By Annmarie Ely
As U.S. editor-sector coverage for Mergermarket, Marlene Givant Star covers a variety of topics from mergers and acquisitions to funding. She has more than 30 years of experience in business journalism and has worked for The Associated Press, where she was a news editor-Money & Markets, Boardroom’s Bottom Line/Personal and Crain Communications’ Pensions & Investments and Investment News.
In her current role as an editor at Mergermarket, she directs the U.S. sector reporting freelance team and writes and edits stories about education and business services companies. 0to5 worked with Marlene on a story highlighting our client, SchoolStatus, an education technology company. At the time, SchoolStatus had gone through a series of acquisitions. Marlene spoke with the CEO and wrote a piece on the company’s M&A activity and its future direction after the newly acquired companies were folded into SchoolStatus.
0to5 recently connected with Marlene about her career, recent articles she’s written, and her insights on what makes a business story engaging for readers. Read our Q&A with Marlene below to learn more.
What do you like about covering business news?
It’s very concrete and relevant. You always learn something new and it is surprisingly applicable to daily life.
What types of stories/subjects do you look for when you’re planning coverage?
At Mergermarket, we cover corporate strategy including M&A, capital raises, and other expansion strategies. We also cover news as it breaks.
Do you have any favorite stories from what you’ve covered?
I especially like taking a step back and looking at trends using our data. For example, I recently wrote a story about franchise businesses receiving heightened interest from private equity firms. I also edited our International Women’s Day feature highlighting women in the male-dominated M&A industry.
What should people keep in mind when reaching out? Are there any types of stories or content you’d like to receive more of?
I like to hear about mature companies past the Series B stage, particularly ones focused on education or business services. I am also interested in environmental, social, and governance topics.
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 see the team’s ongoing work.
Today’s journalists have so many important topics to discuss as part of their coverage, and organizations like those we support at Zer0 to 5ive can offer valuable insights.
In February, we amplified our clients’ views on topics ranging from AI in education to application development challenges.
Check a few of them out!
Forbes for UTI
AI may transform entire industries, but it won’t replace skilled trades – the technology serves as a partner, not a disruptor. Our team secured interest from a Forbes contributor to speak with Universal Technical Institute, Inc., about how they’re equipping students with the latest AI knowledge to keep them ahead of the curve. Read the article.
Forbes for YouScience
As technologies like AI begin to reshape the future of our nation’s workforce, our society faces a growing and critical challenge: the misalignment between job market demands and education. Our team collaborated with YouScience to discuss this issue, which is the focus of their newly published book, “Preparing Tomorrow’s Workforce,” and to provide insights on how this misalignment can be addressed. Read the article.
SD Times for R Systems
When enterprises integrate new technologies into their solutions or operations, they encounter various challenges, including issues related to scalability and performance. Our team collaborated with R Systems to submit an insightful perspective to SD Times on why enterprises need to maintain a big-picture view when implementing new technologies. Read the article.
Education Week for AERDF
At a time when students across the country are struggling with reading and math, it is more important than ever for experts to share ways educators can help build confidence and engagement among students in these subjects. Our team worked with the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) to connect their CEO with a journalist at Education Week to discuss why it’s important to change the way math is talked about in daily conversations to instill more positive math identities in students. Read the article.
EdTech Digest for HMH
While AI offers many benefits to education, many educators believe it is essential to develop AI with ethical considerations in mind, and they require more professional development to use the technology effectively. Our team collaborated with HMH to conduct a Q&A for EdTech Digest on how educators feel about AI in their classrooms, where it can be most helpful, and why professional development is critical. Read the article.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
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 see the team’s ongoing work.
Thought leadership is an integral part of our media relations programs and oftentimes is a significant source of coverage for our clients. This type of coverage can take shape in many forms, including as a podcast, a brief quote from an expert within a larger story, in-depth Q&As, or bylines and op-eds.
Since thought leadership stories come in various forms, our team has numerous opportunities to craft a tailored narrative that effectively emphasizes a value proposition for a technology or product (without directly naming it) or offers unique insights on current industry trends.
This month, our team secured a range of thought leadership coverage for our clients, including a few podcast features and Q&A articles.
Check a few of them out!
