Media relations support for SMEs without the cost or complexity of an agency

  • Clear story angles that journalists actually pick up
  • Ongoing media outreach without a full press office

  • Turn your news into new customers without needing to manage everything yourself

  • Practical PR that fits around your business with prices starting from £475pm

Why media relations matters for your business

“Wow, Amy, you have a great eagle eye for spotting news potential. I’ve had a look and I can’t see anyone else talking about this, so it’s a great chance to start a new conversation.”

You are not just looking for PR support

You want your business to be talked about, recognised and trusted.

Media relations helps you do exactly that. It gives you opportunities to appear in the places your audience already trusts, whether that is online publications, industry press or local media.

The challenge is knowing what is newsworthy and how to approach the right journalists. That is where I come in.

I provide freelance media relations support for SMEs in Ipswich and across the UK. I want to work with you to explore the newsworthy topics that journalists and customers will be interested in.

Seeing your business name in the news is a big thrill. It’s something to be proud of and something that I still get excited about despite working in media relations for over two decades! Thanks to my freelance media relations support, I know how to use relevant pitches, proactive press releases and reactive commentary to build strong relationships with the publications that your audience is reading.

Start your media relations campaign

Gatekeeper Communications logo. This is a black circle with a G along with a flower along the edge

Media relations support for SMEs across B2B and B2C sectors

I work with SMEs across a range of sectors to secure relevant, credible media coverage that reflects your expertise and builds visibility.
From my Ipswich base, I offer media relations support to Suffolk companies as well as working with national brands.

Sectors include:

Automotive

Charities

Children’s entertainment

Health and Fitness

Human Resources

Insurance

Legal

Mortgages

Lifestyle

Luxury goods

Personal Finance

Politics

Regional

Retail

Social Work

Technology

Transport Logistics

In just four months, one client received

11 pieces of media coverage
1 BBC radio interview
Total audience reach: 616k
Total impact reach: 369k
25 brand mentions

This is the result of consistent, focused media relations, not one off activity.

If you want results like this, then you’ve come to the right place.

These kind of media relations results help create momentum, opening up new conversations, opportunities and customers.

As a freelance PR consultant specialising in media relations support, I can share your stories with the right outlets, seamlessly connecting you with your core customers.

Amy Dawson, a Freelance PR professional in Ipswich, standing outdoors in a garden wearing a black maxi dress with colourful abstract patterns, promoting Gatekeeper Communications."

Why does your small business in Ipswich need media relations?

Media relations is more strategic than just seeing your name in the news.
It is about making your business easier to find, easier to trust and easier to choose.

A skilled media relations campaign will shape your reputation. It will change the way that your customers think about you and showcase your brand vision, values and ethos. By connecting you with media coverage in the right publications, you can strengthen your credibility and reach your potential.

This is particularly valuable if you are building your personal profile or positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

Do you want to raise your profile, build trust and be found more easily?

You want to raise awareness of your brand

Targeted media coverage helps you reach new audiences through trusted publications, including magazines, websites, and news outlets.

It puts your business in front of people who may not have found you otherwise.

For small-medium sized businesses in Suffolk, it can help you to directly improve your business growth, particularly if you are working on public sector contracts where you need to demonstrate social value.

Media relations can shape your narrative

Building strong relationships with journalists will help shape how your business is seen. Unlike advertising, media relations is never paid for.

Earned media acts as a credible endorsement of who you are and what you do.

This also creates content and credibility you can reuse across your marketing, helping you attract and convert the right clients. Your media relations strategy should complement any work that you are doing with business reports or thought leadership opportunities.

Media coverage can aid your search rankings

You know that digital backlinks are essential for SEO purposes and that PR supports AI-driven search visibility, but earned media coverage is more than that.

When potential customers search for your business and see you featured in credible publications, it builds trust instantly before they’ve ever interacted with you.

It also helps your business appear more prominently online over time.

Media relations support and press office prices tailored for SMEs

If you are thinking about ongoing media relations support, here is how pricing works for Suffolk businesses and national brands.
My freelance press office prices are deliberately kept low so that small businesses and established brands can minimise their costs. Packages include media lists, content creation, distribution, and monthly reporting, so you know exactly what you’ll get and when.

Bronze PR support

£475 / m
1 day per month
what you’ll get
  • 1 x client meeting
  • 1 x proactive PR outreach
  • 1 x reactive PR outreach

Silver PR support

£950 / m
2 days per month
what you’ll get

  • 1 x client meeting

  • 2 x proactive PR outreach

  • 3 x reactive PR outreach

Gold PR support

£1,425 / m
3 days per month
what you’ll get
  • 1 x client meeting
  • 2 x proactive PR outreach
  • 3 x reactive PR outreach
  • 1 x case study
  • 1 x research project, event or award entry per year

Frequently asked questions?

A media relations agency helps your business get the right coverage in the right publications. That includes spotting newsworthy stories, writing press releases, pitching directly to journalists, arranging interviews and managing responses when journalists come to you. The aim is to build credibility, trust and visibility for your business without relying on advertising and focusing on a media outreach strategy.

