Nashville Media Link Building
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Coverage in Nashville media can bring a business readers, credibility and sometimes a link, and the real obstacle is not the link itself. It is the coverage. A mention in a Nashville publication carries both authority and clear geographic relevance, but you get it by being a source or a story worth covering, not by asking for a link. You earn it by giving a journalist something their readers want: a newsworthy development, expert commentary on a story they are already writing, or a real community angle. Get the coverage and the link can follow.
The skill here is pitching: you offer a story or your expertise so that a journalist writes about you or quotes you. That is different from answering a journalist’s posted request for sources, and different again from writing an article under your own byline.
Why owners underrate their own newsworthiness
Owners who earn no media links may assume they are not newsworthy. They picture “news” as major events and conclude they have nothing to offer. The bar for a usable hook is lower than that. An expansion, a notable hire, an award, a new location, an informed take on a trend affecting your industry, a community initiative: any of these can be the seed of a story. What gets ignored is the pitch that amounts to “we exist” or “we are great.” Outlets do not run those because their readers do not want them. The reframe is simple: you are not asking for a favor, you are offering a journalist material their audience cares about.
The hooks each outlet wants
Coverage follows the hook, and different outlets want different ones. Matching the angle to the outlet is most of the pitch.
| Hook | Outlet type that wants it | Nashville example |
|---|---|---|
| Hard business news (expansion, funding, major hire, new location, acquisition) | Business press | Nashville Business Journal, Nashville Post |
| Expert commentary on a current story | Reporters on the relevant beat, at any outlet | Any outlet with a reporter on your topic |
| Community or seasonal angle (initiative, timely tie-in, human interest) | Neighborhood publications, lifestyle coverage, TV segments | Neighborhood papers, local TV |
| Award or best-of feature | Outlets that run lists, rankings or reader polls | Local outlets' own lists and polls |
Hard business news is the natural lane for the business press. Expert commentary is where positioning yourself as a credible source pays off at any outlet. Community and seasonal angles suit neighborhood and lifestyle coverage and TV. Awards and best-of features suit the outlets that run them. A “we exist” pitch fails against all of these. A specific, well-matched hook is what gets a reply.
The Nashville media landscape
Nashville has several tiers of media, and each is a different door.
- Print and online news: The Tennessean is the city’s daily newspaper. The Nashville Business Journal and the Nashville Post cover business, and the Nashville Scene is the city’s alternative weekly.
- Television: WKRN (channel 2, ABC), WSMV (channel 4, NBC), WTVF NewsChannel 5 (CBS) and Fox 17 (WZTV) run local news that can feature businesses and experts.
- Public radio: WPLN, which describes itself as “Nashville’s local news and NPR station,” covers local stories in depth.
- Smaller outlets: neighborhood and county publications, local podcasts and community blogs can be more reachable than the major outlets and closely relevant to a business serving a specific part of town.
Treat each tier as a different door rather than assuming the daily paper is the only one worth knocking on.
The process: reporters, not outlets
You do not pitch an outlet; you pitch a person. The process is built around that.
Start by identifying the reporter who covers your industry or your kind of story at the right outlet. A business reporter, a neighborhood columnist and a TV segment producer each want different things, and a pitch sent to the wrong one goes nowhere. Read a few of their recent pieces so your pitch connects to what they cover.
Then provide real news or real expertise. Lead with the hook, keep it short and make the journalist’s job easy: the angle, why it matters now, why you are the right source and when you are available. Offer what helps the story, such as data, a quotable perspective or visuals, without burying the reporter in attachments. If you are pitching expert commentary, the value is that you are reachable and quotable fast on a topic they are working on.
Finally, build the relationship over months rather than expecting one email to land. Reporters remember sources who were useful, accurate and responsive. A single thoughtful pitch that respects the reporter’s time and audience does more than a mass blast to every contact you can find, which in a connected local media world also gets remembered, just not the way you want.
One caveat on the link itself: check it. Google lets sites mark outbound links with attributes such as rel="nofollow" and rel="sponsored" (Qualify your outbound links to Google), and outlets choose how they link. The coverage carries value either way through visibility and credibility, but look at the link after a piece runs rather than assuming what it is. A link Google can crawl also has to be a real link: Google says it can generally crawl a link only when it is an anchor element, <a>, with an href attribute (Link best practices for Google).
How to act
Pick the outlet and the specific reporter whose beat matches your industry, and read enough of their work to pitch something they would run. Develop a real hook: an expansion, a hire, an award, an expert angle on a current story or a community initiative, not a “we exist” announcement. Pitch it concisely, lead with why it matters now, offer visuals and fast availability, and make the next step easy for the reporter. Build the relationship over time so the first piece becomes a standing source relationship. After any coverage runs, check the link. Done this way, Nashville’s media becomes a repeatable source of high-relevance local links rather than a wall.