Most financial advisors think media coverage is for the big firms with PR teams and massive budgets. They see competitors quoted in the Wall Street Journal and figure that the world isn’t accessible to a boutique practice.

Local coverage is accessible. You just need to understand how it works and who to talk to.

Why Local Coverage Builds Your Business

Local media reaches the people who might hire you. Someone in Dallas watching the morning news isn’t looking for a financial advisor in New York. They’re looking for someone local.

The business impact is direct. You’ll get inbound calls from people who saw you on TV or read your article. They’re reaching out because you’ve already established credibility. The conversation starts warmer than any cold outreach.

When publications quote you repeatedly, you gain expert status. Investors see you in the business journal, then on the morning show, then in another article. That repetition makes you the authority on these topics locally. Referral sources start introducing you as “the advisor who’s always in the news.”

The trust transfer matters. Take a Dallas advisor quoted in the Dallas Business Journal about property tax strategies in early 2024. Two weeks later, a local TV station called her for a segment on rising real estate costs. Within 90 days, she had three inbound calls from qualified investors who mentioned seeing her coverage. One became a $2 million client. When the media validates your expertise, investors aren’t just taking your word for it anymore.

Competitors can’t easily displace you once you’re established as the local expert journalists call. That positioning creates a real moat around your practice.

National coverage builds credibility everywhere, especially with high-net-worth investors. The smart approach uses both. National coverage for credibility markers. Local coverage for consistent visibility where you do business. Then you take everything and use it across all your marketing.

Your Local Business Journal Is Gold

Most major cities have a business journal. The Dallas Business Journal. The Houston Business Journal. The Denver Business Journal. These publications are part of the American City Business Journals network, and they’re different from daily papers.

Business journals focus entirely on local business news. Their readers are business owners, executives, and professionals. That’s your target audience sitting right there.

They regularly cover wealth management, financial services firms, and market trends. They also profile local advisors, write about firms opening new offices, bringing on partners, or reaching asset milestones, and track who’s moving where in the local financial services industry.

Getting into your local business journal should be a priority. The readers are qualified investors and referral sources, and the coverage positions you within the local business community specifically.

Business journals also tend to be more accessible than daily papers. They have dedicated business reporters who cover your industry. They’re looking for local sources constantly. And they publish more frequently about financial services topics than general newspapers do.

Pitch them stories about local market trends. Offer to contribute bylined articles about wealth management issues affecting local business owners. Respond when they’re looking for sources on economic stories. Build a relationship with their financial services reporter.

Once you’re in the business journal, use it everywhere. Other business owners see it. Referral partners read it. Investors notice it. That publication carries weight in the local business community.

How Local News Actually Works Now

Before you pitch anyone, understand what you’re walking into.

In some markets, you’ll still find dedicated business or financial reporters who cover your industry regularly. These specialists exist at larger metro papers and business journals. If your market has them, they should be your priority. Build relationships with these reporters and you’ll have a direct line to relevant coverage.

But in many markets, those specialists are gone. Now you’ve got generalist reporters covering city hall, local business, and occasionally personal finance when something big happens. Papers are running more wire service content from AP and Bloomberg because it’s cheaper than assigning original stories. Your job is to make the local angle so obvious they can’t justify running generic national content instead.

Staffs are smaller, which creates both challenges and opportunities. Reporters are stretched thin, so they need sources who make their job easier. But it also means less competition for coverage if you know how to position yourself.

What Gets You Coverage

Local journalists don’t care about your expertise in the abstract. They care when you can explain what something means for their audience right now.

When mortgage rates change, property taxes go up, or a major local employer announces layoffs, that’s your window. Call the newsroom within hours with a specific angle about what this means for families in your city.

The faster you respond, the better your odds. Local news cycles move quickly. Producers need sources who pick up the phone and can be on camera or available for quotes within 24 hours.

Send a two-paragraph email with a clear story idea and your phone number. That’s it. No six-page media kit. Explain complex financial topics in plain terms their audience will understand. Be available when they need you.

Own topics other advisors avoid. Most pitch the same tired angles about retirement planning and tax tips. Find the stories that affect real people locally but that nobody else is covering.

