Taking issue with tech PR stories drive national coverage Almost every tech new business prospect that walks through our door wants to hit the national media in order to drive brand profile or support a sales effort. Who wouldn’t? But there is frequently a chasm between a client’s belief in a story that will make the national media and the stark reality.

Opportunities to get a profile in the nationals are limited and typically require a creative pitch and months of relationship building to persuade the journalist that a story is worthwhile.

The challenge for tech PR firms is that journos on the nationals don’t typically want to write about business or consumer tech firms unless it’s a hot start-up or a familiar brand name that has a significant consumer angle to hit the home pages or a financial angle for the business pages.

So PRs need to work hard to educate clients about what it requires to get ink in a national newspaper – it requires creativity aligned with the current news agenda, with a fast turnaround best achieved through the use of pre-packaged comment. PRs need to scrutinise the media constantly, hit the phones and make sure spokespeople are available for follow-up. We call this tactic ‘newsjacking’.

The need for speed often places this tactic at odds with corporate PR team. There’s no room for multiple layers of corporate sign-off. Educating a client on the process and preparing material are critical to success. But when it works the results can be spectacular. Rainier PR and its sister agencies Lighthouse PR and Custard PR use this approach to get coverage for clients in the nationals on most days.

And of course pitches developed for the national media can be reused for trade media. In today’s media climate tech web sites follow new agendas as aggressively as any national.

Labels: media, PR

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