We asked Tier 1 and B2B journalists, “What role should PR be playing at this time?” Here’s what they had to say. Their answers were given Mar. 22 and 23.
Finding out that a client lied to you can be demoralizing, but it can also become a larger business problem if you don’t identify the lie until it’s too late.
Will Covid-19, better known as the coronavirus, change how tech and business reporters spend their time? Yes, and the changes have begun. We’re querying tech and business editors and will update this article throughout coming days. Here’s what we’ve learned from the front lines so far.
[Please welcome back SWMS contributing editor Lindsay Ciulla, a senior VP with (SWMS subscriber) Weber Shandwick Worldwide. –Ed.] Well friends, in what feels like the blink of an eye we’re somehow halfway through the first quarter of 2020 — in a decade that (at least when I was growing up) promised flying cars and travel via teleportation.
We recently conducted a video meeting with a subscriber who sought SWMS POV on the following media relations questions. With the subscriber’s permission, here are the questions and our responses. Hope you find them useful.
[We asked PR vet Alex Shapiro to contrast the worlds of agency and in-house PR. He knows both. Enjoy the read. -Ed.] For agency PR pros, the grass may seem particularly greener right now on the in-house side and there’s no shortage of hot companies hiring. We’re all told the job market’s hot, and that can often feel true for the revolving doors of PR.
[We asked Matthew Lynley, a former journalist with VentureBeat, TechCrunch and the WSJ, what makes for a great comms professional. Here’s what he had to say. — Ed.] Companies with massive budgets can hire a PR team the size of a small army. But hiring more people doesn’t make the company better at PR.
[We asked veteran tech reporter Mitch Wagner to deconstruct two of his recent news stories, explaining why he wrote them the way he did. Mitch has done so — you will enjoy his contribution. –Ed.]
A tech journalist today needs to get to the point right away. As a tech journalist, I have an ideal reader in mind every time I write an article. As I write, I’m always asking myself how I can best serve that reader with the news they need to know, fast.
[Enjoy this true story from SWMS contributor and PR pro Anton Molodetskiy -Ed.] You may think that journalists would rather talk to a telemarketer than answer your phone call, but the phone is still a key tool for both reporters and PR. I learned this hard way a few years ago while managing outreach for a B2B startup coming out of stealth.
We recently conducted a video meeting with a subscriber who sought SWMS POV on the following media relations questions. With the subscriber’s permission, here are the questions and our responses. Hope you find them useful.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
New EIC Jamie Heller has asked her reporters to start going on camera — for the BI TikTok channel — to explain the big, deep-divey story they just published. Other publications do this — especially archival Fortune. BI is now on that too. Game on.
At this time last year, Eric Newcomer and his two podcast co-hosts — Max Child and James Wilsterman — each formed an “AI startup fantasy team” and picked five AI startups to seed their rosters. We’re now in year 2 and it’s time to draft again. The podcasters wonder… which startups do they dump? Which do they add? The player whose startups accumulate the most total value by Nov. 1, 2028 is the winner, so there’s plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s a link to the AI fantasy team podcast — you may need a password. Not sure.
This timeless explainer — a powerful blend of visuals and text — will explain the psychology of how we read, as in, how does the mind actually work? Hats off to Message Labs, the producer.
Ars Technica recently filed this revealing piece on how the NYT uses gen AI to analyze gargantuan transcripts, ones that would overwhelm mere mortals. The results still need to be reviewed by humans, but the grunt analysis is done by the LLM. Investigative reporting becomes easier. Journalism is served.
It was announced long ago, but on Nov, 26 we learn whether TechTarget stockholders want to join forces with Informa and its legion of IT media brands, not least of which is Industry Dive. It will be hard to imagine a rival of equal power, with IDG/Foundry now a shadow of its former self. IDG/Foundry’s lack of investment and focus on cost-cutting will look unwise if TechTarget and Informa do merge.
404 Media may not be on your radar, but it currently ranks 8th of 50 leading publications recognized by Techmeme. The edit startup took a step forward this week, announcing a deal with Wired, which will run two 404 Media stories a month — and the pair might collaborate on stories beginning in 2025.