Regional credit union mergers. The impact of a new employer on housing costs. Financial planning when the school district changes boundaries. Elder financial abuse in your county. How inflation hits different neighborhoods differently. What happens when local banks merge. College savings when the state university raises tuition.

Pick two or three areas where you genuinely know more than other sources. When those stories come up, reporters remember who helped them last time.

Relationships Matter More Than Perfect Pitches

Media coverage is a relationship business, not a transactional one.

You can’t call a reporter for the first time when you need something and expect results. That’s what everyone does, and it doesn’t work.

Start building relationships now, before you have anything to pitch. Follow local journalists on social media. When they write something good, tell them. If you spot an error in a financial story, or have insight that would move the story forward, send a friendly note offering to be a resource for future pieces.

Here’s what taking a business reporter to coffee looks like. You reach out and say you’d like to learn more about what they’re covering. No pitch. You meet and ask what stories they’re working on. What trends they’re seeing in local business. What sources have been most helpful recently. You mention you work in financial services and would be happy to be a resource if they ever need background on wealth management topics. You don’t ask for coverage. You learn what they need and offer to help when it’s relevant.

That conversation might not pay off for six months. But when that reporter is on deadline and needs a financial expert fast, they’ll call the person they already know and trust.

Journalists go back to sources they trust. Someone who picks up the phone. Someone who explains things clearly. Someone who doesn’t waste their time or try to turn every quote into a commercial for their firm. Be that person, and you’ll get called again and again. The advisor who helped a reporter meet a deadline at 4 PM on a Friday gets remembered.

Build three or four solid relationships with local journalists, and you’ll get more coverage than ten advisors sending cold pitches ever will.

If building these relationships yourself feels overwhelming or you don’t have the time, you can hire an agency that knows your industry and already has relationships with the right journalists. They can open doors faster because reporters already know and trust them.

The Two Paths to Coverage

You can be a source for their stories, or you can write your own.

Being a Source

This means responding when reporters reach out and pitching timely story ideas. When you’ve built those relationships, they’ll come to you first when financial stories break locally.

The advantage is speed and frequency. A reporter can quote you in three different articles in one month, each taking 15 minutes of your time. You don’t write anything. You just answer questions and review quotes for accuracy.

Sign up for services like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) or Qwoted where journalists post requests for sources. Set alerts for financial topics. When you see a relevant query, respond within an hour with your credentials and a specific angle you can speak to.

When you see a breaking story that touches your expertise, reach out immediately. Email the reporter who wrote it or call the newsroom. “I saw your piece on the property tax increase. I work with retirees in [county] and I’m seeing three specific ways this affects their planning. Happy to explain if you’re doing a follow-up.”

Track who covers what in your market. Keep a simple spreadsheet. Reporter name, outlet, topics they cover, last time you talked. When something breaks in their area, you know exactly who to call.

The more you help reporters on deadline, the more they’ll think of you first next time.

Writing bylined articles

This works when newsrooms are stretched. You’re not pitching an interview. You’re pitching a finished article they can publish with minimal editing.

How to pitch bylined articles

This only works if you study the publication first. Read the last two months. What topics do they cover? What length are articles? What tone do they use? Match what they already publish.

Look at bylines. If you see “Special to [Publication]” or articles by non-staff writers, that’s a signal they accept contributed content. If everything is staff-written, they probably won’t start now.

When you pitch, keep it brief. The topic and angle. Why it matters to their readers now. Why you’re qualified. Proposed length based on what they run.

If they’re interested, they’ll give you specs. When discussing terms with the editor, ask if they can include a backlink to your website in your bio or within the article. Many publications will agree to this. Those backlinks can drive traffic to your site while improving your SEO. News coverage also appears at the top of Google search results in the news section, raising your visibility when people search for financial topics or your name.

What makes bylined articles work

The article can’t read like marketing. No promotional content. You get a one-line bio at the end. The piece has to provide genuine value without pitching your services.

Offer professional photos with your pitch. Let them know you have high-quality headshots and action shots available. Editors appreciate having visual assets ready to go, and articles with photos get more attention than text alone.

Create an accompanying chart or graph that illustrates a key point in your article. Visual data makes your piece more engaging, and editors often prefer content with strong visuals. A simple chart showing local market trends or comparing financial scenarios can make your article stand out from other submissions.

