Here are five small business PR pitch ideas entrepreneurs can use during the week of Jan. 23 to get media exposure for their companies. Each of the five small business PR pitch ideas explains the story background and offers some different ways entrepreneurs can build story pitches that will interest reporters. The following ideas are part of UnderstandingMarketing.com’s PITCH series helping small businesses build publicity ideas that create headlines.

1: Weather - One of the hottest stories of the week will be the weather patterns across much of the country. Okay perhaps “hottest” may not be the best way to characterize this story. The winter cold snap finally arrived across most of the Northern sections of the U.S., with many major cities freezing from all the snow fall. Last week Alaska and parts of the Pacific Northwest began feeling the impacts (our PITCH update was tipped off to this from one of our Alaska readers). Entrepreneurs digging out from the snow and looking for small business PR opportunities will have their chance. From retailers offering snow removal equipment and weather gauges to local chains selling backup power generators, plenty of small businesses will be able to build PR pitches around the cold weather. What are some unique and compelling customer stories? What new trends are you seeing this year in how people are coping with the cold weather? Build those pitches and send them off to your local reporters.

2: Super Bowl - The two teams for the big game have been decided and there’s just one game left to decide who’s the best. For the two cities with teams representing in the Super Bowl, Boston and New York, there will be plenty of media attention on the big game – on and off the field. The next two weeks will represent a great opportunity for entrepreneurs and small businesses to develop creative story pitches that attract the attention of general assignment reporters looking for fun stories away from the locker room.

3: Economic Indicators (jobless claims, GDP and Consumer Sentiment) - This week the government will announce critical monthly data that addresses jobless claims, gross domestic product (GDP) info for the fourth quarter of 2011, and consumer sentiment across a variety of industries. For entrepreneurs developing small business PR campaigns, the consumer sentiment data is especially worth watching. This data is often used to check the pulse of American consumers, and small businesses in every corner of the country provide a great looking-glass into how the average consumer is feeling. Have you ever tried taking your own consumer sentiment poll among your customers? Try it and release your own data on Thursday, the day before the national report comes out.

4: Health Care - President Obama’s health care mandate and law are back in the news for the small business community, with a new poll out from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealing that the small business community is increasingly concerned about the tax implications of the President’s law. The Chamber is quoted as saying many small businesses are worried the new law is really more of a tax bill packaged and masked to look like a health reform bill.

The new health care laws will have a profound impact on the small business community. Entrepreneurs seeking out small business publicity would be wise to build relationships with their local business media and communicate how the new laws affect them. Small businesses in the healthcare industry should also be opening up the dialogue with local and national media, offering a special glimpse into the realities of how the health care law changes will affect the business side of their clinics and practices. A small business press release or tip sheet may be especially helpful for local reporters.

5: Keystone XL Pipeline - Setting aside the environmental considerations of the project, the Keystone XL Pipeline project was going to create hundreds, if not thousands of jobs for all business entities – small business included. The Keystone XL Pipeline was a proposed transportation line of crude oil from Western Canada to several regions throughout the U.S. Entrepreneurs looking to generate small business PR coverage will have a great opportunity in the coming week to address President Obama’s decision to reject a permit for the project by communicating the impact felt through loss of jobs and revenue as a result of the pipeline. This issue isn’t just about big oil companies benefiting from the pipeline. Plenty of small businesses would have been given the chance to bid on special project work, boosting their companies’ bottom lines and providing for an atmosphere to add jobs.

For more small business PR ideas download the PR Toolkit for Small Business today.

John Sternal is co-founder of Sternal Communications, a PR and marketing consultancy helping businesses get noticed through publicity in the media. He is the author of the PR Toolkit for Small Business and currently authoring a book about DIY public relations for small business owners. For questions email John Sternal or connect with him @SternalPR.