Getting Your Story in the News: What Cambridge Businesses Learned About Pitching, Advertising, and Telling Their Story
Recap of the April 29, 2026 Grow Cambridge Workshop
On April 29, Cambridge business owners gathered for Getting Your Story in the News: When to Pitch, When to Advertise, led by Abigail Karbusicky and Eric Medina from Adams MultiMedia / HNGnews.com. They shared a candid look at what actually gets covered in the news and what doesn't.
Here's a recap of the key takeaways.
When Is It Actually News?
Not every business milestone makes for a news story. According to the presenters, these are the situations where reaching out to a reporter makes sense:
A new business opening. A fresh addition to the community is newsworthy.
A pattern in businesses. If your business is part of a broader local or regional trend, that larger story might get told with you in it.
A major business event. Significant expansions, relocations, or other major milestones.
A fun, unique story. Something genuinely interesting or unexpected that connects people to the community.
Milestone anniversaries — sometimes. A first anniversary or a 10-year mark can be newsworthy, but a third or fifth typically isn't unless there's a larger story attached.
What Still Won't Get Covered
Even when you think you have a news story, coverage isn't guaranteed. A few things to keep in mind:
Minor business events like launching a new product or adding a service are typically not news. Those announcements are better suited for your own marketing channels.
Business backstories are situation-dependent. A reporter won't always write a feature about your origin story.
Promotional content doesn't belong in a news story. Even in a new business opening story, expect a reporter to leave out your website address, hours, and prices. News coverage is not advertising, and asking for it to function like one makes it harder to work together.
Press Release 101
Abigail and Eric walked through the basics of a strong press release:
Lead with the most relevant information. Reporters are busy. Put the most important thing first.
Cover the basics. Who, what, when — make the fundamentals clear.
Save history and backstory for later in the release. Context and background are useful, but they belong after the news itself.
Include a call to action. Give the reporter and eventually the reader somewhere to go next.
Attendees had a chance to practice writing their own press release details during the session.
When Is It Advertising? Anytime.
When asked "When is it advertising?" the answer was simple: anytime.
Advertising doesn't have a narrow window the way news coverage does. You have more control over your message through advertising than you may realize, and that's worth using.
Marketing in the Digital Age
Modern marketing isn't just about discounts and slogans. It's about your brand and your mission. Two statistics from the session worth noting:
81% of consumers Google a local business before visiting.
24% use social media to research a local business before they ever walk in the door.
Customers are forming an opinion about you long before they meet you. As the presenters put it, "Your brand has to be present everywhere, even when you're closed. Your customers see you way before you see them."
The Power of Branded Content
The workshop introduced the concept of branded content: stories built around topics your business knows well, published on platforms your customers already trust.
Branded content works for three reasons:
It's relevant. Stories are about topics you're an expert in, content your customers actually want to read.
It's evergreen. It's built for discoverability over time, not just for today. Strong branded content supports your visibility in search engines and in AI-powered search.
It builds credibility. Customers come to know who you are before they ever need you.
Newspapers and local news platforms carry a level of trust that most individual business social media accounts don't have. Content published on credible local news sites supports both reader trust and search engine credibility.
Questions to Help You Find Your Story
The workshop closed with a set of questions to help business owners identify their own content opportunities:
What's your Unique Value Proposition? What makes you different from your competitors?
What's the biggest misconception people have about your business or industry?
What do you wish more customers knew before they came in?
How are you giving back to the community, and do people know about it?
What's changing in your industry over the next year or five years?
These questions aren't about advertising. They're about your story, and the answers are the foundation of a content strategy that keeps working over time.
Next Steps: Put Your Story to Work
Ready to take action? Here are two ways to move forward:
1. Get professional photos that tell your story. Great storytelling starts with great visuals. Enlist the services of K. Welsh Photography to capture images of your business that reflect who you are and what you do. [Link coming soon]
2. Share your story with the Cambridge community. Submit your business story to Cambridge: Stories Behind Our Places in 53523 to be featured on our community Facebook page. It's a simple way to reach neighbors and visitors who want to know more about the people and places that make Cambridge special.
Stay Connected
This workshop was the second in Collaborative 523's 2026 Tell Your Story workshop series for Cambridge businesses. Sign up for updates from Collaborative 523 or book an appointment to learn more about available entrepreneurial resources.
Thank you to Abigail Karbusicky and Eric Medina of Adams MultiMedia / HNGnews.com for sharing their expertise with the Cambridge business community. Special acknowledgment to Enbridge for sponsoring this workshop series with matching funds from WEDC.