Press release writing and media relations are closely connected, but they are not the same thing.

A press release is a single communication asset. It is a structured announcement designed to communicate a piece of news, such as a business milestone, partnership, acquisition, product launch, award win or company update.

Media relations is the wider process of building visibility through ongoing relationships with journalists, editors, industry publications and media outlets. It includes identifying opportunities, developing angles, conducting media outreach, responding to journalist enquiries and building long-term credibility by becoming a thought leader.

Put simply:

  • Press release writing creates the story.
  • Media relations gets the story seen by the right people.

Many businesses assume that writing a press release automatically generates media coverage. In reality, media relations often determines whether that press release gets ignored or gains traction.

The strongest results usually come when press release writing, media outreach, thought leadership and wider PR activity work together as part of a consistent visibility strategy.

Media relations can also support longer-term goals such as improved search visibility, stronger reputation, increased brand mentions and greater AI discoverability through credible third-party coverage.

If you’re looking for media relations support in Ipswich, please send an email to hello@gatekeepercommunications.com

No. Media relations for SMES work particularly well when it is done properly. You do not need constant national headlines to see results. Targeted trade coverage, local press and expert comment can all drive awareness, enquiries and trust without the cost of a large retainer or big campaign spend. That increased reputation building will not only help you improve your visibility in AI overviews but will play a crucial role in meeting new customers and encouraging them to think favourably of you.
I love providing media relations outreach for local businesses in Ipswich and Suffolk, because it can make a real difference to improving AI visibility.

Yes. In fact, most clients come to me because they do not have established relationships with journalists, editors or media outlets.

One of the key benefits of professional media relations support is having access to a structured approach to media outreach. Rather than sending generic press releases to inboxes, I identify journalists, editors and publications that already cover topics relevant to your industry, customers and business goals.

A successful media relations campaign is not about contacting as many journalists as possible. It is about targeting the right people with stories that are relevant to their audience, which is why having the right PR angle is so important. This approach helps improve response rates, build stronger relationships and increase your chances of securing meaningful media coverage.

Whether you are a growing SME, founder-led business or established organisation, I can help bridge the gap between your expertise and the journalists who need informed sources and strong stories.

Why not tell me which publications you want to be involved in? Send a WhatsApp to 07857 433665

Effective media outreach starts with understanding your audience, not simply choosing the publication with the biggest circulation.

I begin by looking at who you want to influence, whether that is potential customers, investors, partners, employees or industry peers. From there, I identify journalists, editors, trade publications, business media and niche outlets that regularly cover topics related to your sector.

When building a media relations strategy, I also consider:

  • The type of story being shared
  • Previous media coverage in your sector
  • The journalist’s recent work and interests
  • Geographic relevance
  • Your business goals
  • The publication’s target audience

This ensures media relations activity remains targeted, relevant and strategically aligned with the outcomes you want to achieve. A strong story in a trusted trade publication can often have far more impact than appearing in a large publication that reaches the wrong audience.

There is a lot of research involved, such as looking at publications, examining which pages are right for your story, and figuring out which journalist writes about your subject, and combining that all together. It’s a lengthy process, but it’s worth doing to make sure you’re getting the right people.

Both options work. Some Suffolk businesses prefer ongoing support to build momentum and relationships, while others need help around a launch, campaign or specific period of growth. I offer flexible media relations support so you can match the level of help to your workload, budget and goals whether you need project  or retained PR support. But the key to sustained success is consistency, that way you can become a genuine thought leader and start transforming your brand reputation.

Successful media relations programmes are not instant, but it should not feel vague either. Some opportunities such as reactive commentary can deliver coverage quickly. Broader profile building usually ramps up over a few months as relationships, key messages and visibility build. I always focus on activity that supports your business goals rather than PR for PR’s sake.
Feel free to tell me what your media relations goals are by sending an email to hello@gatekeepercommunications.com

You want to know that your PR is having an impact on your reputation, as well as your bottom line. This is complicated, but you can assess your media relations campaigns through a series of tactics.

  • Has customer feedback changed?
  • Are you receiving positive brand mentions?
  • Is traffic to your site increasing?
  • Is social media engagement improving?
  • Have you had an increase in phone calls/emails?
  • Are people talking about you in public forums?

Anecdotal feedback can be just as important as quantitative data, so why not talk to you sales teams and other staff members to find out if they’ve noticed a difference since you began your PR campaign?  Many businesses in Ipswich and Colchester use media relations services to build long-term brand recognition rather than focusing solely on short-term results.

If you need help with media relations, why not send an email to hello@gatekeepercommunications.com and we can see how we can work together

Yes. Strong media coverage builds authority signals through brand mentions, backlinks and expert positioning. This supports how your business appears in search results and increasingly how it is surfaced in AI led search tools. Media relations and website content work best together to improve discoverability over time.

Ready to Start?

My job is to make your life easier