Techopedia for R Systems
A well-timed and engaging pitch featuring a spokesperson with deep expertise in a critical topic is the ideal combination for journalists. This is demonstrated by a recent placement by our team for R Systems and the company’s CEO around data curation in AI – a topic that is gaining traction in the media. Our team leveraged unique insights from the executive to engage in the data discussions, capturing the attention of a Techopedia journalist. That interest led to a subsequent interview, resulting in a detailed Q&A. Read it here.
AIHub for Sony AI
Great thought leadership is rooted in research, as journalists constantly seek original data or findings that help them craft compelling stories backed by facts. In the realm of AI, research is particularly critical for both discussions and media reporting. That’s why our team utilized innovative research from Sony AI to provide AIHub with the chance to engage with one of the organization’s leading thought leaders on image generation in AI. This resulted in the publication of an insightful Q&A. Read it here.
The “What the Dev?” Podcast for Digital.ai
Offering forward-looking insights from subject matter experts is a proven method for generating interview interest and media coverage. That’s why our team collaborates with clients each fall to outline compelling predictions for the upcoming year. Often, journalists simply pick up the predictions and publish them as-is, but sometimes, they help us arrange interviews for more in-depth articles or podcasts on the topic. This was the case with Digital.ai, whose CEO was on the “What the Dev?” podcast to discuss his view on the future of software engineering intelligence. Listen to the podcast here.
CyberWire’s “Caveat” Podcast for Onymos
Aligned with an awareness day or month, insights from a client’s subject matter expert can present a valuable opportunity for journalists to address the issues most important to their audience. For instance, CyberWire’s “Caveat” Podcast recently sought to delve into data privacy with Onymos. Our team leveraged Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, along with compelling data from an Onymos report, to capture the host’s interest in speaking with the company’s CEO for a podcast episode. Listen to the podcast here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
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 see the team’s ongoing work.
Each year, public relations professionals must embrace the changing media cycle and landscape as they pursue coverage for their clients. Now, more than ever, current events are shaping the topics journalists cover across various industries, and editorial teams have had to adapt their newsrooms.
In these times of change and fluctuation, public relations professionals must demonstrate true grit and agility to persevere. Our team showed these characteristics in spades.
Over the past year, we have secured thousands of articles for our clients in outlets ranging from cable news networks to technology trade publications. Each story has focused on key themes showcasing our clients’ thought leadership or has showcased significant milestones in their business journeys.
Check them out!
CNBC’s The Exchange for UTI
Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (UTI) released its year-end earnings, prompting our team to pitch the news and the organization’s CEO to key contacts while also highlighting a number of timely trends. Two of the trends included what’s in store for the skilled trades and the broader workforce in 2025, which caught the eye of producers at CNBC’s The Exchange. Watch the segment here.
Forbes for HMH
HMH recently unveiled HMH Classcraft’s(TM) AI Summarization tool, which allows teachers to quickly understand student comprehension and adapt instruction in real-time. The innovative nature of this tool and the benefits it offers educators in the classroom as they work to understand student learning in the moment garnered attention from Forbes. Read the article here.
IEEE Spectrum for Nauto
Our team is a strong proponent of rapid response pitching (or newsjacking) and has found it to be a successful method for securing media attention for our clients. One notable example of this was with Nauto and IEEE Spectrum. As a result of the team’s efforts, the company’s CEO was used as a source on detection technology for driver fatigue. Read the article here.
Education Week for AERDF
Respectful persistence is key to building relationships with journalists on behalf of our clients. By building these relationships, your client can become a go-to resource on trending topics, like in the case of the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF). Read the article here.
Inside Higher Ed for YouScience
YouScience published a new piece of research, “Workforce Report: Fixing America’s Broken Talent Pipeline,” which offers an in-depth look at the challenges facing U.S. employers as they grapple with unprecedented labor shortages and an evolving talent landscape. This report included key information that captured the interest of Inside Higher Ed. Read the article here.
GTPlanet for Sony AI
Sony AI recently showcased new exploratory capabilities of its gaming AI agent, Gran Turismo Sophy (GT Sophy), which was of great interest to GTPlanet. The founder of the outlet sat down with two of Sony AI’s researchers to understand the latest iteration of the agent. Read the article and watch the interview here.
The Quantum Insider for Sony Innovation Fund
Insightful thought leadership on unconventional topics from client experts can be a great way to generate interest among journalists. Working with Sony Innovation Fund, our team secured interest from The Quantum Insider in speaking with one of the fund’s managing directors to hear his thoughts on quantum computing for a feature article. Read it here.
Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare for CENTEGIX
Contributed content is not only a great way for clients to assert their leadership on particular topics, but it also helps media outlets that are always in search of content. Our team worked with CENTEGIX to develop an article describing the current state of workplace safety in the healthcare industry for Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare. Read it here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
As the media landscape continues to change, it’s important for PR pros to keep in touch with reporters and editors beyond pitching stories. Since the start of your PR career, you have likely heard about the importance of building relationships with journalists, and it is true. Your relationships with journalists are important —and should be treated as such.
Diane Harrington, Editor at Smartbrief, is a veteran communications pro and has seen it all—including the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our team had the chance to catch up with Diane to ask her the questions that keep PR pros up at night. We’re excited to have her share her knowledge and insights!
Can you share examples of successful collaborations or interactions you’ve had with PR reps?
I love PR reps who have a client list and ideas connected to each that they can share with me.
I’m also especially grateful when PR folks have “regular people” I can talk to—not just an edtech vendor or a random customer who happens to use your client’s product. More often than not, journalists want inputs on issues, solutions, and stories.
Writing about a new product on its own isn’t enough. Give me great, fresh story ideas and all the players I need to talk to, and I’ll be your friend for life.
I’ve also had a couple of PR reps be extraordinarily patient with me as I try to find time to work on a couple of articles. They occasionally ping me (no more than quarterly) to see if it’s still on my radar and they let me know if something new has happened in the topic area or with their client that may shape my piece.
Savvy PR reps also will pass along random info: “Hey, I hear you’re planning something on student mental health. I ran across the name of a great school psychologist—just wanted to share it in case they can help with your story.” That keeps your name in my mind. And when I tell people I’ll put something in my ideas and experts folders, I’m telling the truth: I really do have folders with those titles filled with emails that I like but that won’t work right now.
What are some common misconceptions reporters might have about working with PR folks?
I’ve been in the journalism/PR/marketing field for 40+ years. While I’m so grateful to run across savvy PR reps, too often I get a spam-style press release on a subject that’s far too general. It’s clear that it’s gone to 1,000 other journalists and that no thought has been put into how it will work for my publication.
Not all publications are alike, and many PR reps think, “Oh, let’s send this to all the education publications.” Read the reporters’ work for a while and figure out what makes them different, and tailor a pitch accordingly. If you know I don’t run press releases or articles on a product, take the time to create another formulaic press release that at least addresses that fact.
How can PR professionals best tailor their communications to meet the needs of reporters?
Give specific examples of how a product or solution can be used. Broaden your mind to narrow the story. Provide examples that haven’t been used everywhere else. That may be the secret to your success.
Are there any specific elements or information that you consider essential in a press release or pitch?
Like a good newspaper story: Who, what, when, where, why and how. But focus on which one of those is the most important to a given publication. Most PR reps know that my publication doesn’t print “new product” stories, new CEO stories, or events that are happening tomorrow in another state. If it’s in my city, or very nearby, that’s helpful. Otherwise, I need to be sent the information in a way that works for my publication. Or sent “In case you weren’t aware” for my files. Regardless, 99% of PR people send me the stuff I don’t need and can’t use.
What are some best practices for PR professionals to build positive relationships with reporters of any beat?
Don’t email incessantly. 95% of editors won’t respond to every email. If you don’t hear back, 99% of the time they’re not interested. Please do not email the reporter every day or two to follow up.
Try to convince your clients that it’s better to have sustained interest in them throughout the year—a story in this publication now, a story in another publication 3 months later, and so on. Rather than to have them all crammed into one or two months and then forgotten. The debut of a product doesn’t equate to a story. Think about the stories that you’d want to read about that product six months from now. Set up those circumstances: Ask the client if they can do a trial of it at a school so you can gather anecdotal information. Find out if they have already done one or have studies, etc.
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 see the team’s ongoing work.
In public relations, the ability to offer a variety of stories is critical to capturing the interest of journalists. These stories can range from funding news and product news to human-interest stories and interesting executive points of view.
Throughout October, the Zer0 to 5ive team worked diligently to place a range of features and mentions on behalf of clients.
Check them out!
