Making Your Business Shine In The Media

Getting yourself noticed as a new business can be one of the toughest challenges on the road to success. Whether you are launching a new business, a new product or simply trying to promote your latest work, getting the media to notice can have a significant impact on raising awareness, but such attention isn’t easily come by.

To help give local businesses in the Swindon area an understanding on how to make headlines, Wiltshire-based business development service The Future Smiths and award-winning law firm Thrings are teaming up for a special panel event with two of the region’s leading journalists providing their expertise on what makes good business news.

The event, titled “How to be a journalist’s dream: A guide to getting your small business noticed” will take place at Thrings’ Swindon offices on Wednesday, 12 June from 8.30am.

Chaired by Future Smiths co-founder Duncan Robinson, the panel is set to include:

• Dan O’Brien – Dan is a senior journalist for BBC West and the politics correspondent for Wiltshire and Swindon, producing content across all the BBC’s regional platforms. Originally from Wiltshire, working with local communities and businesses to help ensure the BBC better represents the diverse range of local perspectives;

• Chris Ward – Editor of South West Business Insider magazine, one of the region’s biggest business publications. Chris is a seasoned journalist with more than a decade of experience in telling the biggest stories from the corporate world;

• Aaron Sims – Aaron is the PR and Communications manager for Thrings. A former print and broadcast journalist, he has experience on both sides of the table – in getting businesses noticed and in knowing what journalists look for in a press release.

Simone Ward-Baptiste, Business Advisor and co-founder of The Future Smiths, said: “Getting the message out there is an important step in raising the profile of a new business, but for many the idea of making yourself newsworthy can be a daunting prospect - this needn’t be the case.

“This event is designed to give the SMEs and start-ups the key tips and tricks they need to ensure what they send a journalist will be of interest and I am already looking forward to seeing what our audience can learn from the experience on our panel.”

To find out more about the event and to sign-up, visit the Eventbrite page.