Month: May 2025

News media have undergone enormous changes in the 21^st century, thanks to the omnipresence of the internet and digital communications. Getting a significant media relations “hit” on the internet can generate worldwide coverage. But those kinds of hits are rare and require significant news value to obtain.

Sure, it’s great to get recognition from all over the nation—or the world—but how valuable is that coverage to you if your primary geographic market or audience is local?

News consumption has changed…but people are still interest in news

Interestingly, the prestigious Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world, points out that as news consumption habits become more digital, U.S. adults continue to see value in local outlets.

What makes local news outlets valuable is that even as print media circulation and local TV news audiences have shrunk, thanks to the internet, overall local coverage has expanded.

Take a glance at the chart in the article and you can see for yourself just how people have shifted in how and where they get their news.

Just how important is local media coverage?

With consumer readership for local news shifting to digital, it is easy to discount the importance of local news.

That’s because we live in in a time when people can access a seemingly limitless array of content from anywhere in the world. People can access platforms ranging from to mainstream news organizations that rely on the accuracy of their information to social media sites riddled with falsehoods and opinion.

But don’t discount community news. Local news, and especially quality journalism, continues to play a crucial role in keeping citizens informed about what’s happening immediately around them—a service that other platforms struggle to match. Local news can also serve as a springboard for coverage in larger-circulation mainstream media. And remember, local news outlets have their own websites and actively promote readership to their individual audiences.

Local news serves as a news backbone for community information

Local news outlets act as the first responders to breaking stories. They provide comprehensive coverage on wide-ranging topics—from politics and crime to health and lifestyle. They give citizens the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about issues affecting their communities, like city council meetings and school board elections, and critical issues like housing, education, and public safety.

Local news outlets provide news coverage that will never show up in the 80 hours of the same headlines across dayparts that you see on national news programs.

Coverage includes local news that relates directly to their local audience, ranging from community and neighborhood activities and individual resident achievements and local sports coverage.

Wellons Communications knows how to handle to local media relations

Sure, everyone wants their product or service to headline Fox News, CNN and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

The reality, however, is that consumer product or service marketing rarely has qualities that are going to compete with daily headlines about politics, disasters, celebrities, and strange or unusual events.

Realizing that, our PR firm takes aim at local news outlets and provides them with local angles they use to create stories to share with their readers, viewers and listeners.

We possess the know-how and tools to reach into newsrooms and pitch stories that appeal and make sense to news directors and key editorial staff…and, in fact, our team members have spent part of their careers fielding PR pitches (both good and bad).

Learn more about how we can look for ways to put you in the news…. whether it is digital, broadcast or print. Call us at 407-339-0879 or email us at will@wellonscommunications.com and let’s start making media relations work for you.

In today’s increasingly complex communications world, marketing “success” is often sought via a dizzying array of digital-related approaches that are measured by mystifying metrics.

When you hear terms like “engagement zones,” “SERP” (search engine results page), “landing page visibility” and “click-through rate,” chances are you have little or no idea what in the world it all means. Unless you are a dyed-in-the wool, all the tech gobbledygook doesn’t matter…if your digitally centered marketing program fails to deliver.

That’s because, in the end, all you want is increased sales or increased support of whatever you are marketing.

And that leads us to what we do best at Wellons Communications: media relations.

At Wellons, we have only one focus: we exist to help our clients sell things

The only reason our clients call on us is to help them increase sales for whatever they are selling or remove impediments that could discourage sales for what they are marketing.

We utilize tried-and-true approaches that our clients can afford, understand and that have proven to contribute to marketing success.

We certainly know our way around today’s technical solutions and platforms. But we also add in basic, proven PR strategies that are well executed.

Our primary service is media relations

Our public relations practice is centered around publicity…media relations: the skillset by which journalists are encouraged to report positively about your business.We share clear, accurate and interesting news about what you are selling.

We point journalists in your direction so they can take advantage of your expert insight about your industry or get your opinion on a trending topic.

We look for ways to add dimension and depth about your business that advertising can only touch upon. Our services are considerably more affordable than paid advertising, and when our strategies work, the results can be enormously successful.

Publicity can earn a direct connection with your potential customers

People are exposed to approximately 5,000 advertisements every day.

With a flood of information like that, publicity — information that people actually look at — can cut through the noise and truly connect with your audience.

Publicity influences the views and decisions of people important to your business — potential customers, investors, employees, suppliers.

And, in an era where misinformation (particularly on the internet) abounds, objective endorsement from trusted media sources is more important than ever to helping build recognition, respect and credibility for your business.

How much does media relations cost?

Typically, a PR firm charges a monthly retainer fee that provides a basic number of service hours plus reimbursement of pre-approved out-of-pocket costs.

There is no such thing as a typical retainer fee because there really is no such thing as a typical client. Every client has a different budget and different needs. What’s more, you can be doing exactly the same work with the same monthly hours for two different clients, and there may be very good reasons for charging them very different rates.

At Wellons Communications, we typically meet with a potential client, gain an understanding of their wants and needs, conduct basic research to determine what we believe will deliver results, and propose a budget and time frame (e.g. six months to one year).

The precise budget depends on what we believe will be required from a time-consumption standpoint and related logistical support (e.g. video, photography, information distribution, special needs like transportation and special event activity).

Consider Wellons to develop a media relations program for your business

Consider this:

You have an ongoing need to sell your product or service. Editorial media have an ongoing need to find and report information.

So how do you connect your customers with editorial media?

That’s where Wellons Communications enters the picture. We serve as the cord that connects the plug in the wall to the device it powers. We create information that media can use in a format that will serve the media’s needs. Then we distribute the information, with pinpoint targeting, to those media that will have the most interest in your information. Further, we maintain ongoing contact with media to reinforce connections between you and media whose coverage is important to your business.

If your media relations program is non-existent, consider Wellons Communications to get a program started for you. If your media relations program needs freshening or reinforcement, consider Wellons Communications to review what you are doing and possibly seek new directions.

Call us at 407-339-0879 or email us at will@wellonscommunications.com and tell us what you are doing, what you want, and what you need to see if we can build a new media relations success story together.