CNBC Make It for UTI
Promoting an individual’s story to highlight a broader trend can be a great way to tap into the national conversation. On behalf of Universal Technical Institute, Inc., the team pitched a story about a successful alumna from Concorde Career Colleges – the organization’s healthcare division – for CNBC’s “Ditching the Degree” series. Read the article here.
Axios for NWEA
Regularly proactively pitching experts who can discuss key topics in education can get you on the radar of reporters so that when they’re covering a related topic, they will reach out. After pitching education experts to Axios on behalf of education clients, a reporter reached back out to request a comment from an expert on the impact of severe weather on students and schools. The team was able to connect this reporter with a researcher from NWEA, resulting in a story quoting one of the organization’s researchers. Read the article here.
SiliconANGLE for Sony Innovation Fund
A new round of startup funding can be intriguing for journalists, especially if they are offered exclusively or under embargo. On behalf of Sony Innovation Fund and its portfolio company, Sidero Labs, the team leveraged an embargo strategy in advance of a funding announcement to generate interest from key journalists covering Kubernetes technology. This outreach resulted in a detailed feature by SiliconANGLE for the portfolio company, mentioning Sony Innovation Fund. Read the feature here.
The 74 Million for AERDF
In an age when media outlets are looking for insightful content and points of view, it is helpful to work with clients’ experts to develop bylines and op-eds that can be submitted and published. The team worked with the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) to develop an op-ed for The 74 on the need for educator and community engagement and federal investment in education R&D. Read the piece here.
SD Times for Onymos
In the tech sector, news on enterprise software and products frequently captures media interest. Recently, the team utilized a major product update from Onymos to inform the tech trade media about the enhancements and advantages for enterprises using the product. This effort led to coverage in SD Times. Read the news here.
Fordham Institute’s Ohio Gadfly Daily for YouScience
As a public relations team, we often can’t control where our media placements end up after their publication or who sees them. This is why we feel a great deal of excitement whenever an article we placed – whether it was months or years ago – continues to provide value and visibility for clients beyond its initial worth. Recently, the Fordham Institute’s Ohio Gadfly Daily highlighted YouScience, stemming from a feature that the team secured with a Fordham executive for Education Next two years ago. Read the mention here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
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 see the team’s ongoing work.
As a public relations professional, persistence and resourcefulness are crucial to achieving results for your clients. This might involve conducting regular touch bases with journalists to build strong relationships and stay updated on what they are working on. It may also mean leveraging a new piece of exploratory research to garner the interest of a particular journalist or following a specific news event to determine if there is a relevant opportunity for your client to provide a comment.
At Zer0 to 5ive, we work diligently to make things happen and use the points of view, content, and resources available to build stories journalists want to pursue and publish.
Learn more about how we secured some big wins for our clients in September.
Business Insider for Digital.ai
Patience and relationship-building almost always pay off. When conducting outreach on behalf of a client, you never know if it will align with what a journalist is focused on at that particular time. That’s why you must regularly check in with them to determine what they are working on, remind them of what your client can offer, and simply remain a trusted resource for them.
This tactic worked for our team recently on behalf of Digital.ai. After months of building a relationship with a Business Insider journalist, he finally contacted us to request a conversation with the CEO of Digital.ai to discuss how coding jobs will continue to change in big ways with AI. This opportunity resulted in the CEO being a key voice in an article on the topic. Read the piece here.
Dark Reading for Onymos
Monitoring the news – whether through local or national TV broadcasts, checking media outlet newsletters, or reading through social media – is an excellent way to identify immediate opportunities for your client to provide their perspective.
Our team leveraged and expanded the insights provided by Onymos‘ CEO regarding LinkedIn’s use of user data for AI training to engage journalists. As a result, his commentary was featured in Dark Reading. You can read the article here.
Traxion.GG for Sony AI
New, interesting research can be a gold mine for media opportunities. This summer, Sony AI‘s Gaming and Interactive Agents Flagship Project released new, exploratory research that introduces a super-human car racing agent whose sensor input is purely local to the car.
Considering the media’s past interest in the project group’s research, we shared this latest research update with select journalists. This led to an in-depth feature with Traxion.GG that included insights from one of the research authors. Read the feature here.
The 74 Million for NWEA
Pitching executives for their opinions to be published is a crucial strategy for amplifying thought leadership, expertise, and brand visibility. These executives possess unique insights and knowledge that enable them to offer a valuable perspective on industry trends, challenges, innovations, and more.
