Get Featured in SF Weekly

SF Weekly 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. With a guaranteed placement, the outlet is confirmed first, you approve every word, and the article publishes on sfweekly.com inside the window written into your scope, usually one to three days. It is a real article on the site that you can put in a proposal, a deck or a profile.

What SF Weekly covers

Readers in California have plenty of national and international news to choose from. SF Weekly does a different job. Local news publications concentrate on a defined area and report what is going on inside it, from civic affairs and the local economy to community events, schools, sports and the arts. The common thread is place: each story matters to someone nearby.

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 SF Weekly

SF Weekly’s readers are people with a stake in the area: residents, families, business owners, local officials, professionals and people thinking about moving to or investing in the community. The publication serves readers in California, and they read local news for practical reasons. They want to know what is happening near them, which businesses are new, and who is doing work worth knowing about.

That matters for anyone whose work depends on local reputation. Real estate agents, advisers, physicians, attorneys, contractors and restaurateurs all win business through familiarity and word of mouth. A story in SF Weekly adds to both, and it can be shared on your site, in your office, in proposals and across your social profiles.

What local coverage in California does for you

For most companies, the people who matter most are within driving distance. A feature in SF Weekly speaks to that group directly, because its readers have a stake in what happens in California. Coverage there can support word of mouth, give your sales conversations a local reference, and show up when someone in California looks for information about you or your company.

Those who ask for coverage in California are often professionals whose work depends on reputation in a defined area, such as attorneys, physicians, financial advisers, builders and agents. Event organizers, schools and hospitality venues are common as well, along with national brands that are launching a new location in California.

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.

The angles below are where we begin. One clear angle, backed by real details about your work in the community, makes a better local story than a list of everything you offer.

What weakens a pitch

• No local connection. If the story could run unchanged in any town, readers of a community publication have little reason to stop on it.
• Sales copy presented as news. Readers come for information about their community, so a list of offers and slogans reads as out of place.
• Vague claims. “Best in the area” and “top-rated” mean little without something a reader can verify, and everything we write must be true.
• Too many messages. One opening, one milestone or one person, told clearly, is stronger than a tour of every service you provide.