By: Maria Koblish
The expectations of both clients and journalists are high, and balancing them is key. Clients want coverage maximized and with top-tier outlets, and the media wants stories about topics and trends that their readers care about and will engage with.
At 0to5, we’ve embraced a number of strategies to secure valuable media coverage for our clients. Here are some of our most tried and true:
- Craft a Compelling Narrative: At the heart of every great story lies a compelling narrative. Whether it’s about the company’s journey, an impressive milestone, a groundbreaking product, or an inspiring team member, it’s important to hone your story to resonate with the intended audience. Ask yourself, “Why should they care?” Using relevant industry topics and personalization, a PR pro can create stories that are not only relatable and memorable, but also pique the interest of the intended journalist.
- Offer Unique and Valuable Insights: In a sea of perspectives, standing out requires unique insights and valuable expertise. It’s important for subject matter experts (SMEs) to actively participate in industry discussions, whether at a conference, in a byline, or through expert commentary, and offer data-driven insights. By providing information that adds value, PR professionals position their clients as a go-to source for industry-related topics.
- Capitalize on Your Client’s High-Profile Collaborations and Partnerships: Clients often align themselves with complementary, industry-relevant organizations or influencers that have their own brand and traction. Leveraging these high-profile collaborations and partnerships can help your story and attract the attention of media who have covered the partner in the past.
- Build Authentic Media Relationships: Building strong relationships with journalists, influencers, and industry experts is invaluable when you’re looking to garner strong media coverage for your clients. Investing time in understanding unique preferences, specific interests, and varying writing styles gives the pitcher an upper hand in knowing exactly what stories they’ll be most likely to cover. It’s important to engage with the media authentically, offer valuable insights, and be a reliable resource that cultivates trust.
- Leverage Social Media and Digital Platforms: Media coverage doesn’t stop once the interview concludes and the story is published. Social media has proven to be a powerful tool for bringing additional attention to your story. By consistently sharing valuable content and engaging with audiences, companies can create a digital footprint that captures the attention of journalists and influencers alike. Moreover, the strategic use of hashtags and tagging relevant entities further amplifies potential reach.
Garnering great media coverage is an effort that requires a strategic approach and persistence. By focusing on compelling stories that offer valuable insights or uniquely interesting storylines, nurturing reporter relationships, and leveraging digital platforms, you will find success in your media relations efforts.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Maggie Markert
In our blog series, Media Moments, the Zer0 to 5ive public relations team highlights a variety of media coverage secured by the team on behalf of our clients every month. Check back each month to get a glimpse at the team’s ongoing work.
In today’s dynamic public relations and journalism landscape, many factors impact the efficacy of media relations. These include everything from the fast-changing news cycle, to journalist bandwidth, and so much more. Understanding these complexities, public relations professionals must always be strategic, creative, agile, and thoughtful in order to navigate the landscape effectively and garner results for clients.
The public relations team at Zer0 to 5ive demonstrates a thoughtful approach to engaging journalists by leveraging client events, significant news, or unique perspectives, prioritizing strategic and creative thinking in every pitch. Moreover, their agility shines in their ability to tailor pitches and story ideas to match the timely and relevant interests of each individual journalist.
Here are a few of the Zer0 to 5ive team’s placements from January and February that showcase the team’s work.
US News & World Report for YouScience
With deep knowledge of U.S. News & World Report’s education coverage and the focus of its reporters, the Zer0 to 5ive team highlighted critical research from YouScience to secure coverage with the outlet on the topic of student readiness post-high school. The article not only included the research, but also incorporated commentary from YouScience’s CEO Edson Barton. Read the article here.
Fortune for Sony Innovation Fund
Fortune is a high profile outlet that covers a wide range of topics. One of the topics that the outlet is most well known for is venture capital. In order to secure coverage in Fortune’s Term Sheet, you must have a unique point of view on the state of venture capital or technology or significant funding, M&A or leadership news. The team worked with Sony Innovation Fund to secure coverage of its new CEO and Chairman. Read the article here.
IEEE Spectrum for Sony AI
Conferences and events can be great drivers of media opportunities for clients. There are often key national or trade media in attendance to gather information on the latest trends or insights, and to connect with top subject matter experts. On behalf of Sony AI, the team leveraged its attendance at NeurIPS 2023 in December to secure a meeting with IEEE Spectrum for the organization’s Lead Research Scientist for AI Ethics, Alice Xiang. The meeting resulted in an in-depth Q&A with Alice on her work, ethical data collection, and more. Read the article here.
