How to make the Front Page of Newspaper Without Buying an Ad

While grabbing a coffee at Starbucks, which I try to be doing as often as I can, they let me know they are having a “buy 2, get one free” special. Well, quick math told me that, that was a 33% savings.

I thought for another second and figured we drank about a pound a week. So, if I bought 50 pounds, we would be covered for the year, plus I would have saved 33%.

And that is how I presented it to my wonderful wife, April, and she agreed.

I thought again and asked Mary at Starbucks, a wonderful barista, if anybody had ever purchased 50 pounds of coffee at one time. She said no. So I said, “It would be a record for the Venice, Florida Starbucks?” And she replied, yes!

Then, I called a writer at the local newspaper and asked them if somebody set the record for the most coffee purchased at our Venice, FL Starbucks, would that be newsworthy? They promptly said, absolutely. They asked me to get a good picture and email it in with a short story about it.

I asked Mary if she could have 50 pounds ready later that day in the afternoon when Starbucks slowed down.

April and I show up. Grab the boxes. Stand in front of their cool shelves and made a silly pose for effect and Mary, using my iPhone, took the picture.

We sent the picture and a short story in and waited. Waited a couple of weeks. Then BAM, Front Page and in COLOR!

Here are three lessons to take away from this story:

You don’t have to pay for ads. Ads are old school.
Your local newspaper loves and need great fresh new stories!
Writing up the story and send it in yourself will give you a much better chance of making the paper.

Bonus

We took the article and wrote a blog post about it on our Burnett Painting blog and scored some serious SEO juice from it. I would ask customers how they heard about us and they would reply that they searched online for a House Painter in Venice, Florida, and that article came up and then we would have a laugh about it.

You can see that article here Burnett Painting Starbucks Post

So, how about you? How have you creatively landed on the front page, or just in the paper, without buying an ad? Please share below.







About the Author

As many of you know, my journey has been one of grit, grace, and transformation. At 19, I was a high school dropout, single father, and struggling paint contractor in Michigan. I later moved to Florida, where I faced both personal and professional hardships. With nothing left to lose, I turned to prayer—and was blessed with a relentless hunger to learn. I devoured books, attended seminars, and discovered better ways to streamline and grow my business—even through the Great Recession (and yes, I did hit the wife lottery along the way!). In 2014, I published How To Double Your Business and later sold the painting business, launching a new chapter: coaching others to grow their businesses. For the past 10 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping business owners scale through the DYB System, while also drawing from frameworks like EOS, Scaling Up, and The Four Disciplines of Execution. Yet something was still missing—something more adaptive, integrated, and complete. Then I found Pinnacle. After months of research and interviews with other Guides, I joined Pinnacle. Their tools and strategies have exceeded every expectation. Now, as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help leadership teams implement a custom-tailored operating system that draws from the best in the industry—but flexes with your unique business. It’s a dynamic, proven approach to achieve clarity, momentum, and lasting growth. I’m no longer taking on any more 1:1 coaching clients… Instead, I now specialize in working with visionary business owners who are ready to get their leadership teams aligned—around a clear vision, a focused strategy, and an actionable execution plan. With the tools and process I now have as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help turn alignment into momentum, and momentum into results. If your business is growing—but your leadership team isn’t fully rowing in the same direction—let’s talk.