How to ... Get media attention for your company

The quick-hit answer to getting your company media coverage, from blogs and TV news to magazines and newspapers, is to hire a public relations professional or company.

But there some key steps nearly every entity can do, even without an internal PR staff. The list includes:

Be interesting, says Heidi Smith of Anna Maria-based Heidi Smith Communications. “Do not expect journalists to cover the mundane,” she writes in her list of top 10 must-dos. “If you're not sure whether the story is newsworthy, it probably isn't.”