Pitching Bloomberg’s Brody Ford
June 20, 2022
10:45 am
Brody Ford last month succeeded Joe Williams as the Bloomberg tech reporter most likely to write the story you’re pitching. Time to get him on the radar.
>> Strategies
12 Commandments from Contributed Content Gatekeepers
April 26, 2022
5:46 am
This month we studied guidelines from contributed content gatekeepers. Dozens and dozens of them.
Analysis: A Tale of Two Fortunes
April 22, 2022
8:20 am
This is a tale of two Fortunes — “new” Fortune and “classic” Fortune, each with their own needs and culture. You’ll want to approach accordingly.
Change is Coming to 31-Year-Old ZDNet
March 4, 2022
9:22 am
Change is coming to 31-year-old ZDNet. According to EIC Jason Hiner, ZDNet is honing its focus on professionals of all sorts — not just IT pros. Its historic emphasis on B2B and IT will soon be over.
Toolkit: How Do You Get Tier 1 Coverage for Private Companies?
February 17, 2022
9:46 am
How do private companies get covered by reporters committed to cover public companies? Like anything else in PR, it’s difficult but not impossible. Here’s something of a toolkit we hope can help.
Axios Launches Five Vertical Newsletters
January 27, 2022
8:25 am
Axios Pro officially launched last week. It comprises three verticals focused on “PE, VC and M&A” news in fintech, health tech and retail. Later this year, look for climate and media verticals. Price: $599 a year for each vertical, after a 14-day free trial.
28 Terms That Communicators Might Not Want to Use Anymore
April 28, 2021
4:47 pm
DEI awareness is one thing, applying its principles through official corporate language quite another. We had the opportunity to examine a style guide produced by a tech company steeped in content publishing. There’s a lot to learn from it.
Be an ‘Expert’ in the WSJ
February 17, 2021
9:32 pm
The Wall Street Journal is about to ramp up The Experts, the contributed content operation affiliated with Journal Report. WSJ is open to vetting new “panelists” (contributors) in each of six areas: energy, health, leadership, retirement, small business and wealth management.
Forrester’s ‘Technology Iceberg’
February 2, 2021
1:08 pm
So you have a compelling “thought leadership” concept, eh? Can you draw it? If not, the pitch may not be imaginative enough. Enjoy our interview with Forrester Research founder and CEO George F. Colony and his tale of the “Technology Iceberg.”
The Community Co.: A Ticket to Contributed Content and More
June 29, 2020
4:21 pm
Agencies and clients face a reckoning with contributed content. The latter still assumes that opportunities abound. More than 100 entries in the SWMS contributed content gatekeepers list proves them right. Then again, when it comes to Tier 1, it just might be best to pay whoever lifts the velvet rope.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
The Media Business Underperforms Other Industries, Badly
February 6, 2025
This is majorly tl;dr, but recent research from FT Strategies and Reuters empirically uncovers every trend there is, when it comes to the health of the media business. In short, “the media” is barely breakeven, here and around the world. AI search may prove devastating.
WSJ Launches CEO Brief Newsletter
February 6, 2025
The WSJ this week launched CEO Brief, a newsletter designed to inform readers, and to attract new members to the WSJ Leadership Institute. This organization is already a Dow Jones profit center, and a great example of how Tier 1 can lessen dependence on advertising. Former Fortune CEO Alan Murray runs the institute and is the nominal editor of CEO Brief — and promises to read every bit of reader mail — though he has delegated the writing of the newsletter to subordinates in the early going.
Lydia Dishman Joins Method Communications
February 6, 2025
Fast Company’s Lydia Dishman has joined (SWMS subscriber) Method Communications as VP of content strategy. Lydia joins an already strong content team, which includes former NY Times reporter Tim Race and B2B tech edit vet John Foley.
Next Out the Door: Forbes’s Alex Konrad
January 31, 2025
“I’m leaving to build something new,” Alex posted on X today. He spent 12 years at Forbes as a reporter and a builder of databases and lists. It’s time he gets to keep the money.
IDG/Foundry: From One Private Equity Owner to Another
January 31, 2025
Axios reported on Jan. 24 that private equity firm Blackstone will sell IDG/Foundry, publishers of InfoWorld, Computerworld and Network World (and owners of IDC) to another private equity firm called Regent, which bought streaming video channel Cheddar in 2023. Remains to be seen how the ownership change will affect IDG’s venerable IT titles, but it’s unlikely their budgets will go up.
Key Editorial Union Stands Up To AI
January 31, 2025
Unionized writers have secured new protections governing the use of generative AI in member newsrooms, reports the Hollywood Reporter. The union — Writers Guild of America, East — represents Fast Company, Wired and many other prominent titles. The union won agreement that publications “will not lay off current staff employees due to the use of generative AI,” and also that “advance notice [must be given] if the company plans to make the use of generative AI systems a requirement of [editors’] jobs.”