Resource guide

Press Coverage for South African Businesses.

Getting featured in the media without a PR agency or a big budget. A practical guide built from what we are testing, learning and improving right now at SEO Clicks Pro.

Why this matters

Most SA businesses are invisible to the press.

Not because they are not newsworthy. Because nobody knows they exist. We run a digital agency from Cape Town serving clients in three countries. We do not have a PR agency. This guide is what we are doing about it.

What we noticed: Most business owners in South Africa think press coverage requires a PR agency, a big budget or a personal connection to journalists. None of those are true. The real barrier is knowing where to submit, what to say and how to follow up without being annoying. This guide removes that barrier.

The three channels

Where press coverage actually comes from.

After researching how small and medium businesses get featured, we identified three repeatable paths that do not require an agency or a media contact list.

1. Guest contributions

You write an article and a publication publishes it under your name. This is the highest-signal path because your name is directly associated with the content. Publications are actively looking for contributors - they need content.

2. Journalist queries (HARO)

Journalists post what they are writing about and ask for expert sources. You respond with a quote. If they use it, you appear in their article. No pitching required - they are asking for you.

3. Podcast appearances

Podcasts need guests. South African business podcasts in particular struggle to find guests who can speak specifically about digital marketing, AI and online business without selling. A good podcast appearance leads to credibility, referrals and sometimes direct media follow-ups.

The mistake most people make

They try to pitch themselves as a story. Journalists do not want your story - they want your expertise. The difference is everything. A story pitch sounds like "I built a company and here is my journey." An expertise pitch sounds like "Here is what is happening in your industry and here is what it means." One gets ignored. The other gets published.

Guest contributions

Where to submit in South Africa.

These publications accept contributions from business owners and marketing professionals. Some have formal contributor programmes. Others just need good content emailed to the right person. We have organised them by how likely they are to accept a first submission.

Best first targets (high acceptance rate)

SME South Africa Small business
Publishes practical guides for SA small business owners. Best angle: specific, actionable advice with local examples. No fluff.
nichemarket Blog Business / Marketing
Explicitly accepts guest posts with clear submission guidelines. Good starting point for testing your pitch flow.
BizCommunity Marketing / Media
Register as a contributor. Articles need a news or opinion angle rather than a how-to format. Read their style first.
MarkLives Marketing / Advertising
SA marketing industry publication. Opinion pieces with a strong point of view work here.

Mid-range targets (require stronger angle)

Memeburn Tech / Startups
Opinion pieces on SA digital economy, AI, online business. Needs a news hook or cultural observation.
ITWeb Technology / Business
More formal editorial process. Best for data-driven or research-backed articles.
BusinessTech Business / Tech
News-jack style. React to a current event or published report with expert analysis.
Cape Business News Cape Town local
Local business stories with a Cape Town angle. Good for location-specific authority.

Long-term targets (build relationship first)

The Media Online Media Industry
Industry analysis. Requires deeper understanding of the media landscape.
Mail & Guardian Thought Leadership
Opinion section. Needs a genuinely fresh perspective. Hardest to get into but highest authority.
Ventureburn Startups / Funding
SA startup ecosystem. Best if you have data or a case study about growing a business.

What we found: The publications that accept contributions openly (like SME South Africa and nichemarket) are the ones that get the fewest quality submissions. Most people do not bother. The ones that are hardest to get into (Mail & Guardian) get hundreds of pitches. Start where the competition is lowest and build a portfolio of published work before aiming higher.

Journalist queries

Get quoted without pitching.

HARO (Help A Reporter Out, now rebranded to Connectively) is a platform where journalists post queries and experts respond. No cold emails. No follow-ups. Just a direct answer to exactly what a journalist is asking for.

How it works

Sign up at connectively.com (free tier). Set your topics: SEO, digital marketing, small business, South Africa, Google Ads, AI.

Check your email three times daily. Queries arrive in batches. Respond within the first three hours for the best chance of being selected.

Write a quotable response - not an essay. Two to four sentences that directly answer the journalist's question. Include your credentials in one line below.

Do not pitch your business. The journalist wants a quote, not a sales call. If your quote is useful, they will include your name and link automatically.

A response that works

// Keep it short. Answer the question directly. Add one credential line at the end.

Hi [Journalist name],

Happy to help with this story. Here is a quote you can use:

"[Direct answer to their question - 2 to 4 sentences. Use specific numbers or observations. Avoid jargon.]"

