
Which reader?
Which story?
How do local, trade and national media compare?
| Media type | Typical audience | Suitable stories | What journalists need | Potential strengths | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local/regional | Geographic community | Openings, local founders, local issues, community impact | Strong geographic connection | Customer proximity, local authority, useful online coverage | Story may not travel beyond area |
| Trade/specialist | Defined industry/profession | Sector insight, expertise, research, B2B news | Specialist relevance and credible detail | Concentrated buyer/professional audience | Smaller general audience |
| National | Broad national or large specialist audience | Widely relevant news, consumer advice, strong expertise, products, human stories | Broader significance and strong editorial hook | Major credibility and visibility | Higher relevance threshold and competition |
How should a business decide what audience matters?
Start with six questions.
1. Who actually needs to know about us?
Consumers?
Business owners?
HR directors?
Local homeowners?
Doctors?
Retail buyers?
2. Where are they?
One town?
One region?
The whole UK?
The entire US?
Internationally?
3. Are they consumers, businesses or professionals?
A professional audience often changes the value of trade media dramatically.
4. What do we want them to do?
Buy?
Book?
Trust us?
Recognise the founder?
Consider us for procurement?
Remember us later?
5. Which publications serve those people?
Look at actual editorial readership and content.
6. What can we genuinely offer the journalist?
Story.
Expertise.
Product.
Data.
Local consequence.
Human experience.
This last question prevents media targeting becoming a vanity exercise.
If a client says “national only”, would Fair push back?
Yes, where the objective suggests another route is valuable.
Suppose a restaurant owner says:
“I only want national newspapers.”
Most customers are local.
The restaurant has a strong local opening.
There is a regional publication with a large food and hospitality readership.
It would be strange to reject that opportunity purely because the masthead is not national.
Similarly, a B2B firm may sell to a very narrow professional audience.
If the relevant trade publication is read by those buyers, I would want the client to understand the potential value.
Our job is to align media with the client’s objective, not simply follow a list of publication logos.
Which media should a local service business target?
Imagine a home-maintenance company operating only in Leeds.
Local opportunity
Leeds home-services firm expands after winter callouts increase
Potentially relevant if the development is substantial and local.
Trade opportunity
The founder could discuss a technical industry change in a building-services publication.
National opportunity
The founder might provide useful consumer advice around a national cold-weather story.
Notice how the company remains the same.
The editorial reason changes.
Which media should a B2B company target?
Imagine a small cyber consultancy.
Its customers are medium-sized companies.
Trade media
Highly natural.
Cybersecurity and technology publications can use technical expertise and industry insight.
Business media
Relevant where the company can explain broader operational or management consequences.
National consumer
Possible only where the expertise connects to a wider consumer issue such as scams, privacy or household cybersecurity.
The company should not pitch a highly technical enterprise-security announcement to a general lifestyle writer merely because the publication is famous.
Which media should a consumer product brand target?
Product PR can operate across all three.
Local
Founder story.
Local manufacturing.
Regional launch.
Jobs.
Trade
Retail expansion.
Product category trend.
Manufacturing.
Wholesale.
National
Shopping guides.
Product reviews.
Consumer features.
Seasonal roundups.
Founder stories where sufficiently interesting.
The product must actually be available to the audience being pitched.
Can one story work for all three?
Sometimes.
But you should not send the identical pitch and merely change the journalist’s name.
Consider a hypothetical coffee company opening a new roastery.
Local angle
Subject: Independent Bristol coffee brand creates 18 jobs with new St Philip’s roastery
Focus:
location
jobs
local founder
local investment
community
Trade angle
Subject: Independent coffee brand doubles roasting capacity as wholesale café demand grows
Focus:
capacity
wholesale market
supply
sector impact
National angle
Subject: Coffee founder says the “ultra-dark roast” era is fading as younger drinkers seek lighter flavours
Focus:
consumer trend
expert insight
broader market relevance
Same company.
Three stories.
Why the subject line changes
The local journalist needs a local reason.
The trade journalist needs an industry reason.
The national journalist needs a reason their broader audience cares.
That is proper targeting.
How do journalists decide whether something fits?
They think about their audience.
This sounds obvious.
It is often forgotten in PR.
A journalist may consider:
their editorial remit
reader usefulness
geography
timing
evidence
who is available
images
novelty
whether the story adds anything new
When I worked as a journalist, I was not deciding whether the business deserved PR.
I was deciding whether the story helped me produce something my publication needed.
That is the mindset Fair tries to bring to targeting.
Should UK and US businesses approach geography differently?
Both countries have local, regional, trade and national media.
The practical scale differs.
A US business operating in one state may have a heavily regional strategy.
A UK business can often reach a much larger share of the country through national publications because the geography is smaller.
But neither country has one universal media hierarchy.
A company selling across America does not automatically need New York media.
A business serving rural Scotland does not automatically need a London journalist.
The market should determine the media plan.
Should you start local and “work your way up”?
Not necessarily.
This is one of the most persistent PR myths.
Some stories are naturally national from day one.
A doctor may have expertise useful to a national health journalist despite never being quoted by the local newspaper.
A consumer product may fit a national gift guide immediately.
A B2B specialist may be relevant to a national trade publication.
Other stories are intrinsically local.
There is no compulsory progression.
Previous media can help demonstrate credibility.
It does not unlock access to the next tier.
Fair’s general hierarchy
Our instinct and specialism is heavily national.