Nation’s Restaurant News for Chatmeter
In some cases, public relations professionals have to employ an embargo strategy to garner coverage around a key piece of news. For client Chatmeter, the team conducted embargo outreach to technology and trade reporters ahead of the company’s launch of its new Pulse AI: Signals feature. This targeted outreach resulted in an inclusion in Nation’s Restaurant News’ Tech Tracker for January. Read the article here.
Paul’s Security Weekly from SC Media for Qmulos
Podcasts are becoming an increasingly popular venue for public relations professionals to pitch on behalf of their clients. This surge in popularity has caused podcast hosts and producers to be inundated with guest recommendations, resulting in long queues for potential guests that stretch from a few weeks to a few months. To secure an interview for clients, public relations professionals have to remain diligent and thoughtful when checking in with the host or producers, gently reminding them that they have a great source in the wings ready to provide a new perspective. On behalf of Qmulos, the team maintained regular contact with the producer of SC Media’s Paul’s Security Weekly podcast and eventually secured an interview for the company’s CEO Matt Coose. Listen or watch the podcast episode here.
PYMNTS.com for GrazeCart
News on mergers and acquisitions is typically very attractive to the media. When POS Nation announced the acquisition of GrazeCart, the team was able to secure interest from PYMNTS.com in speaking with both organizations on how the acquisition would enable GrazeCart to expand its reach to farm-to-fork food suppliers who are looking to take their direct-to-consumer marketing and sales to the next level. You can watch the video interview here.
TEACH Magazine for NWEA and SchoolStatus
The ability to offer distinctive and thought-provoking commentary can greatly expand media opportunities for clients as journalists are constantly seeking fresh perspectives that enable them to tell the best and most informational story possible. The Zer0 to 5ive team recently worked with NWEA and SchoolStatus to provide interesting viewpoints on classroom management. The team shared commentary from the organizations’ education experts with TEACH Magazine, resulting in coverage for both clients. Read the article here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Colleen Martin
One of my favorite parts of my job as a PR professional is cultivating a strong rapport and relationship with various reporters, where there is mutual respect and trust between us. They aren’t just a person on the other end of a transaction (pitch) to “win” coverage for my clients, but human beings with families, stresses, pressures, deadlines, and, no doubt, unique and interesting backgrounds that helped them get to where they are today.
However, if you ever read the “Bad Pitch Blog,” which puts PR folks on blast on X (Twitter) for often almost comically poor behavior, it can often seem like PR and journalists are like frenemies with dissonant interests. But dig a little deeper and you will find that the best PR professionals know how to build trust with journalists, deliver them incredible sources and stories worthy of their time and energy, and understand what the key ingredients are to help journalists do what they do best: tell a great story, with speed.
I recently had the honor of interviewing Elizabeth Heubeck, a staff writer for Education Week, one of America’s most trusted resources for K-12 education news and information. Elizabeth, who covers education angles and intersections in significant news events, cultural phenomena, and high-demand topics and issues, and I recently collaborated on a few stories, which were truly great pieces.
A big thank you to Elizabeth for taking the time to conduct this interview with me! You can find her latest stories in Education Week here: https://www.edweek.org/by/elizabeth-heubeck.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your background as a K-12 education reporter?
My career has been a mix of marketing and journalist writing. I wrote about education and children for most of my career; I had a stint writing for a parenting outlet and wrote a lot about children’s health issues earlier in my career. I joined EducationWeek four years ago and have only been a full-time employee for the last year. I am considered an enterprise reporter, which means I can write about whatever I want.
What motivated you to focus on writing about education?
As a parent and spouse of a lifelong educator, I have always had an interest in education. I thought early on I would become a tutor to help kids with reading but I ended up writing about education instead.
Collaboration With PR Professionals
Can you share examples of successful collaborations or interactions you’ve had with PR reps?
I have been fortunate to have many successful interactions with PR people, who respond quickly, understand whom I need to talk to, and quickly connect me to the right people. Everyone is on a deadline, and we typically only have a few days to submit each story. It can be a catch-22 though, some days, we only have a 1-2 day turnaround, and if you want to make the story compelling, it usually requires talking to an actual person rather than regurgitating data over email. Sometimes, there isn’t enough time to make that happen. That’s when a PR person can be immensely helpful. They have their finger on the pulse and can connect us to folks fast.
