Small Organizations Can Earn Big Media

Small organizations often assume media coverage belongs to the giants—brands with big budgets, flashy campaigns, or built-in influence. But when I led a communications department with a very modest PR budget, I learned that coverage isn’t about size. It’s about the story. And the stories worth telling are often hiding in plain sight.

Our team’s job was to uncover them. That meant walking through departments, asking questions, and paying attention to what everyone else overlooked. Most people were too busy doing the work to stop and ask whether something might matter to the outside world.

One day, in an almost offhand comment, someone mentioned that our seminary president was training for the St. Jude Marathon. That alone wasn’t unusual—half the city trains for it. But then came the part that changed everything: he was running it tethered at the wrist to one of our students, a blind seminarian who had been training alongside him for months.

Suddenly, it was clear we’d stumbled onto something meaningful. Two runners, one guiding and one trusting completely. A beloved regional race transformed into a story about leadership, courage, and partnership.

We sat down with both of them and listened. The student talked about the vulnerability of running without sight, relying entirely on another person’s movement. The president described how the experience reshaped his understanding of humility and shared effort. None of it needed embellishment; it only needed framing.

When we pitched the story, we didn’t lead with institutional messaging. We led with the human heartbeat at the center of it. And the media responded. The story spread across the region, generated more than 80,000 impressions, and connected with people far beyond our usual audience.

But the real takeaway wasn’t the coverage. It was the reminder that small organizations rarely lack newsworthy stories—they just lack someone who sees them. Extraordinary moments often hide inside ordinary routines, overlooked simply because they feel familiar.

The world isn’t waiting for small organizations to be bigger. It’s waiting for them to tell stories that matter—stories about courage, connection, sacrifice, or hope. Stories like a president and a blind student running a marathon, tethered not just at the wrist, but in purpose.

Look closely enough, and your organization may have a story like that too. One that deserves to be told.