The Colab Brief - 136: Ready, Set, Business Press

Welcome to The Colab Brief

Author

Ash + Lizzy
September 21, 2024

In partnership with

So you’ve decided you want business press.

You want those shiny, timeless logos on your press page.

You think you have a story to tell. 

So what’s stopping you?

In the spirit of transparency, probably a whole lot. 

Read Time: Two minutes

Listen. We know you want business press. We want business press for you! But it’s just not that simple. There’s a reason why every company in the world wants to be in these publications. 

It’s because they’re established, coveted, and extremely difficult to get into. 

New York Times reporters probably accept around 1% of the pitches they receive as stories. To give you some context, it’s 3x easier to get into Harvard. 🥴

Now, the difference here is that you can try to get into the NYT more than once a year. But you have to know what you’re doing. Which is why we’re here 🥳

To be honest, you're probably making a lot of mistakes when it comes to pitching business press. But there are three cardinal offenses that, once addressed, would greatly increase your chances of securing some top-tier media. 

Also, not to toot our own horn 📣 but in case you’re wondering why we have any business talking about this, our team secured NYT, WSJ, The Economist, CNBC, Financial Times, Politico (X2!), and BBC just this week. So we low-key know what we’re talking about. 

Issue: Timing. Most businesses want to get into the top tiers, like now. But here’s the issue. Unless you’re inserting your POV or your executives into some super hot, flash-in-the-pan news story, it’s going to take time to get you into these pubs. Like months and years - not days. 

Fix: Patience and consistency. When something momentous happens in the world, it’s rare that execs can, and further, should be commenting on it. To combat this, build a strategy around the publications you want to be in. Identify the reporters at these publications that you want to get in front of, and follow their every move. See what they write, how often they write, what their tone is, how their beat is evolving, etc. You likely won’t get in on the first try, but consistency pays off. Constantly be iterating new angles for these specific reporters and get in front of them whenever possible. 

Issue: Vanilla POV. I’ll keep this one short and sweet. Your agreeing with what everyone else is saying is not a POV that the top-tiers will pick up. Plain and simple. 

Fix: Be contrarian! But do so in an authentic way. If you do agree with the masses, this just isn’t your story to comment on. But if something happens in the world that impacts millions of people and you just happen to be on the other side of things, use that! Expand on that. Pitch that. Reporters like to hear from people who think differently.

Issue: No news hook. Here’s a way to figure out if your news is newsworthy enough for the top tiers. 

Your news is about your company or products ➡️ Not newsworthy.

Your news only impacts your stakeholders, customers, target customers, or partners ➡️ Not newsworthy.

Fix: Think bigger. Stop thinking about your company entirely. Unless you employ thousands of people, your company news is not newsworthy for the top tiers. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, go read the news. Read the trade publications. Watch Bloomberg. Really try and get a sense of what is going on in the world, and understand why it’s happening, who it’s impacting, if it’s going to keep happening, and if it’s happened before. Now start to think about why people would want to hear from you, of all people, on the matter. Why would the media want to talk to you? Are you qualified? Are you experienced? Do you have data or research or an opinion to share that’s likely different from those around you? If so, great. Wrap it into a custom pitch and try your luck with 1:1 outreach, and know that once you get a reporter on the phone, then it’s your time to talk about your news, folded into a larger angle. If you can’t check the boxes we listed, you need to go back to the drawing board. 

Like we said - there are a lot of mistakes you could be making when it comes to pitching business press. It’s not an exact science, and with the ever-shrinking media landscape, it gets harder by the day. But if you take these three principles and abide by them relentlessly, you’re definitely increasing your chances of success.

Until next time -

Like The Colab Brief?

Receive Honest News Today

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.