What are some common misconceptions reporters have about PR people?
What I hear the most from my colleagues is that PR folks are like annoying salespeople. The woman who shares a space with me told me that one day, she walked away from her desk for two hours, and returned to 900 emails, mostly from PR people. That’s not an exaggeration.
When you are on deadline and under the gun, it can be easy to overgeneralize that ALL PR people hound you. Often, we just hit the ‘delete’ button – probably 60-70% of emails get trashed. Many of them aren’t targeting the right person. I keep getting emails about the U.S. Coast Guard. News flash – I don’t write about the Coast Guard!
Effective Communication
What communication strategies do you find most effective when working with PR professionals, such as pitches (length), press releases, research, etc.?
Phone calls have gone by the wayside. I have actually never received an unsolicited phone call from a PR person. What is effective, beyond a tight, well-written, short (couple of paragraphs) pitch that is targeted to what I write about, is getting ahead of trends; now that’s a godsend. Sometimes I will receive a pitch on a topic, immediately after I wrote about the same thing, what your industry calls “rapid response,” but if you aren’t sending me a unique angle or saying something different, then why would I write about it again? Take our partnership to the next level by helping me get ahead of a trend. If you have a relationship with a reporter, the occasional phone call is okay – but cold calling is usually a waste of time.
Advice for PR Professionals
How can PR professionals best tailor their communications to meet the needs of education reporters?
At the bare minimum, know what we cover. I would also invite PR people to reach out and say, “hey, what are you covering in the next few months?”
How far in advance are you planning stories?
I will put story ideas in buckets based on timing and typically work 1-2 months ahead. I might have something planned for this month, and have other ideas that I will file away for a future month.
Are there any specific elements or information that you consider essential to a story?
If you have background information on a topic that is super easily digestible about a product/service/curriculum, so that we can easily refer back to it – that is phenomenal. We need strong sources, especially educators that can vouch for something working well.
What advice do you have for PR professionals looking to build positive relationships and trust with reporters?
Keep your communication targeted and avoid bombarding reporters with constant pitches. Less is more! If you are in a stage where you are supporting a reporter with a specific story, identify strong sources at the onset and make introductions in a timely manner.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about the dynamics of working with PR professionals?
Know that timing is incredibly important for us – we are almost always under a time crunch. Put yourself in the position of a journalist, “What would I want to get out of it?” If you do those things, it can be a really phenomenal synergistic relationship between us, or really annoying. It is critical to be super responsive. Journalists who have flipped to PR really get it.
By Maggie Markert
In our blog series, Media Moments, the Zer0 to 5ive public relations team highlights a variety of media coverage secured by the team on behalf of our clients every month. Check back each month to get a glimpse at the team’s ongoing work.
At the end of each year, journalists seek insights from experts spanning diverse sectors to anticipate trends that will appear in the coming year. This presents an ideal opportunity for companies to share distinctive and insightful perspectives that resonate with significant national or industry trends. By offering these bold opinions, they can continue to establish their position as a key thought leader on a specific topic or sector — which also contributes to overall brand awareness.
The Zer0 to 5ive public relations team collaborates with our clients annually to craft compelling predictions that not only address overarching trends but also express bold opinions that align seamlessly with the client’s industry or offerings.
Here are a few of the Zer0 to 5ive team’s predictions for placements from December.
Forbes for Onymos
Shiva Nathan, Founder and CEO of Onymos – developer of the world’s first Features-as-a-Service platform – was quoted by Forbes offering his prediction for the continued journey to passwordless in 2024. Read the article here.
SiliconANGLE for Digital.ai
Greg Ellis, General Manager of Digital.ai – the leading provider of enterprise-grade software development and delivery solutions – was featured as an expert by SiliconANGLE on how the continued industrialization of cyber tools will impact the threat landscape for organizations in the coming year. Read the article here.
ITOps Times for Qmulos
Igor Volovich, Vice President of Compliance Strategy at Qmulos – a next-generation compliance, security, and risk management automation provider – was included in an article from ITOps Times for his prediction on how organizations will increasingly take a more proactive posture in terms of security, risk, and compliance. Read the article here.
