PR pros: Pitch business successes and struggles to Fortune Small Business

Skip tips-and-tactics pitches—FSB editors want first-person tales of growing a company

Does your small business owner’s rags-to-riches tale have a few bumpy spots mixed in with the successes? For Fortune Small Business magazine, case studies are only useful if execs are willing to talk about the agony along with ecstasy, says Dan Goodgame, managing editor of FSB.

“It shouldn’t all be happy,” says Goodgame. “We like to see a story arc.” By far the most popular features in FSB revolve around a small business person, and his or her struggles with new technologies, retaining talent, growing the business, and the other myriad challenges he or she faces.

“It’s service through storytelling,” explains Goodgame. “What our readers value most is not a journalist who’s never run a business wagging a finger at them and telling them what to do.” They want to hear from their peers, Goodgame says. In fact, FSB had increased its use of feature articles written by business owners.