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Michael Porter Shares Tech Journo Insights Heard at PRSA SF

Ketchum SAE Michael Porter writes: “I recently attended a PRSA event centered on best practices for working with consumer tech media, which featured commentary from CNBC’s Kif Leswing, Business Insider’s Megan Hernbroth, and ABC7’s Mariel Myers (who was with CNET at the time of the event)…

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A Progress Report from TC EC Editor Danny Crichton

We get a lot of questions about TechCrunch Extra Crunch. Who reads it? How is it doing? Should we pitch it? So we checked in with TC EC editor Danny Crichton, who was happy to guide tech PR in how things were going, and how best to serve his new franchise. 

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Entrepreneur Lays Off Four

Entrepreneur this week laid off four veteran editors in what an insider says is a pivot away from digital content and toward more profitable products and services. 

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The Economist Launches Survey to Chart 2020 Course

The Economist this week fielded a reader survey that revealed where the 176-year-old publication might be headed. By contemplating the survey questions, PR pros stand to learn much about the Economist’s goals specifically, and also about Tier 1 editorial values in general.

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SimilarWeb Stats: BI Up, Fortune Down

Which has more unique monthly visitors, Forbes or Business Insider? Most clients would rather see coverage in Forbes, but it attracts less than two-thirds the audience of BI. We learned that and much else in a sweep of May 2019 audience data from SimilarWeb.

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Channel Futures Shark Tank: Impress the Chiefs and Win Distribution

Looking for high-visibility distribution in the channel? Informa’s Channel Partners is offering a fun way to get it. As part of September’s Channel Partners Evolution 2019 — a F2F event in Washington D.C. — Channel Partners is hosting the Channel Futures Shark Stage, on which your client can plead its case to a panel of no-nonsense channel executives.

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SWMS in Review: Q2 2019

Here’s a look back at work we produced during Q2 2019. SWMS in Review is designed by Christy Whitmore and presents beautifully on smartphones, thanks to Spark technology from Adobe. Like all our content, SWMS in Review is subscriber-only.

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Harry McCracken: Anatomy of a Fast Company Cover Story

So the CMO believes in stretch goals and wants you to land a cover story. You know the odds and not the path. Thanks to Fast Company technology editor Harry McCracken, we at least can illuminate the path to this one, published in FC last fall. Read and learn.

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Deep Dive: Cracking the Washington Post, Pt. 1

Only seven months ago, tech PR hotly anticipated tech edit hiring by the Washington Post. Eleven open positions promised new opportunity. In great measure, it never came. The reasons why — which we analyze both in this piece and a companion piece — may help guide your current Tier 1 strategies overall.

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SWMS Predictions for 2025

No “predictions” post will appear on this site. That said, quite a number of subscribers have asked for a Zoom/MS Teams presentation on what 2025 will bring. A conversation is precisely the right tool for the job. After the election — and with AI transforming publishing and life — “2025” is best discussed among peers, not predicted. So if you’d like to have a confidential group exchange on what stands to unfold, and why, and how comms pros can come out on top in spite of it all, drop a line and we shall schedule something.

Talk About Confidentiality…

According to Adweek, Omnicom CEO John Wren and IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky were in merger talks for eleven and a half months before the transaction was announced this week. Amazing that it didn’t leak.

Introducing ‘SWMS Sound Thinking’

Should PR pros stop visiting X, with all its lies and hate? It’s only going to get worse. Or are tidbits from targets too important to walk away from? Click here to watch tech edit vet David Strom and I disagree (at high speed) about this, as one compelling visual after another pops up on your screen. In 2025, SWMS will officially launch “SWMS Sound Thinking,” designed to be “argumentative insight in six minutes or less.” Each segment will explore a timely and controversial topic of interest to tech comms pros. This prototype runs 5:25. Hope you enjoy it — feedback vital and welcome! –Sam

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