QSR Magazine for Chatmeter
Cynthia Sener – President, Go To Market, at Chatmeter – a leader in reputation management and multi-location intelligence – was quoted by QSR Magazine on how restaurants will continue to innovate in the area of customer experience and service. Read the article here.
Convenience Store News for C-Store POS
Kevin Patel, Vice President of C-Store POS – an all-in-one, cloud-based retail software built to meet the needs of modern convenience store owners – had his insights published by Convenience Store News on how small convenience stores will continue to use data analytics to revolutionize their operations in 2024. Read the article here.
District Administration for NWEA and YouScience
District Administration published a few stories on what trends to expect in 2024, leveraging perspectives from both NWEA – a K-12 assessment and research organization – and YouScience – the leading technology provider dedicated to solving the skills gap crisis for students and employers.
- NWEA’s Lindsay Dworkin (Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs), Ayesha Hashim (Research Scientist), Laura Hansen (Director of Academic Services), Fenesha Hubbard (Lead Professional Learning Designer), Chase Nordgren (Principal Research Lead, Effective Instructional Strategies), and Scott Peters (Senior Research Scientist) were all quoted on topics related to student progress and effective interventions, the investment in data through remaining ESSER funding, and the importance of academic identities of educators. Read the article here.
- YouScience’s Jeri Larsen (Chief Operating Officer) and Hans Meeder (Senior Fellow for Education and Workforce Education) were quoted on the topic of college and career preparation, including career and technical education (CTE). Read the article here.
eSchool News for School Status
Russ Davis, Founder and CEO, SchoolStatus – a leader in K-12 communication and attendance solutions – was included as a thought leader in a 2023 trends round-up from eSchool News, sharing how data on the student, classroom, and school will be critical to supporting academic recovery efforts. Read the article here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Colleen Martin, Principal, Zer0 to 5ive
I recently sat down to listen to the PRWeek webinar, “From Intuition to Insight: Leveraging Data to Refine Your Craft and Deliver Proven Results.” The main takeaway – that should be obvious for anyone who has been working in PR for more than a minute – is that PR expectations are growing, and clients are demanding a mastery of PR measurement.
It feels like it wasn’t that long ago that I was helping to print, three-hole punch, drop into sheet-protectors, and add to a binder – hundreds of articles, what we PR folks call “clipbooks,” to give to our clients as evidence of our hard work and visible results. But news has largely since transitioned away from being dominated by print, TV, and radio, into the online realm, via digital magazines, Instagram stories, TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, Facebook feeds, LinkedIn posts, YouTube channels, Medium blogs, Reddit communities, podcasts, and more that I am probably failing to mention. But without all kinds of tools, it can be difficult to put a “value” on securing coverage on these various channels.
Therein lies the problem – how do you measure the true value of PR? Data analytics is no longer a “nice to have” – they are a significant part of the PR role. Every PR person should (already) be thinking – how can we as PR pros most efficiently and effectively leverage data to demonstrate the value of what we do?
Cision and PRWeek’s sixth annual 2023 Global Communications Report found that analytics and reporting, or attribution and ROI, are top priorities for more than 38% of communication professionals; yet, with 50% of communications leaders struggling to convert data into actionable insights, it’s not surprising that more and more brands are turning to agency partners to help bridge the gap.
Measurement is not a buzzword. It is the best way to show the value of our work and help us to make better strategic decisions to move brands ahead.
The Economy’s Impact on the PR Industry
The media industry has announced more than 17,000 job cuts as of June 2023, marking the highest year-to-date level of cuts on record, according to a recent report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
That means journalists are getting squeezed – pressured to write more articles, with less staff, while it seems like the PR field, like bamboo in a tropical climate, is growing like wildfire. The ratio now stands at 6.2 PR pros for every one journalist, which means we are all competing to grab attention from a smaller pool of journalists and fighting for the same ink.
A May 2023 MuckRack PR survey found that over 70% of PR professionals anticipate securing earned media will become more challenging over the next five years, and more than half are concerned about getting journalists to respond to pitches. Surprising? Not at all.
PR budgets also shrunk in the second quarter of 2023 and have not risen for more than a year, according to the latest IPA Bellwether Report. For those of you in the back who may not have been working yet during the last economic downturn, marketing budgets are often the first items to get slashed when things go south because PR and marketing are considered to be “soft” or “non-essential” costs.