As such, our team pitched a comprehensive point of view from an expert at NWEA focused on literacy. This piece resonated with The74’s opinion editor, resulting in its publication. Read it here.
KSL-TV for YouScience
Television remains a powerful platform for building credibility, reaching a broad audience, and establishing thought leadership. After months of work with Utah’s KSL-TV on behalf of YouScience, the news station spoke with company experts and a student who has utilized the YouScience Aptitude & Career Discovery tool to guide her toward a career path aligned with her natural strengths to build an exciting segment for their nightly broadcast. The story told in the segment was also supported by recent YouScience data. Watch it here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
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.
During the summer months, public relations professionals historically face challenges in securing media opportunities and coverage. However, as news cycles and coverage continue to change, it is more important than ever for journalists to report the latest news and most interesting stories to their audiences. This shift has turned what used to be slow periods into opportunities.
This summer, we’ve observed a wide range of news and stories capturing the attention of journalists from different industries and outlets. These include topics that are interesting to journalists, such as those related to trending subjects and data, as well as access to high-ranking subject matter experts or executives.
See which topics resonated with the media in our August highlights.
CNBC Make It for Universal Technical Institute, Inc.
Pitching an individual’s personal story is a great way to grab media interest in a topic or trend. In response to rising interest in the skilled trades among Gen Z, our team pitched an interview with a recent graduate of Universal Technical Institute to CNBC. This outreach resulted in a story about the graduate and how going into the skilled trades positively impacted her life. Read the story here.
TechRepublic for Onymos
Journalists are always looking for new and exciting data that can be connected to broader trends or uncover fresh insights about a specific industry. They are also interested in obtaining this data exclusively or under embargo so that they can be among the first to report on it. That’s why our team conducted embargo outreach to a select list of outlets before releasing Onymos‘ SaaS Disruption Report: Security & Data. This approach enabled us to secure coverage with TechRepublic, which was published on the day of the report’s release. Read the article here.
EdWeek Market Brief for HMH
The most impactful interviews are with executives or subject matter experts who can dig into various trending topics, demonstrating the depth and breadth of their expertise and knowledge. In fact, such interviews often lead to multiple opportunities for further discussions or the creation of several articles covering different aspects of the topics discussed. This can be exemplified by an EdWeek Market Brief article featuring HMH, which resulted from a conversation the organization’s CEO had with the journalist earlier this summer. Read the article here.
Design News for Nauto
By highlighting the background of a subject matter expert or executive, we can demonstrate why they are a valuable source for current events and trending news topics. This is an effective way to secure coverage for a client, especially considering the ever-changing nature of newsrooms and their coverage. As a result of previous relationship-building and accurately demonstrating an expert’s knowledge and point of view, our team secured coverage for Nauto with Design News on autonomous vehicle systems. Read the article here.
eSchool News for AERDF, HMH, NWEA, SchoolStatus, & YouScience
Many schools across the country start heading back to school in August. This leads the education media to develop stories about what to expect in the upcoming school year. For these stories, journalists seek predictions from academic experts, researchers, and education technologists. Our team leveraged the insightful thoughts from AERDF, HMH, NWEA, SchoolStatus, and YouScience in August to secure coverage with eSchool News. Read our clients’ education predictions here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
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.
There are many different ways to generate media coverage on behalf of clients – from news announcements, thought leadership, and customer stories, to data reports and meeting with reporters at events. All, though, require a good story and patience to see the coverage through.
Our media features and inclusions in July resulted from outreach efforts leveraging data, industry trends, news, and customer stories. Check them out below!
The Washington Post for NWEA
Journalists love reporting on stories that have data to back up industry trends. Since 2020, NWEA has released many reports tracking students’ academic progress since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. NWEA continues to share insights into how students are doing compared to their peers and highlight interventions that can best support learners. Timing is everything, so our team used an embargo approach to share the newest data-backed trends with The Washington Post. Read the article here.
K-12 Dive for AERDF
Stories with real-world impact are appealing to journalists, especially if you are able to connect them with outside sources to give different points of view. On behalf of the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF)’s EF+Math Program, 0to5 pitched a story about an innovative program that is helping students learn math while having fun. The story, which features Fraction Ball, includes photos, a video, and perspectives from multiple sources, which helps capture the impact of the program. Read the story here.
