Forbes senior editor Alex Konrad gave us a metric ton of insight this month — one article just wasn’t enough. So this week we plumb the notebook of SWMS contributor Rhiannon Pacheco, who interviewed Alex earlier this month, and present the rest of Alex’s thoughtful and heartfelt advice for PR pros looking to win his attention.
Sometimes it pays to go to the top. If you’re pitching something truly conceptual — something that can make a publication look prescient in the long run — then go to the editorial board. We’ve got a list of six boards for you, with contact info.
Christopher Mims isn’t your typical Tier 1 columnist. Chris reports his theses. Coming from a science background, he surrounds his opinions with lots of evidence — much of it empirical. Given the challenges associated with pitching someone like Chris, it might be best to think of him as a proxy for all of “Tier 1.”
Few topics captivate reporters more than the future. SWMS this week studied the past two “The Future of Everything” reports in the WSJ — and a dozen stories in Fast Company’s The Shape of Tomorrow section — to identify pitch approaches that might work for you.
Are you struggling to interest Tier 1 reporters in lesser-known clients? So is Jason Calacanis. The former journalist and well-known investor and podcaster sounded off Jul. 7 to CNBC’s Jon Fortt and two other hosts about the trouble he and other VCs have had in breaking through — especially to the New York Times.
Fast Company technology editor Harry McCracken sheds light on newsgathering at physical and virtual events, and changes in FC edit coverage brought on by Covid and other factors. Interview was conducted July 2020.
Barron’s associate editor Eric Savitz weighs in on virtual events — those from Barron’s and others — and what it might take for them to succeed. One thing is for sure, Eric says: “People are trying to make them work.”
The top ten companies gracing this year’s CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list received scant Tier 1 coverage during the previous 12 months. Based on SWMS research, the coverage that companies did receive was overwhelmingly from verticals. We did see three flattering profiles, worth deconstructing to see the elements they required.
If it wasn’t before, Fast Company’s Work Life section became perfectly positioned when legions of readers began working where they lived and living where they worked. “I will say what our editor-in-chief, Stephanie Mehta, has said about Work Life, which is, it’s table stakes for us,” says deputy editor Kathleen (Kate) Davis.
Our subscribers long have sought Tier 1 coverage, but these days there’s an urgency like never before. As part of this week’s SWMS Tier 1 deep-dive, we explore some fascinating numbers from SimilarWeb. Read on for eye-openers that will change the way you think about the edit landscape.
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FRIDGE NOTES
Well, for now it’s Jim Jordan… but such news illustrates the kind of world we seem to be headed for. Adweek has the details, subscription required.
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.
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.
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
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.