Why Is There a Growing Focus on Data-Driven Insight?
Those of us who have worked in the field for some time know that PR is both an art and a science. It’s not lead gen, but contributes to brand awareness and credibility, and therefore, ultimately lead gen. Coverage by the media is the number one driver of credibility and should be recognized for its value in the lead gen funnel.
It can be hard for PR pros to try to explain everything we do in numbers because it’s not so black and white. But we can’t hide from the data, because it’s part and parcel of the “why” behind everything we do.
More CMOs are now reporting directly to the CEO – up 47%, according to a 2019 McKinsey study: Marketing’s moment is now: The C-suite partnership to deliver on growth. CMOs are now seen as strategic advisors by the business and need faster access to data to report to their boards and C-suite. The CMO’s rapport with the C-suite is crucial for establishing marketing’s role as a growth driver. The McKinsey study found that 83% of global CEOs said marketing can be a major driver of business growth.
A silver lining from the COVID-19 pandemic is that the C-suite now better understands what communication pros bring to the table and the impact of what communicators do.
Stay tuned for my next post where I will continue this discussion by sharing key things for PR people to know about PR measurement, the top use cases, where to begin with PR measurement, and how to leverage data in storytelling with the media.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Maggie Markert
It’s exciting to see a diverse range of client coverage every month, spanning from podcasts and bylines to funding profiles. Each form of coverage holds significance, providing either an insider’s view into a company or product, or presenting distinct perspectives on important national and industry-specific topics.
The Zer0 to 5ive team is dedicated to crafting powerful narratives and viewpoints for our clients. Our goal is to pinpoint and secure the most fitting and pertinent opportunities available so that our clients can be seen and heard.
Here are a few of the Zer0 to 5ive team’s placements from November.
NPR’s Teaching Matters for CENTEGIX
Oftentimes, journalists want to speak to individuals who have direct experience with a topic or issue. In education, that means working alongside our clients with educators and school or district leadership.
With CENTEGIX, the Zer0 to 5ive team identified a district leader to discuss the importance of creating a multi-layered safety plan in K-12 schools and offered them to speak with NPR’s Teaching Matters podcast. During the interview, the interviewer and audience also received a real-time example of how quickly the district leader’s schools were able to initiate a lock-down within seconds through CENTEGIX’s CrisisAlert badge. Listen to the podcast here.
Technical.ly for Imagine Pharma
Funding is a major milestone in a company’s journey and a great news hook for storytelling. To elevate a funding announcement into a larger profile story, public relations professionals can offer journalists the opportunity to delve into the significance of the funding and its implications.
For Imagine Pharma, the Zer0 to 5ive team leveraged the company’s recent $32.5 million funding round to secure interest from Technical.ly in conducting interviews for a profile story. You can read the article here.
Ed Post for SchoolStatus
Awareness days, weeks, and months can play an important role in developing a compelling story. They lend relevance and timeliness to a point of view a company may have on a key topic.
For SchoolStatus, the Zer0 to 5ive team identified Family Engagement Month as an opportunity to engage the media on why meaningful school-home connections in K-12 education should be supported. This outreach resulted in multiple opportunities, including a byline opportunity with Ed Post. The article can be read here.
Compliance Podcast Network for Qmulos
Public relations professionals must stay on top of key news trends and current events. One trend that has consistently remained at the forefront is cybersecurity. This topic has many different aspects and identifying the right one for a client is crucial.
On behalf of Qmulos, the Zer0 to 5ive team focused on the topic of cybersecurity compliance to secure an interview with Compliance Podcast Network’s Innovation in Compliance Podcast with Tom Fox. You can listen to the podcast episode here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Sydney Stressman
I have worked with Steven Aquino many times and have gotten to know him well over the years. His work as an accessibility and assistive technology reporter holds so much importance. He has my utmost respect. Today, I had the opportunity to interview Steven about his job, reporting on accessibility in the technology sector, and his perspective on working with public relations professionals.
Thank you, Steven, for taking the time to share your insights with me. You can read Steven’s stories on Forbes here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenaquino/
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your background as a technology reporter?
Hi there! My name is Steven Aquino, and I’m a freelance technology reporter based in San Francisco. I’ve been running a one-man newsroom full-time since May 2013.
