How to Get Your Business Featured in Assam’s Newspapers and News Sites

A new clinic opens in Guwahati. A coaching centre’s students top the district. A founder from Dibrugarh raises funding. Each of these is a story a newsroom could use, yet most never reach print. The reason is rarely bad luck. The press note was too long, had no photo, read like an advertisement, or went to the wrong desk.

This guide explains how business news gets picked up by Assam’s media, and how to send yours so it has a fair chance. It is written for business owners and managers, not for PR professionals.

In this guide

• What counts as news
• Know the outlets
• Write a press note editors can use
• Send it the right way
• Earned coverage and paid placements
• After it is published
• Mistakes that get a press note ignored
• Frequently asked questions

What counts as news

A newsroom asks one question first: will our readers care? Pride in your own business is not enough. These stories usually qualify:

• A launch or opening that is new for the city or region, such as a hospital wing, a school building or the first Guwahati store of a brand.
• A milestone with a number in it: 10,000 students taught, 500 homes delivered, a first export order.
• Funding, an award, a certification or a government approval.
• A senior appointment or hire.
• Community work, such as a health camp, a plantation drive, a scholarship or flood relief.
• Useful data: a small survey, a local price trend or a result from your own work.
• An expert comment on something already in the news, such as exam results, a new government scheme or the festival season.

What usually does not count: a discount, a general “we are the best” message, or a promotion dressed up as news. If it reads like an advertisement, a news desk will treat it like one.

A quick test: remove your company name from the first paragraph. If nothing interesting is left, the story is not strong enough yet.

Know the outlets

Assam’s media is a mix of English and Assamese newspapers, news portals and television channels, and each reaches a different reader. A few examples, not a complete list:

• English newspapers and portals: The Assam Tribune, The Sentinel, Northeast Now, EastMojo.
• Assamese newspapers and channels: Asomiya Pratidin, Pratidin Time, News Live, DY365.

Before you send anything, spend ten minutes reading what each outlet actually publishes. Look at the city and business pages. Notice the length of the stories, the tone, and whether they run photos with captions. Then match your story to the outlet:

• A clinic opening in Guwahati suits the city pages of the daily newspapers.
• A startup funding story suits business sections and news portals.
• A story from a small town suits the Assamese outlets that cover that district.

Find the right address on the outlet’s own contact page. Many newsrooms list a news or press email there. Do not guess addresses or copy a list from an old post, because newsrooms change. For outlets across the Northeast, our Northeast India media directory shows the language and city of each one and links to its own website, so you can find its contact page.

Write a press note editors can use

A press note is a short news story about your business, written the way a reporter would write it. Keep it under 400 words.

1. Headline: say what happened, in one line. “Example Dental Care opens second clinic in Beltola” works. “Exciting news from Example Dental Care” does not.
2. First paragraph: who, what, when, where and why it matters, in two sentences.
3. Details: two or three short paragraphs with facts and numbers.
4. One quote: a sentence or two from the founder or a customer that adds an opinion or a reason, not facts you could have stated yourself.
5. About the company: two lines and your website.
6. Contact: the name, phone number and email of one person who will answer.

Write in plain language. Give full names and designations at first mention. Leave out words like “leading”, “best” and “world-class” unless you can back them up. If you want to send an Assamese outlet a version in Assamese, have it written or checked by a fluent speaker. Clean text that a sub-editor can use as it is has a better chance.

Need a ready-made format? Use the free template in our guide on how to write a press release.

Send it the right way

• Put the press note in the body of the email as text. Attach a PDF or Word file only if the outlet asks for one.
• Use the headline as the subject line, not “Press release”.
• Attach one or two sharp photos, or share a link to a folder. Landscape photos at least 1,200 pixels wide work best. Add a caption naming the people from left to right.
• Send to the right person. If you email several outlets, use BCC so they do not see each other’s addresses.
• Send on a weekday morning, before the event or on the same day, not weeks later.
• Follow up once, politely, after a day or two. Ask if they need a photo, a quote or a call. Do not call repeatedly.

If you would rather hand this over, our press release service covers writing and sending.

Earned coverage and paid placements

People use the word “coverage” for two different things. Earned coverage is when a newsroom chooses to run your story. Nobody is paid and nobody can promise it. Paid coverage is sponsored content or an advertisement that an outlet publishes for a fee. Both can be useful, but they are not the same, and a good outlet marks paid content clearly.

Whichever route you take, know which one you are using. It affects what you can say about the result afterwards, and search engines also treat links in paid content differently from links in news stories.

After it is published

• Save the link or the e-paper page, and take a clear photo or screenshot of the clipping. Pages can move or disappear.
• Share it on LinkedIn, WhatsApp and your own social pages.
• Add it to an “In the news” section on your website, with the outlet name and the date.
• Thank the journalist. A short message keeps the door open for the next story.
• Watch the next few days for calls, enquiries and searches for your name. It tells you which stories work.

Mistakes that get a press note ignored

• Writing like an advertisement.
• No photo, or a photo of a banner.
• Everything inside an attachment, with an empty email body.
• Sending the same email to every outlet with all the addresses visible.
• Sending late, when the event was two weeks ago.
• No contact person.
• Following up every day.

Frequently asked questions