PR for Canadian Small Businesses

Many Canadian small business owners assume PR is for large companies with a communications team. It is not, but it works differently at a smaller scale, and the most useful coverage is often closer to home than people expect.

Here is an honest guide to how it works.

Is PR worth it for a small business?

It can be, when the goal is credibility rather than immediate sales. Independent coverage gives customers, partners and future hires something to find when they search your name, and it keeps working long after it runs.

It works best for businesses with a story beyond the product: a local problem solved, an unusual operating decision, an owner with real expertise, or numbers that say something about a sector. It works less well when the only news is that the business exists.

Earned coverage also takes time and availability. Reporters work fast, and someone needs to be reachable when they call.

Start local

For most Canadian small businesses, the city paper is a better first target than a national title.

National titles such as the Financial Post and National Post want significance across the country. City papers want a concrete local connection, and a genuine local story competes in a far smaller field. The Toronto Sun, for example, writes for ordinary Torontonians rather than specialists, which suits consumer-facing businesses with a real presence in the city. The Vancouver Sun and Montreal Gazette serve their own cities and regions in the same way.

Make the local connection concrete. Name the neighbourhood, the number of people you employ there, or the local decision that changed something for you. A national release with a city name added reads as exactly that.

Community publications, local business association newsletters and industry trade titles are worth considering too. They are often where customers and peers first hear about a business.

The bilingual market

If you operate in Quebec, language is part of the plan. Much of the public conversation in the province happens in French-language media, and English-language coverage reaches only part of the audience.

That does not mean every small business needs French-language press. It means knowing who your customers are and where they read. A business serving Montreal's English-speaking community has a natural home in the Montreal Gazette. A business serving the whole province should plan for both languages.

Outside Quebec, most small business campaigns run in English, but it is worth checking whether any part of your customer base reads mainly in French.

What makes a small business story

• Something happening. An opening, an expansion, a change, a first. News needs a verb.
• Local impact. Jobs, a neighbourhood, a community problem addressed.
• A response to the news. How a cost increase, a rule change or a shift in customer behaviour is landing in a real business.
• Expertise. An owner who can explain something plainly, on the record, the same day.

"Local shop opens second location" is rarely a story on its own. "Why one Toronto retailer opened in a suburb instead of downtown, and what its rent and footfall figures showed" is much closer to one.

It also helps to know that several major Canadian dailies share content across titles, so a strong story can sometimes travel further than the paper that first ran it. Our guide on why Canadian newspapers share content explains what that means for a pitch.

Earned and paid routes

• Do it yourself. Read the reporters who cover your area and send short, specific pitches. Free, slow and legitimate.
• Expert commentary. Be available as a source on topics you know. Low cost in money, higher in responsiveness.
• Agency-assisted pitching. An agency develops the angle, writes it and pitches for you. You pay for the work, not a guaranteed result.
• Advertising and sponsored content. Paid and labelled. Useful for some goals, and not the same as being written about.

The major Canadian dailies are staff-written, with no contributor programme to buy into. Anyone guaranteeing editorial coverage there is describing something they do not control.

Once coverage does run, link to the live article, name the publication correctly and use it on your website and in proposals. The next journalist will look at what has already been written about you.

What we do

Digital Networking Agency helps small businesses find the local or sector story inside the business, write it to editorial standard and pitch the desks where the fit is real. You approve every word before anything is submitted.

We will tell you which route each opportunity is, and whether PR is the right investment at this stage. For a wider view, see PR in Canada and our guide to getting press in Canada.

Frequently asked questions

Should a small business pitch the National Post?

Only with a story of national significance. For most small businesses, a strong city story is more realistic and reaches the customers who matter more directly.

Do I need French-language coverage in Quebec?

If your customers include French-speaking Quebecers, it is worth planning for. English-language coverage alone reaches only part of that audience.

Can PR replace advertising for a small business?

No. PR builds credibility and a searchable record, while advertising buys visibility you control. Most businesses benefit from understanding what each does rather than expecting one to do both.