You can read more about my journey on my portfolio site.
As to my beat, I cover all things accessibility and assistive technologies. Classically, that pertains to the hardware and software of products like the iPhone. Over time, I’ve grown and evolved my coverage to encompass lots of ways disability and technology intersect. They include healthcare, adaptive clothing, autonomous vehicles, and even Hollywood with film and television. So long as tech companies such as Amazon and Apple insist on leveraging their massive war chests to roll their own streaming services, the tie-ins will remain strong and utterly relevant.
How long have you been reporting on technology/DEI topics, and what motivated you to focus on this field?
As I said, I’ve been a journalist since 2013. Next May marks 11 years.
How I got started in the industry is kind of a long story, but suffice it to say I’ve always loved to write and I’ve always been told I’m *really* good at it. In my prior life teaching special education preschool, I was the school’s unofficial IT person—always setting up devices like computers, iPads, iPods, and more. We used iPads to augment the curriculum with my students, and I wrote about it in my first-ever bylined story. That story immediately went semi-viral, so much so that it got picked up by Apple and their PR team reached out, which led me to snowball to opportunity after opportunity after opportunity that shaped what my career looks like today.
Can you share examples of successful collaborations or interactions you’ve had with PR reps? What are some common misconceptions reporters might have about working with PR folks?
I have experience covering companies big and small, from behemoths like Apple, Google, and Microsoft to smaller, scrappy startups. I’ve attended media events and received regular review units of key products such as the iPhone. Those all involved cultivating and nurturing relationships with PR folks over all these many years.
As for misconceptions, I think reporters are oftentimes jaded in thinking PR folks exist merely to market and push happy/favorable coverage. That’s true to a certain extent, but the majority of my interactions are with people who not only have a job to do for a living, but who are genuinely interested and believe in whatever they’re selling.
What communication strategies do you find most effective when working with PR professionals, such as pitches (length), press releases, research, and more?
I typically work with the usual email pitches and press releases. I also find email interviews more accessible for me, although I know you learn in journalism school they aren’t the best because it’s harder to press people and ask follow-up questions. I get that logic, but email interviews really do make my job easier and more expedient.
I’ve also found texting with PR people more accessible too. It’s easier and more efficient than using email and has the side benefit of being an avenue by which to cultivate the personal end of the relationship. I’m very much an introvert, and texting has enabled me to establish long-standing relationships with people that transcend work. It’s been a great tool with which to network on multiple levels. Of course, I’m not super close with every single person this way, but the point is having a person’s personal number implies trust and care.
How can PR professionals best tailor their communications to meet the needs of technology reporters? Are there any specific elements or information that you consider essential in a press release or pitch related to technology/DEI topics?
I think it’s important not just to mass-mail a press release and call it a day. If possible, I think it’s more prudent (for both of us) to have the comms person tell me a story—tell me what, then why, and let me decide. Sometimes a press release is okay and all I need, but more often they feel sterile and lack the deeper context that’s crucial for my reporting on such an abstract, wide-ranging topic and community.
What are some best practices for PR professionals to build positive relationships with reporters of any beat? How can they effectively pitch stories and information to you?
Don’t be transactional. I know what your job is and you know mine. But we’re also human beings who thrive on interpersonal relationships. You don’t have to be besties with everybody—that’s impossible—but some of the best relationships I enjoy right now masterfully straddle that line between professional and personal. And we’re both better off.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about the dynamics of working with PR professionals?
Three big points I get asked about an awful lot.
- Just because I agree to interview your client does not automatically guarantee coverage on my end. It’s kinda like a job interview—I’ll interview a bunch of people, but I’m not hiring all of them.
- I’m not sending you interview questions in advance unless we’ve agreed on doing an email Q&A.
- And I’m definitely not sending you my story prior to publication so you and/or your client can inspect it. That’s not at all how reporting works, unless in certain circumstances.
By Maggie Markert
Storytelling is critical to successful media relations programs. Offering a compelling narrative helps public relations professionals break through the hundreds or thousands of pitches journalists receive each day. These stories can be a powerful or unique point of view on a trend or current event, a robust customer case study, or a strong piece of research.