Bring real reporting with local data and examples. Send clean copy that’s publication-ready.

When your first piece is solid, they’ll ask for another. That’s how you become a regular contributor.

Work with Generalist Reporters

When you’re talking to someone who’s not a financial journalist, adjust your approach completely.

They might not know basic financial terms. Pitch “Here’s why some people are paying taxes now to avoid bigger bills later”instead of “Advisors seeing increased Roth conversion activity.”Walk them through what a Roth conversion is when they call.

Don’t make them feel stupid. Reporters who trust you to explain things clearly without condescension will come back repeatedly.

Find the right entry point. If there’s no business reporter, figure out who covers stories that touch on money. The reporter covering aging? Perfect for Medicare and retirement topics. Education reporter? College savings and student loans. City hall reporter? Property taxes and municipal bonds.

You’re looking for the intersection between what they already cover and what you know.

Make It Hyperlocal

Wire services write broad national pieces that end up in local newspapers everywhere. That’s your opening.

When you see AP or Bloomberg articles running in your local paper, those journalists work out of major cities like New York or Washington. Build relationships with them the same way you would local reporters. They need sources across the country for national stories with local examples.

The same goes for syndicated columnists. When you see the same personal finance columnist appearing in your local paper week after week, find out who they are and where they’re based. Reach out. These columnists need sources just like beat reporters do.

Track who’s getting syndicated in your market. If a columnist writes about retirement planning and appears in your paper monthly, that’s a relationship worth building. One quote in their column gets you into dozens of papers at once.

But for stories that stay local, you need angles wire services would never cover.

Not “Inflation affecting retirement savings” but “Property tax increases hitting retirees in [county] harder than working families.” Not “Social Security strategies” but “Why [city] residents retiring this year face different calculations than those who retired last year.”

Use local data. Reference local employers, local real estate markets, local tax issues. The more specific you get to that market, the more likely local outlets will run your story instead of pulling generic wire content.

What to Do After You Get Coverage

The media hit is just the beginning. What you do with it afterward is where real value comes from.

Most advisors post coverage once on LinkedIn and move on. That wastes most of the value.

The point is to get the article, then repurpose it. You don’t need to do everything, but you have options.

Post it on LinkedIn and send it to your email list. Add it to your website’s media page. Your sales team can mention it in prospectmeetings. Print official reprints for packets you send investors. Reference it in speaking proposals.

If you’re going on TV, promote it in advance. Even if prospects don’t watch, you get credit for being on in the first place.

Share coverage again weeks later with a different angle. Use a pull quote in a social post about a related topic. Include it in your newsletter with your own commentary. Send it to referral partners.

For significant pieces, get official reprints. Check the publication’s reprint policies, but use what you’re allowed to use in direct mail, at conferences, and in materials you send investors.

Update your materials when you get fresh coverage. Nothing looks worse than “As seen in 2019” still leading your media section in 2025.

One article can work for you for months when you repurpose it properly. For a deeper look at how to turn media coverage into business growth, including strategies for maximizing the value of every media appearance, read our comprehensive guide on public relations for asset managers.

Start Small and Build

You don’t need to land every outlet at once. Start with your local business journal and weekly community papers. Build relationships with a few reporters. Respond quickly when they need sources. Pitch stories that are genuinely useful to their readers.

One quote leads to another. One article leads to a regular column. That consistency compounds over time into real positioning in your market.

Implementing an effective public relations strategy requires understanding how media has evolved and adapting your approach accordingly. The fundamentals of building journalist relationships remain crucial, but the tactics have changed significantly.

Local media coverage is accessible when you understand what journalists need and make their job easier. Most advisors never bother. That’s your opening.

Missing Media Opportunities?

Are you watching competitors get quoted while your expertise goes unnoticed in your market?

Without consistent local media presence, you’re invisible when investors are researching advisors. Let’s talk about building a media strategy that positions you as the go-to expert locally. Schedule a complimentary strategy session to help you see which outlets make sense for your practice and how to approach them.

Schedule your media strategy session.

Dan Sondhelm is the CEO of Sondhelm Partners. He works with boutique asset managers and financial advisors to grow AUM, stand out in crowded markets, and create more meaningful conversations with investors.