The Road to National Press: A Wool Factory Story 12 Months in the Making

When we first started working with?@the_wool_factory ?in 2020, we helped launch the hospitality destination with a hat trick of covers, ie three cover stories dropping the week of their opening. Virginia Living, C-Ville Weekly and The Daily Progress. Just what they needed at launch.

Oddly enough, we recently scored a similar hat trick for The Wool Factory, this time a trio of meaningful national stories that all dropped the same week. The timing was unusual in that we had been working on one story for a couple months, the other six months and the last 14+ months. Yet they all dropped at once! We wanted to share more on the road to placing and landing national press cover.

Southern Living

First,?@southernlivingmag approached us in late March 2021, interested in photographing The Wool Factory for a major feature on Charlottesville for a spring 2022 story. It made sense, that they would photograph in season, but a year ahead. We would just have to wait a year for the story to come out!

We ended up working with writer?@paigeporterfischer ?on and off for the next six months, resulting in this sprawling, beautiful feature on Charlottesville, and featuring not only The Wool Factory, but also naming (and linking! - crucial for SEO) @broadclothrestaurant , @selvedgebrewing , @gritcoffee and @coucourachou . The Wool Factory has just a few delicious facets... ??? ?? ? ?? ??

We were also able to secure placement for our client?@merriemillfarmandvineyard ?in the same story, because if you're going to Charlottesville, one obviously also has to visit Merrie Mill as well! ??????????

Read the feature here .

Eater

When visiting a new major city, my first stop for restaurant recommendations is almost always?@eater , specifically their 25 Essential Restaurants and Hottest New Restaurants lists. So, when thinking holistically about?@the_wool_factory 's press coverage, we knew an Eater placement would be an incredible driver of traffic and tourism.

There was just one problem... a 25 Essential Restaurants in Charlottesville list didn't exist, as they don't cover that metro area.?@salganz ?had recently penned such an article for Richmond, under?@eater_dc , so?@lauren.anesta ?reached out to Stephanie to propose a Charlottesville sister article. Fortunately, Stephanie and the Eater editors loved the idea, so The Wool Factory's?@broadclothrestaurant ?AND?@coucourachou ?are now immortalized in this often-referenced resource!

Check out the full list here .

Food & Wine

The final of our three national placements for?@the_wool_factory , all dropping in one week, was none other than?@foodandwine ! Back in October, freelancer Katie Chang reached out, interested in visiting?@broadclothrestaurant ?for a potential Food & Wine story. What she didn't mention was that this was for their Next Great Food Cities feature. Charlottesville was again featured, and while The Wool Factory only got a sentence in the long paragraph on the city, these stories hold tremendous value for the long-term. This is again one of those short lists that tourists will Google for the next year, and being on this shortlist matters!

Read the rest of the piece here .

We were so excited to see this influx of coverage for The Wool Factory, months of hard work culminating in this exciting blitz of releases. We're always investing in long-term relationships and long-lead stories, because we know the pay-off will be well worth the time and effort.

As you're considering your PR strategy, short-lead media can be tempting for that quick payoff, but it is extremely beneficial to keep your pipeline full of long-lead opportunities as well. That symphony between the two is when your client will really feel like their brand is everywhere.