Collaborating closely with our clients, the Zer0 to 5ive team discovers these narratives and develops compelling pitches for journalists. As part of every pitch, the team provides comprehensive context, significance, and exclusive access to expert sources.
Here are a few of the Zer0 to 5ive team’s story-driven placements from October.
WIRED for Sony AI
Emphasizing the importance of research and connection to overarching trends is key to capturing the attention of top journalists. However, providing an adept expert proficient in conveying that storyline remains absolutely essential.
For Sony AI, the Zer0 to 5ive team outlined the significance of its research on skin tone annotation in computer vision and offered the lead authors to speak with the media. This particular pitch piqued WIRED’s interest and that of several other outlets, resulting in extensive coverage that delved into the research details. Read the WIRED article here.
PYMNTS for Sony Innovation Fund
Journalists consistently seek fresh and distinctive viewpoints that offer alternative perspectives on trending subjects. It’s crucial for public relations professionals to share glimpses of these perspectives with journalists as a part of their outreach efforts.
On behalf of Sony Innovation Fund, the Zer0 to 5ive team provided a few points to PYMNTS on the team’s view on Web3 venture capital investment. These viewpoints captured the outlet’s editor’s attention, leading to an interview request for two experts from Sony Innovation Fund regarding the topic. Read the PYMNTS article here.
HD Trucking for Nauto
Many media outlets seek sources for prearranged editorial stories, a terrain familiar to most PR professionals, posing a challenge to secure inclusion. The key factor in gaining inclusion within these stories is presenting a resource capable of offering a unique and distinctive perspective unlike any other.
Ahead of HD Trucking’s October story on distracted driving, the Zer0 to 5ive team provided the background and potential perspective that Nauto‘s founder and CEO could offer. This resulted in an interview as well as multiple quote inclusions in the feature story. Read the HD Trucking article here.
Top Education Placements
Journalists in the education space often seek insights directly from educators and students because their voices provide authenticity and depth for stories. These perspectives give journalists, and eventually readers, a first-hand account of challenges they are facing or new approaches they are implementing to improve education experiences.
For CENTEGIX, the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE), and YouScience, the Zer0 to 5ive team worked closely with client teams to pinpoint student and educator resources that provide poignant firsthand experiences for several stories.
KYW In Depth Podcast for CENTEGIX
Listen to the podcast here featuring a deputy superintendent and the company’s Chief Development Officer offering insight into how CENTEGIX’s technology is used to keep students and teachers safe.
Education Week for IMSE
Read the story here featuring a number of teachers in Albuquerque, New Mexico who were trained in the Orton-Gillingham method, based in the Science of Reading, to help boost student literacy.
FOX 13 for YouScience
Watch the segment here featuring a few students and educators from a Utah district discussing how YouScience has helped identify potential career paths.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Maggie Markert
Thought leadership is a critical facet of any successful public relations program for any organization. It doesn’t matter if you are a Fortune 500 company, a startup, or a research organization – thought leadership offers a valuable avenue to articulate your innovative ideas and can serve as an excellent method to increase your visibility.
That’s why our public relations team at Zer0 to 5ive strives to build strong thought leadership in every program we offer clients.
Here are a few of the Zer0 to 5ive team’s thought leadership-based placements from September.
MIT Technology Review for Sony AI
Research is a powerful thought leadership tool in public relations. Not only are journalists always seeking relevant data and insights to bolster their stories, but they are actively seeking expert sources capable of interpreting such research and connecting it to wider trends and topics.
Our team recently worked with Sony AI to promote the unveiling of new research on skin tone annotation in computer vision and pitched it to MIT Technology Review. This research directly correlated to a broader topic the outlet was working on about bias in computer vision systems, which opened up the opportunity for Sony AI researchers to speak with the journalist and be quoted in her story. Read the article here.
Forbes for Qmulos
Startup founders are great sources of thought leadership commentary often because of their deep industry and technical knowledge of a certain area. This thought leadership, in many cases, directly supports the challenge they seek to solve through their company.
For Qmulos, our team pitched a story of the company’s founder and how it relates to the ongoing challenges in the world related to enterprise security, compliance, and risk management. This storyline captured the interest of a Forbes writer who published a profile piece on the founder. Read the profile here.
