Get Featured in The Province

Ask any owner who has emailed a local newsroom about a grand opening: a reply is far from certain. The Province has a whole community to cover with a finite staff, and a pitch from a stranger is easy to set aside. With a guaranteed placement, the outlet is confirmed first, you approve every word, and the article publishes on theprovince.com inside the window written into your scope, 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 The Province covers

Think of The Province as a record of its community. As a local news publication in British Columbia, it belongs to a category that reports on public meetings and local decisions, businesses arriving and expanding, school and sports results, cultural events, and residents doing something worth noting. Stories are chosen for their connection to the place and to the people who live there.

Because the audience is nearby, usefulness counts. Coverage that tells readers something they can act on, such as a service now available, an event to attend, a cause to support or a business to try, fits local news well. So do stories of local people: owners, practitioners, organizers, authors and artists whose work has a clear tie to the community and a reason to be told now.

Who reads The Province

Who reads local news in British Columbia? Residents who want to keep up with their community, owners watching the local market, professionals looking for referrals and partners, and newcomers learning the area. The Province writes for that readership. Its audience is defined by location, which means a story there reaches people who can actually visit, call, book or attend.

For a local business or practice, that makes a Province feature a way to be seen by the people most likely to become customers, clients or patients. It is also a credential you can show: local news coverage tells prospects, partners, lenders and landlords that your work is known in the community you serve.

Why a presence in British Columbia is worth having

Canadian readers have their own publications, and they notice which companies appear in them. Coverage in The Province places your business in front of customers and partners in British Columbia through a source that belongs to their market. It also helps when a prospect in British Columbia looks you up, because a Canadian reference tends to carry more weight with them than one from elsewhere.

Typical clients include Canadian founders seeking investors, franchise owners opening new locations, and established firms that want a stronger national profile. Authors, speakers and nonprofit leaders ask for coverage as well. Companies based outside British Columbia use it when they launch a product or hire a team there.

Stories in a community publication work best when they sound like news about a neighbor. That means a clear subject, a location, a timeline and a human being readers can picture. Owners and professionals who can say what changed, when, and who benefits locally are already most of the way to a strong feature.

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

• A national message with a town name added. Local readers can tell when a story was not written with their community in mind.
• Jargon. Industry terms that work in a trade magazine lose a general local audience, so plain language serves the story better.
• Overstated community ties. If the connection to the area is thin, say what is true and build the story on something else.
• Everything at once. A feature that tries to cover history, services, awards and future plans together leaves readers without a clear takeaway.