I am Peter Berner, founder of SEO Clicks Pro, a Cape Town-based digital agency serving clients in South Africa, the UK and the United States.

Press page: https://seoclickspro.com/press.html
Best, Peter

What we learned: The free HARO tier sends queries from smaller publications. The paid tier ($49/month) unlocks Forbes, Inc., Business Insider and other major outlets. Start with the free tier to practice writing quotable responses, then upgrade once you can consistently get quoted in the lower-tier queries.

Podcast pitching

Get on SA podcasts without an agent.

South African business podcasts need guests. Most hosts are easy to reach and open to pitches if you offer a specific angle rather than a general "I'd love to be on your show."

Podcasts to pitch

The Digital Marketing Podcast - SA digital marketing focus. Natural fit for SEO, Google Ads and content marketing topics.
The SA SME Podcast - Small business audience. Angles: practical digital marketing for small budgets, local SEO for SA businesses.
TechCentral - SA tech and digital. Good for AI, automation and broader tech-adjacent marketing topics.
Agentic Echoes - AI and automation focused. Perfect for talking about AI search and agentic SEO.
The Startup Podcast - SA startup ecosystem. Best if you can talk about growing an agency from zero.

Pitch template

// Be specific about what you will talk about and why their audience will care.

Subject: Guest idea - [specific topic] for [podcast name]

Hi [Host name],

I am a regular listener. I would like to come on and talk about:

[Specific angle, not a topic. Example: "Why most SA businesses waste 60% of their Google Ads budget on accidental clicks - and how to stop it."]

I run a Cape Town-based digital agency serving clients in SA, the UK and US. I can explain this stuff without jargon and I am happy to tailor the conversation to your audience's level.

My press page: https://seoclickspro.com/press.html

Let me know if this fits what you need.
Peter

Article ideas

Eight articles we are ready to write.

Each of these is a distinct angle that has not been done to death. They combine practical experience with a point of view that publications will find worth publishing.

1. Why SA businesses don't need a R50K website

SME South Africa nichemarket
The real cost breakdown of static vs WordPress vs custom builds. What actually matters for a small business website and what is a waste of money.

2. AI Overviews changed search - most SA businesses have not noticed

Memeburn BusinessTech
How generative search reduces click-through rates and what local businesses should do differently. Timely and actionable.

3. What SEO agencies in SA will not tell you

MarkLives BizCommunity
An insider perspective on what SEO retainer contracts hide, why six-month guarantees are fiction and how to spot a bad agency. High trust-building potential.

4. The click fraud problem nobody audits for

ITWeb BusinessTech
Data from real Google Ads accounts showing how much spend goes to bots and competitor clicks. Forensic approach with practical fixes.

5. Local SEO without lying about your address

SME South Africa
A framework for businesses that serve multiple suburbs without creating fake location pages or renting virtual offices. Honest local search that actually works.

6. Running a global agency from Cape Town - what actually works

Ventureburn The Startup Podcast
Time zones, currency, client expectations and the specific advantages of building a digital agency in SA for international clients.

7. Google Business Profile is not set-and-forget

Cape Business News nichemarket
Why most SA businesses set up their Google profile once and then wonder why they stopped getting calls. A maintenance framework.

8. The difference between being found and being chosen

MarkLives BizCommunity
Why SEO and Google Ads get you visibility but not trust - and what closes the gap between a click and a customer.

The workflow

What we do weekly to build press coverage.

This is the actual system we run. It takes about two hours per week.

Monday morning: Check HARO/Connectively queries. Respond to any relevant ones within the first hour of receiving them. File saved - one response takes five minutes.

Tuesday: Draft one guest article or adapt an existing blog post for a specific publication. Rewrite the intro to match their tone. Add local context if needed.

Wednesday: Submit the article or pitch it to the editor. Follow the publication's submission guidelines exactly. If no guidelines exist, email a brief pitch with a link to the draft.

Thursday: Pitch one podcast. Send a short email with a specific angle. If rejected, move to the next one. No follow-ups needed - if they are interested, they will reply.

Friday: Log what happened. Track submissions, responses, published pieces and the traffic each generated. The data tells you what is working better than any strategy document.

What we expect: One in five pitches gets accepted. One in ten HARO responses gets quoted. One in three podcast pitches gets a reply. The numbers improve as you build a portfolio of published work because editors and hosts check your previous coverage before deciding.

We are building this in public.

SEO Clicks Pro is testing these exact channels right now. We will update this guide as we learn what works and what does not.

View our press kit →