InformationWeek for Sony Innovation Fund
Journalists rely on expert commentary to help write their stories. In most cases, journalists seek a wide variety of voices that can help them craft a well-rounded piece. Often, to help gather commentary from sources, journalists will share queries directly with their public relations or organization contacts through email, social media, and distribution services. As public relations professionals, we are responsible for identifying and vetting these opportunities and collaborating with expert sources to provide insightful perspectives for the journalists’ stories.
On behalf of Sony Innovation Fund, our team identified an opportunity to submit commentary on how artificial intelligence impacts artificial reality (AR). The team worked directly with the organization’s entertainment technology expert to craft compelling insights that could be shared for consideration with the journalist. Some of those insights appeared throughout the journalist’s piece weeks later in InformationWeek. Read the story here.
Total Retail for eTail Pet
Bylines are a great vehicle for showcasing thought leadership. While these pieces cannot promote your organization or solutions directly, they can help build your credibility and position a leader as a key expert on a topic related to your work.
Our team worked with eTail Pet to pitch a byline article from the company’s expert source on the effective use of customer data to enhance return on investment (ROI) for retail stores. The thoughtful and comprehensive piece was accepted and published by Total Retail. Read the byline here.
DevOps.com for Onymos
If you’re looking to capture the attention of a journalist for thought leadership, one effective approach is to express a bold and assertive opinion, often referred to as a ‘stake in the ground.’ This type of perspective is frequently unique and thought-provoking – or sometimes provocative – and sets it apart from the countless opinions journalists receive.
The team at Onymos is comprised of experts who offer thoughtful and bold opinions, which often pique the interest of journalists. One example of this was a byline questioning whether or not generative AI would replace software developers. The piece was pitched to DevOps.com by our team and later published. Read the byline here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Sydney Peterson
Public relations or “PR” professionals are often working behind the scenes to help support business goals. PR work includes a wide range of responsibilities from reputation management to developing PR strategies, to drafting press releases and pitching stories to the media. In 2015, National Publicist Day was founded on October 30 as a day to celebrate and show appreciation for professionals working in the public relations industry. In honor of National Publicist Day, Zer0 to 5ive employees shared insights from their experiences and advice for current and aspiring PR professionals.
Here are six tips on working in public relations from the team:
“Be proactive and curious! Your managers, colleagues, and, especially, your clients love when they see proactivity and ongoing curiosity from you whether it be in the form of newsjacking/rapid response opportunities, asking questions related to a client’s industry, and more. These things help show that you are not only eager to get results but that you are being creative in your thinking and strategy. Being able to continually showcase both of these characteristics will take you far in PR and they will help you generate a greater impact.” – Maggie Markert, Director
“Read a lot! Reading and subscribing to industry newsletters can help you stay up-to-date on trends and current topics that are being covered.” – Annmarie Ely, Senior Strategist
“I once received invaluable advice from a professor who emphasized that PR is far from glamorous moments in a limousine with celebrities. Her words proved to be spot-on. What I’ve learned is that successful PR hinges on the cultivation of relationships. The capacity to engage with clients, peers and colleagues, journalists, stakeholders, and the public holds utmost importance.” – Lindsay Hull, Principal
“Be sure to know your publications – best contacts, what they’re covering, if they accept bylines, etc.” – Chelsea Lindner, PR Strategist
“Don’t let the inevitable “no” discourage you when it comes to pitching. It’s very common to encounter more negative responses than positive ones in the world of PR. Journalists often find themselves buried under a mountain of tasks and competing deadlines – they can’t say yes to every story. When you do receive a “no,” don’t hesitate to ask for feedback. Was it a matter of timing, scope, or a misalignment with the outlet’s focus? This feedback can provide valuable insights to inform your next pitch and increase the likelihood of a positive response down the road. The key to mastering the art of PR is persistence. Keep refining your pitch, honing your message, and approaching it from different angles. Repeated “no” responses can be valuable lessons that help you better understand what resonates with your audience.” – Andie Levine, Director of Content and Social Media
“PR is not for the faint of heart, it takes persistence, tenacity, a thick skin, ability to multitask 1,000 things at once and work under constant deadlines and pressure, for starters. So, if you are interested in PR, go into an area of PR that you have a passion for or are interested in. For example, technology, travel, fashion, food, public health, entertainment, video games, politics/policy, crisis comms…There are so many different options. Working in an area you love will help you get through the tough times.” – Jennifer Moritz, Managing Principal
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.