If a client can credibly secure national UK or US coverage, that tends to be the larger goal.
National coverage can often provide bigger visibility and strong credibility.
But we do not want national for the sake of national.
The practical framework is:
national where the story deserves national
trade where the audience and expertise make trade valuable
local where geography is commercially or editorially relevant
Often, a healthy campaign uses a mixture.
If SEO and GEO are major objectives, does that change targeting?
Potentially.
Strong online national publications can be particularly attractive because of their wider digital authority, visibility and potential links.
But I would not convert that into a rule saying:
national always improves SEO and local never does.
A relevant local or trade publisher may provide a perfectly useful editorial link.
Search outcomes depend on far more than publication category.
For Fair, the media objective and digital objective should inform each other rather than one completely overriding the other.
How do you build a realistic journalist target list?
Step 1: define the story
Not the company.
The actual story.
Step 2: define the audience
Who would care?
Step 3: find publications serving that audience
Do not begin with the biggest logos.
Step 4: review recent editorial coverage
Does the publication actually cover this?
Step 5: identify relevant journalists
Look at their recent work and beat.
Step 6: establish the fit
Does your pitch add something?
Step 7: tailor and send
Then track what happens.
This may result in a smaller list than indiscriminate outreach.
That is not necessarily a weakness.
Media selection scorecard
| Publication | Target audience | Story relevance | Evidence ready | Suitable spokesperson | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local city newspaper | Local consumers | Strong | Yes | Founder available | Pitch local angle |
| Specialist trade publication | Industry buyers | Strong | Yes | Technical director | Pitch sector implication |
| Unrelated national lifestyle outlet | Broad consumers | Poor | Yes | Founder | Do not pitch |
The last row is important.
Sometimes the right PR decision is not to email somebody.
How should you measure whether the media choice was right?
Look at more than size.
Was the outlet relevant?
Was the attribution useful?
Did the article position the business correctly?
Did customers see it?
Was there referral traffic?
Was there branded search?
Did a journalist come back?
Did salespeople find it useful?
Did the company receive qualified enquiries?
Did the coverage support authority?
Some campaigns are deliberately about specialist credibility rather than immediate clicks.
That is a legitimate objective.
What if the business is not ready for any of them?
Then improve the story.
Perhaps you need:
stronger evidence
better images
a credible spokesperson
customer permission
a more substantial business development
a clearer explanation of why anybody outside the company should care
Not every business needs to start pitching this week.
Three realistic media-planning examples
Local consumer service business
Business: private physiotherapy practice serving one city.
Likely starting mix: local + national expert commentary.
Local stories may attract nearby customers.
A qualified clinician may also contribute to national health features.
B2B professional-services firm
Business: recruitment consultancy specialising in renewable energy.
Likely starting mix: trade + national business.
The specialist recruitment audience is commercially useful.
National business coverage may arise when hiring insight connects to a broader energy story.
Consumer product brand
Business: small UK cookware company.
Likely starting mix: national consumer/product + trade + founder-local.
Shopping editors may be strong targets.
Retail trade media may care about growth.
Local founder coverage may be useful where manufacturing or the founder has a genuine geographic story.
When is professional PR useful?
When somebody needs to make these judgement calls repeatedly.
Fair looks at:
the story
expertise
audience
publication
journalist
evidence
client goals
Then we build outreach around the strongest fit.
Expert Commentary PR is useful where a credible specialist is the main media asset.
Standard PR supports a wider campaign involving founders, business developments, products, services, expertise and other stories.
Frequently asked questions
Should a small business contact local newspapers before national journalists?
Not automatically. If the story is inherently local, a local journalist is a natural target. If the company has expertise or a consumer story with national relevance, it can approach national media directly. There is no requirement to earn local coverage first. The decision should follow the story and the audience, not an imaginary media ladder.
Is trade publication coverage valuable for a B2B business?
Often, yes. A trade publication may reach a smaller total readership than a national newspaper but contain a far higher concentration of potential buyers, partners and peers. That can make it particularly valuable for credibility and specialist authority. National business media can still be extremely useful, and the strongest campaigns may use both.
Can local press coverage help a business get national attention?
Sometimes. A national journalist may discover a local story or the initial coverage may demonstrate that the subject has already attracted media interest. But local coverage does not automatically lead to national press. The story still needs broader relevance before a national journalist has a reason to use it.
How do I know which journalist or publication to pitch?
Start with the audience and the exact story. Look for publications already covering similar subjects, then identify individual journalists whose recent work genuinely overlaps with the angle. Read their articles before pitching. A carefully selected journalist with a clear reason to care is normally a much better target than hundreds of generic newsroom addresses.
Good PR starts with the right audience, not the biggest publication
Fair PR specialises heavily in national earned media across the UK and US, but good campaigns are not built around prestige alone.
Local, trade and national coverage each have a role.
The right combination depends on what your business genuinely has to say and who needs to hear it.
Explore Small Business PR or Standard PR if you want us to assess the most realistic media opportunities for your business.
We can help you assess which audience and editorial approach best suits the story you actually have.
Explore Small Business PR, Standard PR, or contact Fair PR to discuss your goals.
About the author
Jordan Baker is the founder of Fair Public Relations and a former UK national journalist. Fair PR specialises in journalist-led earned media across national, international, trade and relevant local publications, with national UK and US media forming a major part of the agency’s work.
View Jordan Baker’s media expert profile
