Get Featured in Ottawa Sun

Ottawa Sun is a local news publication, and local newsrooms tend to run on small staffs with more story tips than they can follow. Pitches from businesses usually lose out to public meetings, breaking news and school sports, however good the story is. A guaranteed placement removes that uncertainty: the piece is arranged with the publication in advance, you approve the draft, and it publishes on ottawasun.com inside a written window, usually four to six weeks. It is a real article on the site that you can put in a proposal, a deck or a profile.

What Ottawa Sun covers

Ottawa Sun is a local news publication serving readers in Ontario. Publications in this category report on the things that shape everyday life in a community: local government and public services, schools, business openings and closings, development, public safety, weather, sports, arts and events. The coverage is defined by geography. If it happens in the area or affects the people who live there, it is a potential story.

Stories about people are a natural fit for local news because readers may know the subject, or may walk past the storefront every week. A profile of an owner, a look at a new location, a firm’s anniversary, a fundraiser, a book by a local author: these are familiar formats for a community publication, and they work when they are specific about the place and the people.

Who reads Ottawa Sun

The readership of a local news publication is concentrated where the publication is. For Ottawa Sun, that is a community in Ontario. Its readers include longtime residents, families, local employers and employees, community leaders and neighbors who follow local affairs. They read with attention because the news concerns places they know and people they may have met.

If your customers are local, local news is the most direct press there is. Being featured in Ottawa Sun puts your name in front of people in your own market and gives you a news story to use in marketing, on your website and in conversations with prospects. For out-of-area companies, it signals a commitment to the community.

Earning recognition among readers in Ontario

A feature in Ottawa Sun tells readers in Ontario that your company is active in their country and not only across the border. That distinction matters to Canadian customers, distributors and lenders, who often prefer to work with names they have seen at home. It gives your sales and hiring conversations in Ontario a local point of reference.

Coverage in Ontario is commonly sought by companies in natural resources, technology, real estate, financial services, retail and tourism, and by professionals such as lawyers, advisers and physicians. American firms expanding north are frequent clients, since they often need Canadian customers to see them as present in the country.

Out-of-area companies and longtime locals face the same test: is there a reason for people in this community to care? For a newcomer, it may be jobs, a new location or a service not offered nearby. For an established name, it may be growth, history or community work. Either way, specifics carry the story.

We start by choosing one of the angles below. Most businesses and practices have two or three that would work, and the best choice is usually the one with the clearest local connection and timing.

What weakens a pitch

• Nothing new. A local story needs a reason to run now, such as a date, a change, an event or a recent result.
• Missing details. Without a location, a description of what you do and a clear timeline, a feature reads as generic and local readers move on.
• Claims that cannot be supported. Local readers know the area and will notice exaggeration, and we only write what is accurate.
• A story with no people in it. Community news is about neighbors, so a feature needs an owner, a team or a client perspective.