VentureBeat for Nauto
Sometimes, patience is key when looking to nail the right story for your client. Nauto, a provider of AI software for driver and fleet safety, began its dialogue with VentureBeat during CES in early 2024. While scheduling challenges were present, the team remained persistent, and was able to facilitate a ride-along with the reporter to witness the Nauto tech in action, resulting in a full feature article. Check it out here.
Forbes for YouScience
National data garners national attention. YouScience, the leading technology provider dedicated to solving the skills gap crisis for students and employers, released their annual “2024 Female Students and STEM Report,” which resulted in an article offering strategies for increasing STEM career exposure for female students. Check it out here.
Diginomica for Onymos
There are always opportunities to reconnect your clients with reporters that have covered them previously. From backgrounders to commentary on industry trends, building a rapport of consistent, timely and thoughtful interactions is how reporters establish their go-to sources. 0to5 reconnected Onymos’ CEO with diginomica to discuss how no-data architecture is changing the software landscape, which resulted in a feature piece on the topic. Read about it here.
To learn more about how Zer0 to 5ive can help drive visibility and industry leadership for your company drop us a line.
By Annmarie Ely
Working with trade outlets is a valuable way to reach leaders in an industry with targeted, thoughtful content. The retail industry, in particular, is constantly changing and it’s important for the industry’s business leaders to have content that puts a microscope on what’s happening every day.
We recently interviewed Dominick Miserandino, the new CEO of RetailWire, a leading retail trade publication covering the latest trends and insights in the industry. As CEO of a publication, Dominick offers a unique perspective on how PR professionals can work with media outlets.
Thank you to Dominick for taking the time to conduct this interview! You can explore RetailWire’s coverage of industry insights and trends here: https://retailwire.com/
Would you please briefly introduce yourself and your career background?
I started as the creator of TheCelebrityCafe.com, one of the first online pubs, and then Inquisitr, Adoramapix, and YouNow. I’ve probably worked on over 100+ e-commerce and media sites as an advisor.
What motivated you to join RetailWire as the new CEO?
The retail space, and this B2B market in particular, is rather unique and presents a new set of skills to learn and challenges to overcome. Before this role, more of my background was in B2C.
What are some of your goals or priorities as the new CEO of RetailWire?
Step one is to immerse myself in this world. Learn the players and partners.
What are some trends or topics within retail that you are interested in seeing RetailWire cover in 2024?
We are editorially trying to expand our in-depth coverage, as well as our general consumer audience coverage. I’m happy that our readership has gone up about sixfold since we started on this in fall 2023.
Can you share examples of successful collaborations or interactions you’ve had with PR reps?
Not as of yet with RetailWire, but I’m looking forward to it. In the past, the most successful stories were ones that were unique. Years ago, I had a writer doing a video inside the Krispy Kreme headquarters, interviews with Led Zeppelin, and behind-the-scenes at the White House. Those that worked well were quite a bit more than a press release, and thereby other outlets grabbed them too.
What communication strategies do you find most effective when working with PR professionals, such as pitches (length), press releases, research, etc.?
Straight to the point. I actually remember the dialogue with the Krispy Kreme one:
“Do you want to send a writer behind the scenes of Krispy Kreme?” Yes.
It’s so much better than most press pitches, which are guesswork:
“We have an amazing brand that would like to do something with you.”
Ok, what brand, what would they like to do? Are you just asking the writer to copy your press release?
How can PR professionals best tailor their communications to meet the needs of retail-focused outlets?
For retail, as well as any media outlet, know the outlet itself.
Are there any specific elements or information that you consider essential in a press release or pitch related to retail?
I think so much is just knowing the outlet and cutting to it.
I’ve had days of literally 200+ emails from publicists and I don’t want to guess what the goal is and who the client is.
How can PR professionals most effectively pitch stories and information to RetailWire?
Right now we have two fronts: trending general business news and the real in-depth pieces. Understanding these two fronts is the first step. If you have something in-depth, unique, or trending on Google News to share, we love it.
If they don’t, most pitches come across as: “I know you’re covering trending topics, but this will be trending.”
But then it’s not a fit for the moment. Fitting a square peg in a round hole is just going to break the peg.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about the dynamics of working with PR professionals?
I’ve been an advisor/shareholder of well over 100 publications and find the best pitches are direct and simple.